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 Labatte family’s story of relocation from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene was filled with years of movement, adaptability, and resilience.  Originally departing Drummond Island for Penetanguishene in 1827, the Labattes once again boarded a steamer, the Penetanguishene , in 1834 intending to take up a nearby land grant that they had been awarded for military service during the War of 1812.  But the unpredictable late-autumn waters of Georgian Bay had other plans. A stor

Michael Labatte’s life reflected the patterns of travel, endurance, and kinship that have long defined Métis families across the Upper Great Lakes and the larger North-West. The circumstances of his birth are themselves a testament to that resilience. Michael’s parents were Louisa Cadotte and Louis George Labatte, who along with other Métis families had established their home next to the naval base on Drummond Island. A veteran of the War of 1812, Louis George maintained long

The Métis families of Agawa Bay, along the shores of Lake Superior, share a rich and enduring history shaped by deep love, kinship, and a collective way of life.  For more than sixty years, these Métis families—the Davieauxs, Roussains, Bussineaus, and Mirons—lived closely together, building homes, raising children, and sustaining each other through hunting, fishing, and harvesting from the land and water. Their way of life was rooted in cooperation, shared responsibility, an

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

The stories of Métis communities across the Upper Great Lakes are filled not only with strength and resilience but also with the deep generosity shared between families and community members.  Reflecting on her life in A.C. Osborne’s The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828 , Métis matriarch and storyteller Rosette Boucher highlights this generosity as a defining feature of the region’s Métis identity, carried forward by her own family throug