05/06/2025
A Métis Scrip was a document issued by the Canadian government in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was meant to extinguish Métis land rights — instead of giving Métis people the land they had lived on for generations, the government offered "scrip" in the form of money or land certificates. These were often confusing, difficult to redeem, and designed to push Métis people off their land. Many Métis people were tricked into selling or losing their scrip, and disallowed scrips were those the government later refused to honor — denying the person their rightful claim entirely.
In other words, disallowed scrip represents broken promises, systemic betrayal, and dispossession. It is a symbol of how colonial systems tried to erase Métis identity, remove Métis people from their land, and deny them recognition.
By printing an image of a disallowed scrip onto fabric and turning it into a gown, I'm taking that symbol of devastation and transforming it into a powerful statement of resistance, survival, and beauty through it all. The wearer is literally wrapping themself in history — not only in acknowledging history, but as someone reclaiming space, voice, and identity. It's a form of artistic reclamation — turning a tool of colonization into a garment of pride. That under whatever label is thrown onto indigenous peoples, we still are who we are underneath the government paperwork- beadwork and all. I decided to make the back a full length cape- so those unfamiliar with what this document is, or have only interacted with Scrips as a concept can see and read one- and the language used.
This design is deeply personal, and political. This is a copy of my Great Great Aunt's scrip. It's "making lemonade out of lemons" — taking what was meant to diminish people and turning it into something that celebrates them. It's saying: "You tried to write us out of the story, but we are still here. We carry our history, and we carry it beautifully. We will continue to tell this story through fabric and thread."
