Returning to Ceremony is the follow-up to Chantal Fiola’s award-winning Rekindling the Sacred Fire and continues her ground-breaking examination of Métis spirituality, debunking stereotypes such as “all Métis people are Catholic,” and “Métis people do not go to ceremonies.” Fiola finds that, among the Métis, spirituality exists on a continuum of Indigenous and Christian traditions, and that Métis spirituality includes ceremonies. For some Métis, it is a historical continuation of the relationships their ancestral communities have had with ceremonies since time immemorial, and for others, it is a homecoming—a return to ceremony after some time away.

Fiola employs a Métis-specific and community-centred methodology to gather evidence from archives, priests’ correspondence, oral history, storytelling, and literature. With assistance from six Métis community researchers, Fiola listened to stories and experiences shared by thirty-two Métis from six Manitoba Métis communities that are at the heart of this book. They offer insight into their families’ relationships with land, community, culture, and religion, including factors that inhibit or nurture connection to ceremonies such as sweat lodge, Sundance, and the Midewiwin. Valuable profiles emerge for six historic Red River Métis communities (Duck Bay, Camperville, St Laurent, St François-Xavier, Ste Anne, and Lorette), providing a clearer understanding of identity, culture, and spirituality that uphold Métis Nation sovereignty.

Chantal Fiola is Michif (Red River Métis) with family from St. Laurent and Ste. Geneviève, Manitoba. She is the author of Rekindling the Sacred Fire: Métis Ancestry and Anishinaabe Spirituality. Dr. Fiola is an Associate Professor in the Urban and Inner-City Studies Department at the University of Winnipeg, where she was named Distinguished Indigenous Scholars Chair (2021-2024) Chantal is Two-Spirit, Midewiwin, a Sundancer, and lives with her wife and daughter in Winnipeg.

Chantal Fiola's profile page

• Nominated, Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction
• Winner, Manitoba Day Award, Association of Manitoba Archives

"This book is a rare and unique contribution to Indigenous spirituality literature and the lifting up of oral history voices of Métis peoples from Métis communities."

Indigenous Religious Traditions

"Le livre permet de combler une lacune et de corriger la désinformation qui circule sur les croyances des Métis notamment auprès de certains aînés et de certains leaders métis. Même si ce livre s’adresse avant tout aux spécialistes en études métisses et en études religieuses, je le recommande fortement à quiconque est intéressé par la question. Il pourrait aussi servir d’exemples à d’autres chercheuses et chercheurs soucieux de développer une méthodologie et une approche de recherche spécifiques aux Métis."

Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française

"While the experiences of ‘divisions like those discussed by the Métis people in this study can result in confusion, shame, a lack of confidence in identity and subsequently, an avoidance of ceremonies,’ Fiola’s book shows a deep desire among modern Métis to reconnect and engage in a resurgence of these ceremonies."

The Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies (JACANZS)