City and County hand out 2018 Heritage Recognition Awards

While there were no nominations this year in the Youth Advocacy, Awareness and Support for Heritage category, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Gilles Allard, honoured for his extraordinary contributions and leadership in creating awareness and sharing Metis cultural heritage over an extended period of time.

Allard says it feels great to be recognized and for his Metis culture and heritage to be acknowledged as well.

“Most of the public unfortunately is ill-aware of the uniqueness and diversity of the Indigenous,” he explains. “So I can’t say enough about being showcased at this event and honoured to have been nominated.”

Instrumental in establishing the Metis Dance Troupe for Adults and Children in 1992, Allard says he’s grateful for the support he received during the initiative.

“There was a family with a dance troupe out of the Friendship Centre in Edmonton and they were high caliber dancers that came and helped us out in Red Deer when we first started,” recalls Allard. “Also a Rob Genaille, he was a champion dancer as well that came out of central Alberta and those were the key factors to help us with the traditional and original dance styles like the duck dance and rabbit dance. Presently, there are just two remaining dancers from that original troupe which is Laura and Daniel Allard that still perform the dances.”

Through efforts such as these and the planned showcasing of Metis culture at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery (MAG) during the upcoming 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Allard feels the Metis have finally made it as a unique and distinct people.

“The cultural component of it is what’s critical and the language, so we’re still out to salvage keeping it alive,” he adds. “When you involve yourself in a volunteer capacity, it becomes a reality and you start appreciating everybody’s contribution. I’ve spent a lifetime to envision where we’re at today. It’s a long road and we always have hope but to me, the hope is certainly materializing to moving in the right direction in a grand way.”

Janet Pennington, Heritage Community Development Coordinator with the City of Red Deer says the Awards are critical in helping to preserve local heritage.

“If you look at Red Deer or any other community, the vast majority of those incredible buildings that were built in the 1900’s were torn down in the 50’s and 60’s,” laments Pennington. “So it’s really important now we preserve the built heritage that’s left. We’re also looking at trying to preserve natural sites and honour what’s come before us.”

Pennington concludes it’s also the intangible heritage they’re trying to preserve through these awards.

“The stories that are important to each of us, the languages, the food we eat,” she explains. “We all benefit from this, we really do. It makes our lives much richer.”

by Sheldon Spackman

City and County hand out 2018 Heritage Recognition Awards

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