<\/p>\n
Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin was 40 when she found out that she was M\u00e9tis. She went on to fully embrace her new-found identity, sharing it through stories and traditional ceremonies. To have a greater impact, she created her own business: Drumming for Healing.<\/strong><\/p>\n When she was growing up, St. Malo native Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin had no idea about her M\u00e9tis roots. She only found out when she was close to 40, when her sister\u2019s genealogical research revealed there were several Cree women in the family. \u201cMy mother, Emma Perreault, wanted to protect us,\u201d she says. At that time, M\u00e9tis children were abused at school.\u201d<\/p>\n She was immediately intrigued by this new aspect of her identity. \u201cI started doing research, studying M\u00e9tis traditions, and I discovered that I was a storyteller. I also learned to make a drum with a First Nations\u2019 Elder, and then learned how to play it.\u201d<\/p>\n For the M\u00e9tis woman, passing on the M\u00e9tis teachings is very important. \u201cThey are excellent traditions for finding peace. For example, the drum helps people manage their emotions. The drumming starts out loud to bring out negative energy such as anger and frustration. The subsequently softer drumming lets in positive emotions such as peace and love.\u00a0It feels really good inside.\u201d<\/p>\n She also says that the unique experience of group drumming together on the same big drum is also very popular with people of all ages.<\/p>\n The drum is a key medium of instruction for the Francophone M\u00e9tis woman. She admits that \u201cshortly after receiving the drumming teaching, the ancestors asked me in a dream to have one big drum and to bring women and children to it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince then, I\u2019ve been going into the schools or to the St. Boniface Museum, giving drumming workshops with another woman. She makes the drums, as my hands are giving me trouble, but I do the teaching, in French. One should never just \u201cmake\u201d a drum. It’s not a mere object. It\u2019s important to understand that we become custodians of our drums.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to drumming, Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin uses storytelling to pass on M\u00e9tis traditions. \u201cThe First Nations\u2019 Elders told stories to teach the youngsters. That tradition was lost with the residential schools and reserves, but we\u2019re trying to revive it.\u201d<\/p>\n Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin has written seven stories on the seven sacred Indigenous teachings. The animal or bird representing the sacred teaching is the main protagonist of each story. She also built two stories around a birch bark canoe.<\/p>\n \u201cMy stories come to me at night, in my dreams. It\u2019s as if they were there in my heart. I\u2019ve been a storyteller for ten years, but I never tell the same story the same way twice. I play with the details and I include recent life experiences. I speak from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n To ensure that her stories survive, Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin recently decided to publish them in English, French and Michif. They are now in the process of being published. An audio CD of her stories in Michif will also be available.<\/p>\n \u201cTo facilitate the publication process, I created my own company, Drumming for Healing, at the end of May, with help from CDEM\u2019s Joel Lemoine. CDEM will also help me prepare my budget so I can apply for grants.\u201d<\/p>\n The French-speaking M\u00e9tis woman often leads reconciliation workshops, including the blanket exercise, for Cjp (Conseil jeunesse provincial) and Development and Peace.<\/p>\n Today, Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin has several ideas for her business. For example, she plans to look into the possibility of turning her property on the shores of the Roseau River in the RM of Stuartburn, south of St. Malo, into a centre where she can receive groups.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople could come here to find peace, reconnect with nature, slow down and experience traditional M\u00e9tis ceremonies around the fire, water or drum.\u201d\u00a0The Drumming for Healing beats have only just begun to be heard.<\/p>\nContact Dolor\u00e8s Gosselin at Drumming for Healing:\u00a0 204 381-6730<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4241,"template":"","type-de-publication":[69,68],"class_list":["post-4242","publications","type-publications","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","type-de-publication-business-services","type-de-publication-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications\/4242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publications"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"type-de-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-de-publication?post=4242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}