ONTARIO MÉTIS FACTS

Telling Our Stories and Histories.

Learn the facts about rights-bearing Métis communities in Ontario. All the images, videos, and original source materials you need with none of the spin.

Featured Stories

Métis Political Advocacy in Nipigon

Métis in the Nipigon area have maintained a deep sense of their distinct Métis identity and community, organizing and acting collectively across many generations. In 1880, for example, Métis in the Nipigon area signed several petitions in which they identified themselves as “half-breeds”, distinct from their First Nations relatives and neighbours. The first petition, submitted by the “Indians and half breeds of the Pic River,” requested reserve lands. Another petition fro

Métis Fishing and Resistance in Nipigon

For generations, family fishing—including commercial fishing—has been an important component of the Upper Great Lakes’ Northern Lake Superior Historic Métis Community’s traditional Métis way of life, including for the numerous Métis families living around Lake Nipigon. The Nipigon-area’s prominent Métis de Laronde family, for example, has practiced a Métis way of life rooted in the region’s lands and waters for generations. The de Laronde’s fishing traditions are immortalized

Métis Youth Entrepreneurship

Métis youth have a long history of entrepreneurship, often leading to long and successful careers as independent businesspeople and Métis community leaders. One such young Métis entrepreneur was the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s Lewis (Louie) Solomon. While “it was the fond hope of the family that Louie would succeed his father in the Government service as Indian interpreter,” Lewis would later recall that it was his early experiences joining his father on work assignments t

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Newest Stories

Louis George Labatte: Capture of Fort Mackinac

During the War of 1812, many Indigenous peoples and nations in the Upper Great Lakes formed alliances with and fought alongside the British to defend against American expansion into their homelands. This history of military service is reflected in the creation of the Mackinaw jacket by Métis women and in stories passed down about a legendary capture of two American schooners. Louis George Labatte, a Métis born and raised in the world of the Upper Great Lakes fur trade, is rec

Swain’s Red River Jigs

Jimmy Swain served as a Métis head guide during the 1905 Treaty 9 expedition, drawing on deep knowledge of northern Ontario and western James Bay’s lands and waters. Born in northwestern Ontario, he later lived, worked, and married in the regions the treaty commissioners travelled through, making his experience central to the success of the journey. Swain brought his fiddle along, using it to connect with fellow travelers by playing “far on in the night.” Around the camp, Swa

“inordinately proud”

During the 1905 Treaty 9 expedition, Métis head guide Jimmy Swain helped lead treaty commissioners through northern Ontario and western James Bay regions. Born in northwestern Ontario, Swain spent much of his life living and working in the expedition’s regions, developing the knowledge needed to lead others through the difficult country. On a trip where every item was packed with intention, Swain brought his fiddle. The instrument was fragile and personal, and while it may n