Nora Cummings, Enn Pchit Fee Michif: A Life and Legacy

A Métis Elder's powerful story of lifelong resistance against settler colonial oppression

In her moving memoir, trailblazing Métis activist and leader Nora Cummings shares her remarkable life story. Raised on a road allowance in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, she credits the leaders and guiding figures in her family--particularly its matriarchs--for educating her as a pchit fee throughout her adolescence, even while she faced daily harassment from racist teachers at her school.

Raising her own young family in Saskatoon, Nora drew on the resilience, kinship, and pride the li vyeu (Elders) in her family had instilled in her, and these values helped her mobilize her urban Métis community at a time when Indigenous women's voices were seldom heard. She was one of the founders of the Saskatchewan Native Women's Association and the Métis Society of Saskatchewan Local 11 in Saskatoon (now Gabriel Dumont Local 11), ran for city council, and became an advocate on the national scene as demands for Indigenous women's rights were building momentum in the 1970s.

Drawn from a series of interviews between Cummings, now a respected li vyeu, and Métis historian Cheryl Troupe, who contributes a thoughtful afterword, this memoir offers a rare glimpse into the genesis of the local resistances that became a national movement demanding reconciliation. At its heart is enn pchit fee Michif, whose determination created a better life for herself and her Métis community.