Métis sisters Angélique and Marguerite Nolin carried their commitment to education with them across the Métis Homeland, creating a lasting legacy for generations to come.  Raised within a strong and active Métis family along the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie, Angélique and Marguerite Nolin were sent to Montreal for their schooling. During the 1800s, being educated in Montreal was not uncommon for the Métis children of successful fur-trading families, including Louis Rie

Petitions from Métis communities across the Homeland often reflect commitments to core values such as individualism, family, and education.  In 1880, education emerged as a clear priority for Métis in northern Lake Superior. The Métis demonstrated resilience and organization by signing several petitions, in which they identified themselves as “half-breeds" and clearly articulated their community’s needs along with those of First Nations neighbours and relatives. On July 6, 18

Métis families at Moose Factory were deeply influenced by the rapid growth of the area’s Hudson’s Bay Company post. As Métis families expanded alongside the HBC post, work within the fur trade became a family enterprise. The need for education also increased, as Métis children prepared for their own fur trade careers, leading to the establishment of a local school. The Moose Factory school began modestly as a one-room schoolhouse, but it soon became a notable foundation for M

Born into a Métis fur-trading family at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Matawagamingue post in 1845, John Saunders learned a self-sufficient, community-oriented way of life from an early age, rooted in the surrounding lands and waters.  After spending his early years learning with his family on the land, when John was about nine years old, his parents sent him to live with his grandmother at Moose Factory, where he could begin receiving a more formal education. There, John attende

Familial relationships, including those between brothers and sisters, are the glue that binds Métis communities together and the bedrock that distinguishes the Métis from other communities. These foundational connections, such as those within the Turner family of Moose Factory, can often grow and evolve across geography and time, connecting siblings and their extended families across generations. On June 30, 1822, three Turner siblings, Philip, Joseph Jr., and Elizabeth, were

Service, love, and connection are first learned within Métis families, where bonds between siblings form some of the strongest and most enduring relationships. Raised together through shared experiences, responsibilities, and traditions, Métis brothers and sisters carry these ties throughout their lives, strengthening their families and communities across generations. Growing up together in a tight-knit Métis family near Sault Ste. Marie, the Bussineau siblings were deeply sh