Rooted in Tradition: A People’s Store Built on Heritage, Purpose and Community

By Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter 

(ANNews) – For Wendy Turcotte, Rooted in Tradition is more than a store. It is a place where heritage, family, creativity and community come together.

Located in Parkland Mall in Red Deer, the Métis-owned business has been open for only a handful of weeks, but Turcotte is already seeing a growing community of artisans wanting to become part of what she calls the “People’s Store.”

“I’m actually a registered Alberta Métis, and my family originates out of Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota tribal community,” Turcotte said.

Turcotte said she traces her Métis ancestry to Justine Robilliard, whose sister Esther took scrip in Manitoba. Her grandmother, Olive LeMay, was from Westhope, North Dakota, and married her grandfather, Cyrenus Turcotte, before the family moved to Saskatchewan.

Turcotte shared a photograph of her grandmother, Olive LeMay, and offered additional documentation of her family history. “I do have copies of my lineage back to the 1700s if you would like as well,” she said.

For Turcotte, that family history is part of the foundation of her business. “My journey brought me here. A family had a vision, but was given many restrictions,” she said. “With all the restrictions, I knew that nobody would hire me, so I created my own purpose.”

That purpose eventually became Rooted in Tradition.

Turcotte’s experience is part of a broader trend among Indigenous women entrepreneurs in Canada. Federal data from the 2023 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises found that 30.4 percent of Indigenous-owned SMEs were majority women-owned, compared with 17.8 per cent of all Canadian SMEs.

The longer-term trend also points toward growing participation by Indigenous women in business. Between 2005 and 2018, women-owned Indigenous businesses grew by an average of 3.3 percent annually, compared with 2.2 percent for men-owned Indigenous businesses. Over that period, the share of women-owned Indigenous businesses increased from 22.1 percent to 24.7 percent.

Turcotte said she looked to her grandmother for guidance while creating the business. “I basically looked to my grandma in the heavens and asked her to show me, show me, show me,” she said. “And she showed me to create this space. To honour this space, to create a space for local artisans, Alberta artisans, to showcase their amazing creations year-round.”

The name itself also came from that connection. “Rooted in Tradition was a message that once again came through from my grandma,” Turcotte said.

She describes the store as the “People’s Store,” a place where people can remain connected to their roots. “What it means to me is for us to stay rooted in who we are, honour our ancestors, and continue to walk the path, being grounded,” she said. “That’s where the name came from. Staying grounded in who we are.”

The store features work from Alberta artisans, along with Indigenous products, and Turcotte said she has been encouraged by the number of creators interested in displaying their work. “I have many, many artisans coming in now wanting to display their stuff,” she said. “I just have a lot of people who want to come in and join the family.”

For the artisans, seeing their creations displayed is one of the most rewarding parts of the business for Turcotte. “The rewarding moment is seeing all the beautiful creations of the artisans, the joy that comes on their face when I post pictures or when I put them in the window, delegate the section to them,” she said.

“Just seeing the joy they have with their creations being displayed. That’s cool. Like that brings me my biggest joy, seriously.”

Turcotte also hopes the store can contribute to preserving history and encouraging people to remember where they come from. “I hope it contributes so that people remember who we are, what we’re about, what our history is about, because I have a lot of old history in here,” she said.

Some of the artwork in the store dates back to 1957, she said. “I want to honour everything in it because it’s being forgotten, and I don’t want it to be forgotten.”

That commitment has also shaped the atmosphere of the store. Turcotte said customers regularly describe the space as peaceful and calming, with some comparing it to a gallery or museum. “Everybody that comes in just loves the store. They say it’s very peaceful and calming, and that it looks like a gallery museum to them,” she said.

“I have truly put my heart and soul into this.”

Turcotte said she smudges in the space and sets an intention for it, adding that the store feels like home to her. “The space is absolutely beautiful. Like, I’m in here and it feels like home to me. It truly does.”

Her vision extends well beyond the store’s first weeks. Turcotte wants Rooted in Tradition to continue growing and remain in the community long after she is gone. “I want to see it live forever, is what I really want, even after my time,” she said.

She hopes to see more traditional skills and creations represented, including brain-tanned leather and other forms of traditional craftsmanship.

But Turcotte’s connection to history extends beyond the items displayed in the store. She said she also possesses historical documents connected to her family, including an original trial transcript concerning the murder of her second-generation grandfather, Napoleon LeMay.

Turcotte said LeMay was murdered by Willie Ross and Charles Hanson. She also said Ross was the last man to be hanged in Dakota. “If you Google Napoleon Lemay Willie Ross story it will come up,” she said, adding that she has the original trial transcript and would be willing to share it as additional historical material for the story.

The documents, she said, offer another connection between her family history and her commitment to preserving stories that might otherwise be forgotten.

Ultimately, Turcotte said the store belongs to everyone who contributes to it. “It is the People’s Store, even though it has its own name,” she said. “It’s your store, it’s my store, it’s their store.”

And she wants the artisans who have helped make the space possible to know their contributions matter. “I would just like to thank all of my artisans for helping me create this beautiful space, for honouring the beautiful space, and for all of their amazing creations,” Turcotte said.

“Whether it be a ribbon skirt, a drum, a smudge feather, a carving, a talking stick or a walking stick. I just honour them all.”

“And I want to give thanks.”