BIO

Dylan AT Miner, PhD (b. 1976) is a distinguished artist, activist, and scholar. He currently serves as Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Research, Creative Practice, and Graduate Education in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Miner’s artistic and scholarly practice transcends disciplinary boundaries and geopolitical borders. He holds a PhD in Art History (Arts of the Americas) from The University of New Mexico. His transdisciplinary training provides the academic foundation for his diverse contributions to the Stamps School of Art and Design. Before joining the University of Michigan, Miner spent 16 years at Michigan State University (MSU), where he served as a professor—and later the dean—in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. At MSU, Miner was also director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies for seven years.

As an artist, Miner has hung more than two dozen solo exhibitions and participated in more than 115 group exhibitions. He has created graphics for numerous community organizations, social justice campaigns, and environmental organizations. He is also a founding member of Justseeds, a decentralized artists’ cooperative of over 40 artists committed to social, environmental, and political engagement. A frequent writer, Miner’s book Creating Aztlán: Chicano Art, Indigenous Sovereignty, and Lowriding Across Turtle Island was published by the University of Arizona Press. In addition, his bibliography includes writings published through Duke University Press, Yale University Press, Oxford University Press, University of Toronto Press, Third Text Publications, Routledge, Palgrave MacMillan, and many more.

MÉTIS // HALFBREED FAMILY HISTORY

Born and raised in Michigan, Dylan Miner is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO). He is a Métis rights-holder who descends from the historic Georgian Bay Métis community - one of seven recognized s.35 rights-bearing Métis communities in Ontario - with an older, ancestral relation to Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta. In particular, Miner descends from the L’Hirondelle-Brissette family, one of approximately two dozen “Verified Métis Family Lines” for the historic Georgian Bay Métis community. Miner’s root ancestor is Josette Miner, a midwife and herbalist whose beaded octopus bag (see photos below) is still in the family’s possession. Grandma Miner, as she was known, walked into the spirit world in 1932. Her obituary indicates that she was born in Red River. She was baptized in Sault Ste. Marie and married at Sainte-Croix in Lafontaine (Georgian Bay). Her mother was a L’Hirondelle born in Lesser Slave Lake, Alberta.

A 1826 journal for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) post in Lesser Slave Lake names Josette’s father in relation to HBC employees marrying “Half Breed woemen as wifes” [sic]. In 1901, Papers and Records of the Ontario Historical Society describes her father as a “half-breed” who was “tattooed from head to foot with all sorts of curious figures.” In this text, Lewis Solomon also refers to her mother as “an Indian woman of the Cree tribe” who was “rather clever, and superior to the ordinary Indian women” [sic]. Three of Josette’s male siblings are documented in the 1901 Census of Canada as F.B. (French Breed).

Some of Miner’s ancestors were in the Northwest during the 1820s and 1830s, leaving Red River around 1838. Josette’s voyageur husband is documented in HBC records as being in York Factory and Saskatchewan districts as a “labourer” and then is recorded for five years as a “freeman”. The family was also connected to the Métis // Halfbreed community on Bootaagani-minis // Drummond Island - in what is now Michigan. This historic Métis community fought against the Americans during the War of 1812 and, after a border dispute, was forced to relocate across the US-Canada border. While some Métis // Halfbreeds relocated to Sault Ste. Marie, where Gimaa Zhingwaak // Chief Shingwauk welcomed them, the majority migrated to Binidaangising // Penetanguishene. Rosette Boucher (née Adam dit Laramee), a Root Ancestor Descendant for the Laramee-Cloutier “Verified Métis Family Line”, remembered being “in the sugar camp when some of the others started" the migration across Lake Huron. Miner’s family was in the Métis // Halfbreed community in Penetanguishene prior to effective control.

In 1840, twenty-two “half breeds residing in the Town of Penetanguishene” petitioned to receive annuities, like those that Indians and some Métis // Halfbreeds were receiving. This is archived in Indian Affairs as a "petition of certain Half Breed Indians praying for presents.” There is also documentation of a group surrounding the house of the Indian agent to assert their Indigenous rights. While the petition did not include Miner’s ancestors, it did include many other “Verified Métis Family Lines” for the historic Georgian Bay Métis community. One of the signatories of the Petition, Michel Labatte recalled that “Nothing but French and Indian was spoken at Drummond Island. I learned English at Penetanguishene, where I first heard it spoken.” Labatte also signed the 1850 Halfbreed petition in Sault Ste. Marie and, according to baptism records, his daughter Celeste was baptized in Sault Ste. Marie on the same day as Josette Miner (née Brissette).

In 1879, some of Miner’s ancestors moved north from Binidaangising // Penetanguishene to a location where the Chi-bizhiigong-zibi // Shebeshekong River empties into the Georgian Bay. This was an important site because it was immediately adjacent to the LaRonde Trading Post, which was run by another “Verified Métis Family Line.” Historical documents note that there was a significant manoomin // wild rice bed at the mouth of the river, which would have provided a food source, as well as attracted waterfowl. It was in this area where Josette’s son was charged with poaching a deer in 1906. Interestingly enough, the east bank of the Shebeshekong River is now known as Poacher’s Point.

In June 2019, alongside the Métis Nation of Alberta and Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, the Métis Nation of Ontario signed a “Métis Government Recognition and Self-Government Agreement” (MGRSA) with Canada. On February 23, 2023, the Métis Nation of Ontario signed an updated self-government agreement with Canada. Miner is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario descending from a Verified Métis Family Line (VMFL).