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Distinguished Visitors Lecture Series: Jean Teillet, “Writing the History of Riel’s People”

Hand-written family documents give insight to laws and governance of early Métis community

March 15, 2018 — 

Jean Teillet, Indigenous Rights lawyer and great grand-niece of Louis Riel, spoke to a standing-room-only lecture theatre about the process of writing a popular history of the Métis Nation of the North-West, on March 6, 2018.

A very animated speaker with years of experience taking Indigenous rights cases all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, Teillet jumped right in to describe some fascinating aspects of Métis history and law that she discovered while researching the book, to be published by Harper Collins in 2019. Some of the historic artifacts and documents that inform the book, come directly from her family’s records, including the journal of Camille Teillet, her grandfather. Teillet said the crumbling, hand-written documents gave her insight into the earliest laws by which the Métis people governed themselves.

The full lecture of Jean Teillet on “Writing the History of Riel’s People” is available to watch on the Robson Hall Youtube Channel.

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