'It's been a learning journey': Lindsey Trudeau on finding her Mtis heritage

People across the province will be celebrating Louis Riel and the Mtis legacy in the province Monday, but for Lindsey Trudeau her understanding of her identity has evolved throughout her life.

Trudeau recently spoke with students at Thunderbird House about finding her voice as a member of the Mtis nation.

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She told the students how her great-grandfather passed away when she was in Grade 9. He was a Mtis trapper but she didn't know much about him until her great-grandmother reconnected with the family after the death.

"All of this talk about our Mtis heritage started to come through and I remember just going, 'I'm Mtis? I'm Aboriginal?'" Trudeau said.

Once she thought about it, Trudeau said it started to make sense.

"I remember saying to my friends like, 'Hey, I'm Aboriginal.' And they kind of looked at me and were like, 'Um, yeah, look in the mirror. How could you think you weren't Aboriginal?'"

Trudeau said she is very close to all of her family, including the the French-Canadian, blond-haired, fair-skinned members on her mother's side. But Trudeau and her brother have much darker features, which has left her feeling isolated.

She recalled staying with her aunt, uncle and two cousins from her mother's side in Brandon when she was a teenager. Trudeau said they were together for story time before bed one night when her aunt wanted to take a picture.

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Trudeau said she felt uncomfortable with it.

"To me, this was the family and I was an outsider. They insisted that I be in the picture because I am family. To this day when I look at the picture I still feel like I look like the outsider," Trudeau said holding back tears.

Now, Trudeau said she feels very proud of her Mtis heritage and that's something she has passed onto her own daughters.

"It's kind of reversed now because my kids get told 'you are not Aboriginal,' especially my older girl. She's got blondhair and blue eyes, but she's proud to be Aboriginal and she'll be the first one to tell you she's Mtis," Trudeau said.

"So it's been a learning journey for us."