TANSI, ALEXA LIZOTTE NITISIYÎHKÂSON.
Hi, my name is Alexa Lizotte and I am a proud urban and mixed Métis woman. I am Métis on my father's side and white settler on my mother's side. My Métis community is North Vermilion Settlement (Buttertown), Fort Vermilion, Alberta where my father was born and raised, and my white settler ancestry is German and general anglo settler ancestry on my mother's side. Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton) is currently home.
I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada where my mother was born and raised. My father left Buttertown (North Vermilion Settlement) in his late 20s to accompany his sister and brother-in-law on a trip to Iowa. With the help of the Jay treaty, he collected his green card and settled in the residential neighbourhoods of Las Vegas, Nevada, where he met my mother. I was born in the late 90s and my brother is four years younger than me.
My father chose not to bring us around Buttertown (North Vermilion Settlement) until we were in our teens. My childhood and teenage years are characterized by apathy, rage, and bitterness towards the world around me and I believe my lack of roots in my identity and culture was a factor in this. I think because of intergenerational trauma, protecting our children from danger and keeping them close to familial ties can't exist together, but that is my father's story to share.
After graduating from the University of British Columbia Vancouver in 2020, I moved in with my auntie on Beaver First Nation land, just across from North Vermilion Settlement (Buttertown), until I got a place of my own. Not long after, a rental became available and I found myself moving into my grandma's home on Buttertown (North Vermilion Settlement) land where my father had helped build and finish the basement as a young man.
My time spent here from 2020-2022 revolved around rebuilding my relationship with the land, which offered a stillness I was unfamiliar with for so long. The Peace River, Northern Alberta's original highway, runs right through Buttertown and Fort Vermilion and this river has been important to me in both my personal growth journey and my artistic journey.
My artwork and teaching opportunities give me a medium to tell my story, and I am beyond grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me. Métis leader Louis Riel said, "My people will sleep for 100 years, but it will be art that gives them their spirit back" and this is what art has done for me.
Hay Hay for reading my story, and niwakomakanak to you. I look forward to hearing your story too.
[Thank you, and all my relations.]