Métis people have long used their deep place-based knowledge to secure gainful employment and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families. One of the most common Métis place-based professions was guiding. By the turn of the twentieth century, Métis in the Mattawa region were well known for their roles as expert guides for visiting anglers and hunters. As the century progressed, some worked as canoe trip guides for summer camps. The expert skill of these Métis guides h

On October 7, 2004—exactly three months after the signing of the Métis Nation of Ontario’s landmark interim Harvesting Agreement—Ontario...

On July 7, 2004, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources made history together by signing the first-ever negotiated agreement recognizing Métis harvesting rights anywhere in the Métis homeland. Known as the “Four Points Agreement,” the interim Harvesting Agreement emerged less than a year after the Supreme Court of Canada’s historic decision in R. v. Powley (2003). The Supreme Court’s unanimous Powley ruling made it clear: historic Mé

On September 3, 1865 a group of Métis living in Mattawa petitioned alongside their Roman Catholic First Nations neighbours for additional religious services in their community. Like many Métis people across the Métis Homeland, much of the Mattawa Historic Métis Community were devout Roman Catholics. Likely prepared with the assistance of visiting missionaries, the 1865 Mattawa petition was submitted collectively by “des sauvages de Mattawa”—a French term, generally translat

On June 23, 1880, Métis and First Nations in northern Lake Superior submitted a petition as the “Indians and half breeds of the Pic River, Lake Superior,” requesting lands on which they could settle and “better their condition.” Two weeks later—on July 6, 1880—the nearby “Indians and half-breeds” on Lake Nipigon petitioned for money to pay a schoolteacher. This was followed by a similar petition the next week—July 13, 1880—by the “Indians and half breeds of Lake Helen near th

In response to the unjust prosecution of Métis harvesters, the Métis Nation of Ontario’s 1994 Founding Delegates Assembly adopted several resolutions to defend the exercise of inherent Métis harvesting rights and pursue negotiated harvesting agreements within the province. At the same time, MNO’s Founding Delegates also adopted numerous shared Métis values intended to guide the Métis Nation of Ontario’s subsequent negotiations and legal rights recognition strategies. This inc