In the heart of the Red River Settlement, a vibrant Métis community forged a distinct identity shaped by kinship, trade, and resistance. The latter half of the 19th century was a time of profound upheaval, when the Red River Resistance challenged Canadian expansion into the region. Yet history is not always what it seems. Alongside real leaders and lived struggles, one figure—long woven into the story—was never real at all. How did a ghost of the past become accepted as truth? And what does that reveal about the way history is remembered, recorded, and retold? In this episode we separate myth from memory on the Red River.
Derrick M. Nault is an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg and a citizen of the Red River Métis Nation. His research examines Métis history, with particular attention to how kinship networks, political resistance, and collective memory have shaped Métis identity over time. This focus is grounded in his family’s long-standing involvement in Métis political and cultural life. His direct ancestors include André Nault, Louis Riel’s cousin and a captain during the Red River Resistance; Jean-Baptiste Parenteau and Damase Carrière, councillors in Riel’s 1885 provisional government; Marie Pélagie (Dumont) Parenteau, sister of Gabriel Dumont; and Antoine Vermette, a noted Métis buffalo hunter and founding member of l’Union Nationale Métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba.
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