Throughout the fur trade era, Métis employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company—such as Thomas Favill, Nicholas Chatelain, William Sinclair, William McKay, Bte. Jourdain, and Joseph Guimond—held numerous and diverse occupations in the Rainy Lake region. Métis workers often served as versatile jacks-of-all-trades alongside non-Métis apprentices, post-masters, and clerks. Diverse Métis occupations included fishery operations, net making, hunting, cutting cord-w

Throughout the 19th century fur trade, Métis fishing was essential to the survival of Hudson’s Bay Company posts at Lac la Pluie (Fort...

In the late 1700s, the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company began establishing fur trade posts in the Lac la Pluie and Rat Portage areas—present day Rainy Lake and Kenora. Daily post journals recorded many of the activities in the region. This included fishing by local Métis. Like many Métis communities in the Upper Great Lakes and farther west, Métis in the Lac la Pluie region were actively employed in commercial fishing activities that were essential to provisioning

The Métis National Council (MNC) intervened at the Supreme Court of Canada in support of Steve and Roddy Powley and the historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community. This intervention was presented by MNC Co-Counsel, Clement Chartier, at the Supreme Court. In its submission, the MNC states that, “the Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie is a part of the Métis Nation,” situated within a broader Métis community in the Upper Great Lakes, and “is one of the oldest and well-recognized

In 2004, the Métis Nation of Ontario signed a landmark interim Harvesting Agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The...

In 1875, the Métis of Rainy River and Rainy Lake (the area around present-day Fort Frances) signed the “Half-Breed Adhesion to Treaty No....