ONTARIO MÉTIS FACTS

The marriage of Charles Roussain and Elizabeth Turner reflects the deep traditions of kinship, leadership, and community responsibility that have long defined Métis family life. Their union brought together two families with enduring legacies of defending Métis rights, sovereignty, and identity across the Métis Homeland. Charles Roussain was born around 1820 and raised along the shores of Sault Ste. Marie. The Roussain family was known for its long-standing role as Métis advo

Francois Boissonneau’s marriage to Marie Corbiere, the daughter of John Corbiere and Marie Madeleine Nolin, united two Métis families deeply rooted in their community of Sault Ste. Marie. Their marriage reflected the enduring kinship networks that sustained the collective identity of the Upper Great Lakes Métis throughout the nineteenth century. Born in 1836 to Joseph Boissonneau and Marguerite Gilmont, Francois was raised within the local Métis community and grew into a well

In 1842, John Corberiere and Marie Madeline Nolin of Sault Ste. Marie were married at Ste. Croix, a church located at Wikwemikong to the southwest of Killarney. Their wedding was witnessed by Charles Lamorandiere, whose family had established the “little Métis village” at Killarney. Because of the scarcity of churches in the Upper Great Lakes region in the early 1800s, Métis people often traveled long distances for these important life events and to witness them alongside fam