I am feeling inspired by conversations I have had lately with some amazing Indigenous women Elders and Knowledge Keepers about our city, amiskwaciwaskihikan and our wahkohtowin. Re-framing our connection to this place compels me to share the little I know about Hastings Lake, AB.

Sometimes, when I am working with Indigenous peoples, they ask me where I am from. It is an interesting question always, because I think they are trying to determine if I am Indigenous, and where my “place” is in relation to them. It is always the most important question.

When I tell people that my father is from Hastings Lake, Alberta I often get some quizzical expressions - unless I am speaking with people in the Métis Nation that are familiar with the place.

My grandmother is Edna Ward, daughter of Eliza Ward, who in turn was the daughter of Jonas Ward and Madeleine Charland. Jonas and Madeleine were some of the first Métis to settle along the banks of Hastings Lake, along with the Donald, Gladue, and other Metis families.

conversations with family and research show that these families were amiskwaciy-nehiyaw - Beaver Hills Cree- and Métis people. Many had river lots in Edmonton and St. Albert, and many were members and descendants of Papastayo’s band and the Edmonton “Stragglers”.

Hastings Lake and South Cooking lake are a part of the Beaverhill watershed and an ecologically diverse space of lakes, sloughs, forests, and is teeming with life. Our ancestors knew that, and that is why this location would have been known to them.

Nehiyawewin was around my Dad. My Dad went to Ministik school as a kid, and Kwatikh Campground is on the Northside of the river. My Dad and cousin have told me about the little cabin that g-grandmother Madeleine had on the northside of the lake, on what was road allowance.

It is still unclear to me when exactly these families set up their homesteads around Hastings Lake, but conversations with family tells me Kinship connected them, and as settlement occurred in Edmonton, many were pushed out.

I share this today as we embark on this process of re-centering Indigenous women's voices, and re-learning where we stand today though sharing of languages and cultures of this land, and returning to rightful relationships. Kinanaskomitin.