For Métis communities across the historic North-West, music has always been a vibrant, continuous thread woven through daily life, setting the tone for both family gatherings and large community celebrations.  One such event took place on New Year’s Day in 1859 at Moose Factory. A festive celebration of music and dance took an unexpected turn when a fight broke out among the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Métis or “Halfbreed” and Norwegian employees. The story of the Moose Factory Fi

Whether through their work as guides, the sharing of harvests, or advocacy for their rights, the many customs of Métis life in northern Ontario have been observed and recorded across generations.  Again and again, observers have remarked on Métis people who celebrated their community and culture openly, without shame, and with an unmistakable sense of pride. Métis gatherings were social occasions and the embodiment of belonging. One such moment was recorded by a visitor who a

The Swanson family has been an active part of the Upper Great Lakes and Abitibi Inland regions for generations. As Hudson’s Bay Company employees and community advocates, they left a significant mark on the region, though not without facing resistance along the way. While six of William Swanson and Frances Robinson’s Métis sons travelled throughout the region and beyond, continuing the family’s work with the HBC, their Métis daughters remained in the Abitibi Inland area. Ther

The Métis community in Moose Factory took care of one another and those around them during times when resources were scarce and winters were long.  Valentine Saunders, for example, worked diligently to provide for his large Métis family of seventeen children, establishing a hunting camp and using his skills to harvest hares, fish, and other game to ensure their well-being. This was essential given the challenges of provisioning such a remote location, which his son, John Saun

John Saunders was a Métis storyteller from the Abitibi Inland Métis Community, born in 1845 at Matawagamingue—a small inland Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) post. In his 1867 autobiography, John documented stories from his upbringing and early career, casting light on both his Métis community and the fur trade world within which he grew up.  With his Métis family, John spent his early years immersed in the fur trade world, watching his father Valentine practice essential tradition

Métis communities across the Homeland were active in the fur trade and significant contributors to the essential ‘overwintering’ practice. Overwintering involved living and working at remote fur trade posts throughout the winter months, often with only a few other employees and companions.  While canoe brigades and seasonal traders would return to their home bases, overwinterers would continue living near and conducting commerce with First Nations trappers, trading en déroine