Indigenous grads wear regalia to claim their place

A lot has changed since 2018 for Laura Forsythe.

The Métis associate professor recently received her PhD from the University of Manitoba where she proudly attended her convocation ceremony in beaded dress robes made by her mother. 

It was a vast departure from five years ago when Forsythe said she faced pushback over wanting to wear a Métis sash. 

"That day I had to fight to be able to wear it across the stage because it didn't fit the appropriate dress regulations of the day," she said. 

Forsythe was the Métis inclusion co-ordinator at the school back then and managed to convince the staff that she would wear her sash no matter what. 

This time around, Forsythe said, she knew she would wear regalia again. 

Her mom, Cheryl Foster, began to bead her robes in January 2022 as a way to encourage Forsythe to buckle down and write her thesis. 

"And we finished around the same time in April, and she gifted me with these beautiful robes that I knew I would wear across the stage," Forsythe said.

"In the past we haven't been allowed to be empowered by who we are and to showcase that in the rooms that we sit in, including the Convocation Hall."

Being able to do that without question, "made my heart sing," she added. 

In an emailed statement, the University of Manitoba said it took steps to learn from past harms and is "committed to moving forward in a good way." 

The statement said this year the university engaged with Indigenous artists and updated the chancellor's and president's convocation robes, as one way to demonstrate its commitment to reconciliation. 

The process of asserting identity in academic settings is one Forsythe has lived out herself. 

For her undergraduate degree, she wore a stole from Simon Fraser University as she crossed the stage. Then for her master's, she wore a stole and a Métis sash. Finally for her PhD, she wore the robes made by her mother.