This event, a seminar exploring language and story, was moderated by Warren Cariou, and presented by Sherry Farrell-Racette and Cheryl L’Hirondelle.

In “Harps, Shamrocks, and the Red Saloon: the Métis/Fenian Alliance of 1869-1870,” Sherry Farrell-Racette told how in 1869, the Métis of the Red River Settlement replaced the company flag at the Hudson’s Bay post of Upper Fort Garry with a flag that featured a harp and a shamrock alongside the French fleur-de-lis. The Métis/Fenian alliance this act represented was short-lived, but the flag remains a visual reminder of a story with equal measures of tragedy and farce.

Based on her own perspective and recent history, Cheryl L’Hirondelle spoke of what songs show about the relationships between nations, and she proposed a way forward between Ireland and Indigenous nations.