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Furthermore, Cheechum stood as a symbol for Campbell's sense of cultural identification. The great-grandmother consistently reminded Campbell to be proud of her Metis heritage and played a major role in her rehabilitation near the end of the memoir. Cheechum inspired Campbell to seek purpose in her life and strive for solidarity within her Metis community. .
In the beginning of her memoir, "Halfbreed," Campbell's writing revolved around her sense of belonging to her community: "I grew up with some really funny, wonderful, fantastic people and they are as real to me today as they were then. How I love and them and miss them!" Even though Campbell had a sense of identity due to her belonging within her Metis community she still subsequently experienced racism at the newly built school at Spring River. Many White children would taunt the Metis children for having shabby clothing and poor diets. .
Campbell described the school as being a "mixed school", where "whites" and "halfbreeds" were together for the first time but physically separated by sitting at opposite ends of the classroom. With racism being presented to her at school Campbell began to question her Metis heritage because of the embarrassment and shame she experienced due to the remarks and taunting of the White children. Campbell would then return home upset with her parents and refer to them as "no-good half-breeds." This is the first indication where Campbell began to separate herself from her community. Likewise, while living in Vancouver, Campbell made efforts to avoid Native people, as she admitted of being shameful of her ancestry and made reference to "the blanket" which Cheechum informed her about. The blanket was a metaphor to hide from the shame and Campbell began to wear "the blanket" in attempts to cover her shame of being a Halfbreed and had difficulty "throwing it away.
