Across the Métis Homeland, Métis have used petitions as a tool to collectively protect their interests across the 1800s. From the 1840 Penetanguishene Petition in the wake of the relocation from Drummond Island to the 1882 Batoche Petition in the prelude to the Northwest Resistance and beyond, petitions were a prevalent political tool that Métis reached for to assert their distinct identity and defend their rights. Another example from Moose Factory in 1905, where a group of

Métis political organization extended beyond formal settings like councils or petitions; it was also embedded in the shared responsibilities, customs, and laws that governed daily life, including how communities practiced land-based harvesting. Across the Métis Homeland, Métis people followed land stewardship practices that helped protect the resources their families depended on. In some places, these rules were complex and formally documented, such as the Laws of the Buffalo

Across the Métis Homeland, Métis communities’ deep seasonal knowledge has enabled them to practice a distinct way of life and sustain themselves from the lands and waters of their traditional territories for generations. However, many newcomers to their territories, such as Ontario settler families, didn’t possess the same knowledge and skills and often struggled to survive within their new homes. St. Joseph Island settler, Christy Ann Simons, was one such newcomer. Speaking

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

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. To guide these eventual negotiations, Founding Delegates also adopted resolutions articulating foundational Métis values, including strong direction that conservation and preservation become primary aims and objectives in any future Métis harvesting agreement: “The

The Upper Great Lakes Métis have been consistently recognized as a proud and distinct collectivity across generations, leaving a clear and repeated impression on those who travelled through the region. In the 1830s, for example, British writer Anna Jameson documented her journey through Georgian Bay, describing the Métis men in her party as, “picked men… young, well-looking, full of glee and good-nature, with untiring arms and more untiring lungs and spirits.” Jameson’s accou