THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - For more than a decade, Ria Coleman, a craftsperson in Fort Smith, has been making a unique item – miniature versions of Metis sashes.

Ria Coleman, a craftsperson is Fort Smith, is best known for her miniature versions of Metis sashes, which she makes on a beading loom. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

She started making the mini-sashes in 1999 as a way for people to show Metis pride and support for negotiations just begun by the South Slave Metis.

"I'm very proud of my Metis history and glad that I could bring this to the people," said Coleman, who describes her craft as a passion and a hobby.

The mini-sashes are designed to be worn on lapels, like the ribbons which express support for people with breast cancer.

Metis people were very happy to see the mini-sashes, she said. "Instead of walking down the street with a big, full sash, you could put it on your lapel and use it every day, instead of just at a wedding or a graduation or something where you would wear the ceremonial big sash."

Coleman got the idea for the mini-sashes after seeing one in Calgary.

However, she then had to figure out how to make them.

She made her first one on a dream catcher hoop, she recalled. "It took many, many hours and it was very cumbersome because it was on a hoop. So I took that idea and put it onto a beading loom, and the beading loom was a lot easier to work with. I could move the sash as I was making it, and it's just like a mini table loom or mini floor loom."

It was only afterwards she learned how to use a table loom and a floor loom, and how to make full-size sashes.

"When I moved over to the real table loom, I caught on very quickly because I was already doing it on a small scale," she said.

Coleman – a married mother of four – makes only three or four full-size sashes a year because they take so much time to create.

Coleman is not exactly sure how many mini-sashes she has made over the years, but estimates it has to be at least 500 or more. They are now for sale at North of 60 Bookstore.

The sash, which originated with the voyageurs, is one of the main symbols of the Metis people, along with the fiddle and the infinity flag, she said. "It's very important that I recognize my history and contribute something to it by keeping Metis pride strong and alive."

She said people now seem to wear the mini-sashes only on special occasions, such as graduations, weddings or funerals.

Coleman also does a number of other crafts, including creating intricate designs in wood using a scroll saw and crocheting.

"When I do my crafting, it's like a meditation," she said. "So it's personally beneficial to myself."

Along with crafts, she has also started storytelling in the last few years and sits on the board of Northern Life Museum as a representative of the Fort Smith Metis Council.

Coleman, 40, also enjoys her full-time job as an interpretation and visitor experience officer with Wood Buffalo National Park.

"I take great pride in working for the park because I have a passion for the buffalo and the whooping crane, and have a passion for all living animals," she said.

Coleman has been working for the park for 10 years, after completing what was then called the Renewable Resources Technology Program at Aurora College.

This year for the first time, she is supervising eight positions, which are producing and delivering programs, and running the park's visitor centre.

When she started working at the park, Coleman was doing frontline work – greeting visitors, delivering programs and leading guided hikes. In her current role, she does not have as much interaction with visitors.

Coleman said she remembers as a child going through the park and thinking she would like to work with the animals.

One day when she was about eight years old, a couple of park employees came to her school to talk to students, she said. "I remember thinking, 'I'm going to be you one day. I want to teach the kids about these animals.'"