My Beading Journey 
My Intentions

        My name is Alexandra Amélia, and I am a mixed woman of Innu/Montagnais and French-Canadian heritage. I grew up on Treaty 7 territories, the traditional home of the Blackfoot Confederacy,

Tsuu T’ina and Stoney Nakoda. I did not grow up on Innu traditional Nitassinan lands and therefore, I am not an enrolled member of any Innu community. I began to bead to tangibly reconnect and understand the historical wrongdoings of colonization affecting generations of Indigenous and mixed peoples. In doing, as life would have it I have been adopted into a Blackfoot community and transferred a Blackfoot name.

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        The spiritual value of beads in my life is medicine. They are steeped in healing, connection, truth, culture, and tradition. I heard Tsuut’ina elder Bruce Starlight once say, “There is a way of seeing both the wood and the trees”. Despite being able to see both the wood and the trees, I did not start beading to make a profit. I have a small following, and that is how I like it. I am many things. My blood is from several places and as a mixed woman, with no Indigenous status, I am not here to pretend I have the same status, lived experiences, take space, profit or overrepresent what matters, and how it matters to Indigenous Peoples. I want to understand and support Indigenous and mixed kin whilst also reconnecting to my ancestors. My reconnection has been multifaceted. I do so by visiting, returning to and honouring Innu traditional lands, all land, allying myself, acknowledging my Indigenous and mixed relatives, learning from elders, and decolonizing my mind. Beads are a gift, a gift I do not want to exploit and misuse. 

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        For me and others like myself, I am afforded white privilege. It is a journey of self-intention, all the while recognizing it is not just a matter of what you claim, but a matter of who claims you. As a mixed woman of French and Indigenous backgrounds, my reconnection has been honest. I have spent years researching, studying, and pondering this. It has been a difficult and enlightening road of decolonization, one that I am proud to uncover and be on and one that I will be on for a long time.

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         Beading has truly proven to be a journey. I began doing this form of art in January 2020 when I was a member of the Indigenous Student Council at the University of Calgary’s Writing Symbol Lodge. There, I had the privilege of participating in a variety of events for Indigenous students and other reconnecting youth. This included a beginner beading event taught by a Siksiká iskwêw. In March 2020 the pandemic hit and my time at the Writing Symbols Lodge was cut short, but my desire to bead was not. I became consumed by this new art form, for several different reasons. This page is dedicated to my great-grandmother and to all the women and matriarchs of my family and the world, tshinashkumitin for your spirit, warmth, love and resiliency.

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