Miywasin Moment: A life of purpose

By JoLynn Parenteau on October 12, 2022.

Metis Hatter Michele David-Roll at home with medals from 2017 and 2022 swim competitions.--PHOTO BY MIKE ROLL

“Learn the teachings of the Elders and your parents. Respect and be sure of yourself. Be a good person and find the strength and courage to help others less fortunate than you.”

– Alvena Strasbourg (b.1921 Owl River, AB – d.2016), Metis Elder, author and Indigenous women’s advocate

Michele David-Roll fondly remembers her Metis relatives.

“Visiting was always fun. My uncle Lawrence would play the fiddle and my aunts were dancing all the time,” she says, recounting her childhood visits.

David-Roll comes from a long line of fiercely determined Metis women.

Her late aunt Alvena Strasbourg authored ‘Memories of a Metis Woman: Fort McMurray Yesterday and Today’, which recounts raising children in Alberta’s backcountry, learning to trap and hunt to feed her children and once defending her family from a threatening bear. Strasbourg and sister Lucille McLeod both went on to be advocates for Indigenous women in northern Alberta’s growing labour force.

A lifelong Hatter, David-Roll has followed in her relatives’ footsteps of building a life of purpose.

Raising an only child, at one time David-Roll and her son Ryley spent a little over a year living with another family. After moving back into their own home, Ryley missed his playmates and asked his mother for siblings.

“I thought, ‘How can we do this?’ Because I was single then,” recalls David-Roll. Her son’s wish led her to becoming a foster parent, caring for 37 children over 19 years.

Work colleagues introduced Michele David to Mike Roll, who was not at all deterred by a busy household. The pair are approaching their 15th wedding anniversary.

David-Roll encouraged an active lifestyle in her son and foster children.

“I’ve always been athletic. I began competing in the Alberta Marlin Aquatic Club in Girls’ 8 and under swim,” she remembers. “So we tried soccer, we tried baseball, lots and lots of hockey. Now my son bikes and skis and hikes, he’s very outdoorsy.”

Upon retirement from 32 years as a civil servant with Canada Post, David-Roll found herself with more time to follow her own pursuits. She teaches Brazilian embroidery reminiscent of Metis beading patterns, keeps active with resistance training, swimming and enjoys long bike rides with her husband.

“He’s a good support for me,” she says of Mike.

In 2017, the couple travelled to Utah for competition in the Huntsman World Senior Games. David-Roll entered several swimming contests and emerged with three gold medals, four silver and a bronze. Her star in senior athletics was born.

On Sept, 1, the News profiled the swimmer for her quadruple gold medal finishes Aug. 24-26 at the Canada 55+ Games in Tk’emlups, ‘where the rivers meet’, modern-day Kamloops.

David-Roll claimed victories in the 100-metre backstroke and breaststroke, and 50- and 100-metre freestyle. Those wins followed qualifying races in June in this writer’s hometown of Peace River, where she brought home four gold medals at that swim meet as well. Returning to competition after a shoulder surgery the year prior makes the senior athlete’s achievements all the more extraordinary.

“I like the feeling of being in the water, the smooth floating in the water,” shares the swimmer. “It has been a journey. I did a whole bunch of other different sports but always fell back in the water. Now with old injuries, it’s easy on my body.”

Between races in Kamloops, David-Roll took to the water for a memorial swim in honour of the children who lost their lives at residential schools. Cree Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild, Mahihgan Pimoteyw, ‘Walking Wolf’, a residential school survivor and former commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, draped orange shirts across two starting blocks and addressed those gathered before joining the swimmers.

“He stressed the importance of sports as a uniting force and a way of bringing people together,” recalls David-Roll. “I felt honoured to participate in that swim.”

David-Roll is proof that leading a life of purpose never slows down. At just 62 and already garnering much acclaim among her athletic peers, the gold medalist intends to continue making waves in the world of mature sport.

“Honour the blessing that you have physically and then combine it with the mental and the physical and the cultural, so that you have a wholesome foundation for life.”

– Cree Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild, Mahihgan Pimoteyw, ‘Walking Wolf’ (b.1944 Maskwacis, AB)

Be the River

What if I don’t want to be a warrior?

What if I’m tired?

Be the River.

Flow gently but with intention.

Because water gently smooths the jagged rocks.

The most meaningful gestures are made over time.

We are women, mostly subtle but fiercely powerful.

We can change everything.

– Dawn Iestoseranon:nha (She Keeps the Feathers),

Mohawk Knowledge Keeper