My Beading Journey 
My Intentions

My name is Alexandra Amélia, and I am a mixed woman of Innu (Montagnais) and French-Canadian heritage. I was born and raised on Treaty 7 Territory, the traditional lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Tsuut’ina Nation, and Stoney Nakoda Nations. I did not grow up on Innu Nitassinan lands and I am not an enrolled member of an Innu community. My relationship to identity and belonging has therefore been one of responsibility, reflection, and ongoing learning.
 

I began beading as a way to tangibly reconnect, to better understand both my ancestors and the intergenerational impacts of colonization affecting Indigenous and mixed peoples. Over time, I was adopted into a Blackfoot community and transferred a Blackfoot name, an honour that carries relationship, responsibility, and care.
 

Beads, for me, are medicine. They hold healing, connection, truth, culture, and tradition. I once heard Tsuut’ina Elder Bruce Starlight say, “There is a way of seeing both the wood and the trees.” That teaching has stayed with me. I did not begin beading for profit, and I continue to approach this work with intention rather than expansion. I am many things. My bloodlines stretch across places and histories. As a mixed woman without Indigenous status, I do not claim experiences that are not mine, nor do I seek to overrepresent what is not mine to hold. Instead, I strive to reconnect honestly, supporting Indigenous and mixed kin while deepening my relationship to my own ancestry.
 

That reconnection has been multifaceted. It includes returning to and honouring Innu lands, acknowledging, loving all lands, learning from Elders, listening, recognizing my Indigenous and mixed relatives, and actively decolonizing my thinking. Beads are a gift, one I approach with care and without exploitation.
 

Like many mixed people, I am afforded white privilege. Reconnection is not simply a matter of what one claims, but of who claims you. I am claimed, but my journey has required years of research, listening, and self-examination. It has been difficult, illuminating, and ongoing and I carry it with humility.
 

Beading itself began in January 2020 while I was a member of the Indigenous Student Council at the University of Calgary’s Writing Symbols Lodge. There, I had the privilege of participating in events that supported Indigenous students and reconnecting youth, including a beginner beading workshop taught by a Siksika aaki (Blackfoot woman). When the pandemic arrived in March 2020 and my time at the Lodge was cut short, my desire to bead was not. What began as a workshop became a practice and then a journey.

​

This page is dedicated to my great-grandmother, and to the women and matriarchs of my family and beyond. Tshinashkumitin for your spirit, warmth, love, and resilience.