This article is part of our series profiling the Class of 2018 鈥� the grads of Dal's 200th year. Click here for more profiles, and learn more about Dal Convocation at the Convocation website.
For Mercedes Peters, coming of age at the same time as the Idle No More movement pushed her in scholarly directions she never expected.
鈥淥n the one hand, it was amazing, because for the first time in my life it felt like people were talking about Indigenous people in the news in really positive ways,鈥� says Mercedes, who hails from the Glooscap First Nation.
鈥淏ut because they were demonstrations and protests, there were a lot of racists coming out of the woodwork. I was 17, and I didn鈥檛 have the language to explain to them why they were wrong 鈥� all I had was this anger.鈥�
It was her desire to build that language that eventually led her to Dalhousie for her master鈥檚 studies. At Dal, she worked with History Professor Jerry Bannister on a project exploring the perspectives and voices of Mi鈥檏maw women under the Indian Act (first passed in 1876).
鈥淚t was the research I wanted to do and the place I wanted to do it,鈥� says Mercedes. 鈥淚鈥檓 Mi鈥檏maq, and I needed to be in Mi鈥檏ma鈥檏i. I needed to have access to people who knew the sources I could use related to Mi鈥檏maw people, but also people who would support me.鈥�
Expressions of Mi鈥檏maw women
As her project took shape, it focused in on a number of archival sources 鈥� at first, with files from Library and Archives Canada. There, she had the unsettling experience of finding federal Indian Affairs documents about her family members and mentors.
鈥淚t was really kind of heartbreaking and difficult to see Indian Agent writing about a family member of yours in a very disconnected kind of way. It hits home that when you鈥檙e an Indigenous research, it can become closer to you than it might for a traditional historian.鈥�
In contrast, the publication that became the core of her project 鈥� the Micmac News (1965-91) 鈥� was a revelation for her. First developed in Membertou, the publication covered historical and contemporary issues and events, including celebrations of Mi鈥檏maw life, for over 25 years.
鈥淚n the paper, I was still finding family members and people I knew, but it was a different kind of language. It鈥檚 a remarkable example of Mi鈥檏maw agency and resiliency 鈥� and it鈥檚 in our words. It was created by us, for us鈥� you actually watch as Mi鈥檏maw women who are impacted by the Indian Act, and are impacted by these government structures, forcing themselves into the newspaper, making space for themselves, creating an activist base. It actually became an amazing project.鈥�
Research with a purpose
Mercedes, who is now pursuing a PhD at the University of British Columbia, is clear that her research is as much about the present as the past.
鈥淢y work has always been political because my identity is something that鈥檚 been politicized,鈥� she says, adding: 鈥淭hese histories are not things I鈥檓 doing just because they鈥檙e interesting. I鈥檓 doing them because I feel like if we can learn from the past, there are ways that we can shape our present that are more beneficial to us as Indigenous people.
鈥淲hatever I do after my PhD, as long as I can do something that brings it back to helping my community and then, more broadly, Indigenous people, then I鈥檒l be fine wherever I end up.鈥�