People at the Midnight Oil Tattoo Shop in Regina last Sunday showed their Métis pride through infinity symbols on hats and shirts, the Métis sash, and in new tattoos.
They came to the Wahkotowin Tattoo Gathering to be tattooed for free with a symbol that represents their Métis heritage.
Tattoo artist Nolan Malbeuf, who is Cree-Métis from Beauval, Sask., said he loves tattooing flowers because there’s a resilience and fight in them that resonates with him.
“You put a cultural symbol on somebody, you’re reinforcing that, hey man, we’re still here,” he said.
Malbeuf was at a tattoo convention in Toronto in August when he realized how grateful he was to be doing what he does and decided he wanted to give back the only way he knew how — through his art.
And when he decided he wanted to give back, he wanted to think big.
“You think big and it scares you — that’s where you should be,” said Malbeuf.
At Sunday’s event, 87 people got tattoos and 12 tattoo artists and 10 volunteers were enlisted to help.
Malbeuf said he never knew he was going to be an artist, but when he got sober two years ago, something “came alive” inside him.
“I have been living a life I’ve never lived before and that’s enabled me to see more clearly and to appreciate my people,” he said.
Malbeuf said he believes in the power of tattoos, since they were once outlawed in the Indian Act’s Potlatch Ban, along with other rites and rituals.
For some Métis people, there is a narrative that they are “less than,” the forgotten people and the road allowance people.
“I want them to walk away with a sense of pride,” said Malbeuf.
Nolan Malbeurf says he wants to show appreciation to the people working to help those facing addictions. The Regina artist is offering free tattoos for 100 Métis front-line workers.
Sentilla Bubb, a Grade 7 teacher, said having space just for the Métis people was long overdue.
“It’s empowering, it’s healing and there’s lots of prayers that go into tattooing, so it’s really important that we can reclaim this part of our identity,” said Bubb.
Shana Cardinal, a mental health therapist, got a floral design featuring two strawberries, one to represent her daughter and one to represent herself.
She said expressing yourself and having some of your culture identified on your body was important.
“My daughter, who’s also here, says it’s her therapy,” she said.
“Even though I’m a mental health therapist, it’s my therapy.”
