This is my personal favourite of the Saskatchewan stories series from September of 2026, and the most personally significant. This piece features the mass grave of soldiers at the Batoche cemetery, of Métis resistance fighters who were killed. I am a direct descendant of one of those men, Isadore Boyer (my third great grandfather), and two of my great great great uncles are buried there, the Tourond brothers. The title refers to the fact the Métis were here long before Saskatchewan, and the province was built on a colonial legacy and quite literally, built on the bodies of my relatives. It’s a bit heavier than the others in the series, but it was important to me to create a series that did not just blindly celebrate current Saskatchewan, which is my beloved home, but acknowledges the tragedy of how Saskatchewan came to be. This piece serves as almost a momento mori for the series, and grounds it.

It was created with artist grade paint on plywood and measures 12X6X4 inches, equipped with a sawtooth hanger and ready to install on a wall, or, the small size makes it perfect for display on a desk or shelf.