A jigging workshop in Fort Resolution turns into coming-home story for Sask. man 

Modeste McKenzie's father, Robert Hook, was taken from Fort Resolution as a young boy during the Sixties Scoop. 

As an adult, he moved to northern Saskatchewan and had his son. 

McKenzie is an award-winning dancer and says jigging has been his passion since he was 12.

That passion took him back to his father's homelands. 

McKenzie sat down with CBC Trailbreaker's Hilary Bird to discuss his trip to the N.W.T.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How did you end up on this trip to Deninu Kųę́?

Back in March of 2023, my dance partner and I were in Wollaston Lake, which is a Dene community in northern Saskatchewan. We entered into a couples jigging contest and I guess one of the attendees of that event took a video and it sort of went viral on Facebook and TikTok.

I have seen that video. I must say, you are an incredible dancer. I have never seen anyone jig the way that you do. And so tell us about the invite. 

As it made its rounds, it happened to be shared in the community of Fort Resolution by some of its members and eventually it made its way to a councillor's Facebook feed. That councillor happened to be my uncle, who I honestly didn't really know at the time. He saw this video of me dancing and then reached out.

It's a pretty special place in your life.

It's a very special place in my life. In the 1970s, my father was scooped from this community and he was taken and raised by a family in Montreal. When my father had me, I was a registered member here since I was a young boy and this is my first time returning to this community and getting to know my father's side of the family. It's my first time returning to my father's traditional lands and it's my dancing that brought me back to my home.

What was it like to be there for the first time?

It was really special. I did come up to Hay River once before, but I didn't have time to come out here to DKFN. It was January, too, so it was really dark and we couldn't really see anything. But coming up here in June, you know, the sun stays up 'til — I don't think it really sets. That took some getting used to. I'm still getting used to it. I got up at like 3:30 this morning.

But it was really special. Having some conversations with some community members here and being like, 'Hey, I'm a band member' and then kind of raising their eyebrows and being like, 'Well, who's your family?' That's a tough question to answer because I don't know exactly who my family is. It's something that I haven't had my entire life. 

Have you been able to make any connections with some of those family members?

I met my uncle for the first time when I pulled into DKFN and it was nice. I tried to give him a handshake and he said no and gave me a hug. That was really nice and then we talked a little bit about who our family is. Apparently a couple doors down from me, I have another uncle, and a few more doors down I have another uncle. 

What was the community's reaction to this sort of homecoming?

For the most part, in all honesty, I'm sort of keeping a low profile. Maybe after having a conversation with someone for a little while, then I'll sort of reveal to them that I'm a band member. So far, the people who I've been chatting with, they've been so warm and receptive. I can see a lot of them, in their minds, when I tell them who my family is, they take [it] and they go, 'Oh yeah, so you must be also related to so and so from Fort Simpson and I knew your grandmother and your grandfather from a long time ago.'

It's weird to have that, to be honest, because it's just something that's been missing all my life.

What else do you know about your father's story?

I don't know much. I think he was under the age of five when he was taken from Fort Resolution. He told me that he was given this little teddy bear, which I have. I didn't bring it with me here, but he gave it to me as a gift a few years ago and said, 'I remember being put on a plane, given this teddy bear and meeting my new family.' 

That new family, they were good people. They did a good job raising my father. His mother, I call her my granny, her name is Jackie, she's just a lovely person. She understands a little bit more about the Sixties Scoop and what happened. She's a good-hearted woman and cares deeply about my father, myself and her great grandchildren. 

You knew little about your father's story and therefore your story. How did that influence your own sense of identity?

Well, it was tough growing up, not knowing necessarily who I was. I was raised in northern Saskatchewan with a lot of Woodland Cree, and I knew I was Dene. Eventually, as my knowledge and understanding of jigging expanded, I got invited to come to these Dene communities and teach. 

I would tell people there that I'm Dene and they would kind of look at me. I would appear more culturally Cree than Dene. So that was really tough growing up not knowing my languages or not knowing anything much about my culture.

However, my mother is a very strong, Métis woman and she raised me with a very strong Métis background. So although I didn't know my Dene side, I was raised with a solid Métis upbringing.

You've been sharing your own culture, your Métis culture, with people. What's it been like to share that part of yourself? 

That's a part of myself that I'm very open with everybody. Actually, I'd like to tell you a little story. So I was 18 years old and I found myself in Winnipeg dancing and I was watching square dancing. This Oji-Cree elder with a cane and he was a veteran, he came up to me and he looked at the square dancers and he said, 'Those dang Métis. They stole the Red River jig from us.' 

Fast forward a few years later, I found myself in Black Lake, Saskatchewan. I was sitting down watching the jigging contest happening there, waiting for my turn. I was sitting beside a Dene elder and he looked at me and said, 'Those darn Métis. They stole the Red River jig from us.' 

And then I was also in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, where I was raised and the same thing happened with a Cree elder. So I've learned over the years and through all my travels that a lot of people claim that the Red River jig is Métis. It's probably safe to say that Métis people sort of founded it, but also the Red River jig is in a lot of other communities. 

Everybody loves to jig. It's been a passion of mine since I was 12 years old. Being able to come up here and share that important part of me with this community, that means so much to me.

Finally, what are you going to take back with you from this experience?

Hopefully I'm going to bring one of the community flags home. But I honestly think the bigger thing, the memories that I've made of it. I was able to bring my daughter up with me on this important trip and she's Dene too and it's important for her to see these homelands, to know that, 'Hey, you're from La Ronge, but you're also from here too.' 

In addition to the memories, I think just a larger sense of peace for myself that I've just been looking for the last 30 years. I don't want this to just be like I came here once, I've checked that box off and I'll never be back. I want to come back as much as I can to this community and get to know people better. 

I would also love to bring my other family here, which is my square dance family, to this territory so I'm really hoping for that for August.