Métis across the Homeland relied on fishing for sustenance throughout the year. Not only did fishing provide food to Métis communities, but it was also relied upon by many as an essential economic practice.  During the winter months, Métis along Northern Lake Superior had to be creative if they were going to continue fishing on the frozen lakes and waterways. One common practice was ice spearfishing. In January 1840, for instance, an ice spear fishery in Michipicoten Bay yiel

George Harvey was born on December 16, 1856 at Michipicoten on Lake Superior to a Métis mother, Jane Flett, and Scottish Hudson Bay Company employee, Alexander Harvey.  The next year, the Harvey family moved north to Moose Factory on James Bay, where the young George spent many of his formative years deeply engrained within the region’s bustling fur trade economy and growing Métis community.  In 1870, when George was just 13 years old, he was sent to Stromness in Scotland’s O

From kitchen parties, to soirees, and holiday dances, Métis across the Homeland are known for their love of having a good time in the company of friends and family.  Once such “ball” was recorded at the Hudson Bay Company’s Michipicoten Post on October 9, 1849 by Indian Officer Thomas G. Anderson, who was travelling in the region in preparation for the forthcoming treaties with the Anishinaabe. In his diary, Anderson described the lively festivities that erupted between the M

Across the Homeland, Métis are well known and highly regarded for their deep generosity and warm hospitality to neighbours, visitors, and...

The Hudson Bay Company’s Michipicoten Post on Lake Superior was a strategically important fur trade hub, located halfway between Sault Ste. Marie and Fort William and along the Michipicoten River route to Moose Factory on James Bay. In addition to facilitating the lucrative flow of trade goods in numerous directions, Michipicoten became an important intersection point for numerous Métis family and trade networks along both the north-south and east-west travel routes on which

During R. v. Powley’s  successful ten-year legal battle, Métis Nation governments rallied together behind the Powley family and their Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community.  The Métis Nation, for example, intervened at the Supreme Court of Canada through the Métis National Council to affirm the unanimous position of Métis Governments across the Homeland that the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community and Powley family are, “part of the larger Métis Nation”. While acknowledging that the