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The Métis in Western Canada: O-Tee-Paym-Soo-Wuk

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The BeginningsThe People and Their CommunitiesCulture and Lifeways

Adrian Hope

Adrian hope was born in Morinville, Alberta in 1903. His father was Harry Hope, a Scottish man, and his mother was a Cree woman from the Enoch Reserve. In Scotland, Harry Hope was a professor of languages, specializing in Gaelic. When Harry came to Canada, he worked for a period with the North West Mounted Police. He then signed up for military service during the Boer War in South Africa. After the war, he returned to Canada and married the Cree girl. Harry Hope tried farming for awhile, and then took a position as Indian agent at Alexander Reserve.

Adrian learned Cree while living on the Alexander Reserve, as well as the history of his mother's people. Adrian grew into a tall lanky young man who enjoyed the nomadic life of ranching and working the range in Canada and the United States. He rode for a number of prominent ranches including Alberta's well-known Bar U Ranch in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He also participated in rodeo competitions. Adrian was more than a cowboy. When his seasonal work quieted, he furthered his education by studying theology, psychology and Latin at a San Fernando Valley seminary.

Hope's continued successes as a rodeo cowboy caught the attention of a Fox movie company who wanted him to ride for Hollywood cameras. A serious accident, however, prevented Adrian from pursuing this opportunity. While trying to catch a passing freight train, he slipped and fell under it. He lost a leg to this accident. This gritty, brave man literally got back up in the saddle, minus one leg. He started a profitable business of capturing wild horses then breaking and selling them to settlers. Hope's varied resume includes a stint at farming, commercial fishing and being a master at a residential school for St. Albert boys and a similar position with Blue Quill School on Saddle Lake Reserve.

In 1928, Adrian Hope and a Native man, Joseph Dion, joined forces to help organize meetings to address the plight of Alberta's Métis. Disease, illiteracy, and deepening poverty among Métis were serious concerns that Dion and Hope thought must be brought to the attention of governments. They also knew that they would get a better response if they were organized.

Local Métis meetings were held in St. Paul and in St. Albert. Hope also travelled to Calgary to meet with other Métis to gauge their interest in organizing. While Hope played a pivotal role in organizing and promoting a Métis association he did not take an official title with L'Association des Métis D' Alberta et des Territories du Nord Quest (Métis Association of Alberta) when it officially formed. He did, however, along with Joseph Dion and Malcolm Norris, consistently attend the hearings held by the Ewing Commission.

Hope's name resurfaces often in connection to the Métis Association of Alberta (MAA). On 20 November 1961, MAA was incorporated and Hope became its president. Later, Hope would become one of the five founders of the Federation of Métis Settlements. He made the Métis settlement Kikino, (Cree for "home") his home. He also helped form the Alberta Native Communications Society.

 

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