Do not mess with Métis women. Amanda Rheaume inherited this philosophy, especially from her great-great-great grandmother, but also from the long line of resilient people part of the songwriter’s ancestral roots.
As a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario — and an active and proud member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community — the Ontario-based artist is a trailblazer and truth teller. Co-founder of the first woman-led Indigenous record label, Ishkōdé Records, and the International Indigenous Music Summit, the singer-songwriter has made it her mission — from the moment she put pen to paper writing songs — to amplify her communities’ voices by sharing their unique stories.
For her sixth release,The Truth We Hold, produced and mixed by Grammy-award winner Colin Linden at his Nashville studio, Rheaume offers 10 new songs that chronicle the Métis spirit; she sings for those that came before, those here now, and those not yet born.
“All the songs are true stories about real Métis,” the 44-year-old says. “These are stories most people would never know — or have probably never heard — so it’s such an honour to get to write these songs and share these stories. Hopefully, people learn from them and gain a greater understanding of where Métis people come from and who we are.”
Amplify chats with Rheaume not long after the singer-songwriter landed from a mini European tour in Austria, Germany, and England.
“I Won’t Hide,” the first single from The Truth We Hold, which arrives in April 2025, was released on September 19 to coincide with Powley Day. The song shares the story of Steve Powley and his son Roddy who were arrested in 1993 after killing a moose to feed their family for the winter. The Powleys took their case all the way to the Supreme Court and won a unanimous decision that recognized Métis harvesting rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982.
Before releasing this song, Rheaume reached out to the Métis Nation of Ontario to see if they could put out a call to citizens to send in family photos to include with the single cover artwork. She was overwhelmed by the response.
“I am a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, so it felt really wonderful to have my community respond this way,” she recalls. “It’s so important to show that Métis people are real people. I wanted to honour my community and inspire a feeling of ‘I see you,’ and ‘We will not hide who we are.’”
Using her voice to explore her roots, culture, and ancestry is not new for Rheaume; her 2013 album Keep a Fire, which won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year, explored her family’s heritage. And, the songs on her last record — The Spaces in Between — were inspired and influenced by conversations surrounding identity that Rheaume had with Métis elders like John Arcand and Tony Belcourt.
GOING TO THE SOURCE
The songwriter travelled from Northern Ontario to the Prairies to unearth the stories told on The Truth We Hold. She approached this project like a journalist — going to the source — by visiting Métis communities where these stories dwelled, the places her ancestors kept these tales alive via the oral tradition. Stops on this mission included Sioux Lookout, Agawa Bay, and Lac Seul/Rat Portage (modern day Kenora) in Ontario and Ile a la Crosse in Saskatchewan (the second oldest community in Western Canada).
“One day, after visiting one of my communities and hearing yet another story, it dawned on me that I needed to write songs about these people because nobody knows who these folks are and they are important stories,” Rheaume explains. “I took a bunch of intentional trips to places my community live to ask a million questions, sit, visit, and listen. Then I went away and wrote these songs.”
Rheaume ensured she had permission from these various Métis voices before recording these songs. One of the most poignant is “#44” about a man named Robert Merasty, a survivor of the Ile a la Crosse Residential School in Saskatchewan. In the 1990s, it was determined that because the provincial government funded the school, survivors were ineligible for compensation through the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). The school was also not recognized in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement. Negotiations and the fight for recognition of the survivors, many of whom have already passed, continues.
DON’T MESS WITH MÉTIS WOMEN
Louis Riel is part of Rheaume’s family history, as revealed in this CBC Radio interview from several years ago: “He was friends with my great-great-grandfather, A.G.B. Bannatyne, who was the first post-master under Louis Riel. I’ve been told that Louis would go to him for advice. Bannatyne also had the first meetings for the Manitoba Legislature in his house.”
Knowing of Rheaume’s bloodline to the Bannatynes — and learning Annie Bannatyne, one of the Métis “First Ladies” of the Red River, is her great great-great grandmother, you see where the songwriter gets her activism, determination, and fighting spirit. “Annie’s Whip” — the latest single released this week to coincide with Louis Riel Day in Ontario — shares the story of how, after Annie Bannatyne heard Thomas Mair, a poet and writer for the Toronto Globe, was writing derogatory comments about “halfbreed” women, she horsewhipped him to teach him a lesson.
THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE
Identity politics and the ever-lingering generational trauma of colonization to divide, conquer, and categorize is ingrained into the Métis’ spirit. Often referred to as “The Forgotten People,” because many Métis went underground after the hanging of Louis Riel, their stories are often untold, buried, misunderstood, and misrepresented. “Unforgettable,” another track on the new record, is a love song Rheaume wrote for this community to let them know they are not forgotten; they are seen, and their stories matter.
“This whole record is an offering to my community,” she says.
Intermixed with Rheaume’s ruminations on love is a call for kindness. She feels community building is essential in our modern world hardwired for hate — and filled with so much divisiveness and negativity — especially the one-sided conversations carried out 24/7 on social media. She addresses this in “Better Part of Town,” a song she co-wrote with labelmate and Cree Nation singer Sebastian Gaskin.
Take these biting lines from the chorus: “It’s like caring for your neighbour is out of style and the Karens on the Net are running wild/ All of this staring at this sharing has been wearing me down/ Ain’t no use in trying because most of you are lying/ so I’m moving to a better part of town.”
Altogether, The Truth We Hold is a beautiful ode to the Métis and leaves listeners with a simple message: kill them with kindness.
“Celebrating and rooting for each other’s successes feels so important in the current climate,” Rheaume says. “I don’t see how individualism can win. Instead, it’s fun to scream from the mountaintops just how good everyone else is and that act makes the whole community stronger.”
Pre-orders for Amanda Rheaume’s The Truth We Hold begin on January 29, 2025 via Ishkōdé Records.
