Mary Minnie Vincent, daughter of Abitibi Inland Métis Community leader Thomas Vincent, was recorded in the 1921 census living in Chapleau with her husband and children. In the same 1921 census record, Mary Minnie is recorded as speaking both English and “Indian.” This ability to move between languages reflects how historically the Métis people were polylingual. In the case of Mary Minnie, it also highlights the important role many Métis women held within their families, comm

Around the shores of the Upper Great Lakes, Métis women were far more than mothers and wives. They played vital roles in supporting their families, communities, and local economies. Through their labour and skills, Métis women helped sustain the Métis way of life, contributing to harvesting, preparing and preserving food, crafting goods, and serving as translators between Indigenous and settler communities. Their work strengthened both household stability and broader communit

DOWNLOAD THE DIGITAL COLOURING PAGE TO PRINT AT HOME In 1828, Métis mother Angelique Lepine, her family, and Métis community were forced to leave their home on Drummond Island. They boarded a sailing ship with all their belongings and set off on a long, cold journey to their new home in Penetanguishene. One night, a fierce November storm struck, and the ship ran aground. Thinking quickly, Angelique tied herself and her baby to the mast, bravely enduring the wind and rain unti

Angelique Lepine (nee Cadotte) was a Métis woman born in the Upper Great Lakes in the early 1800s. As a young woman, she married Pierre Lepine, a French-Canadian. Soon after, the couple welcomed their first child, Therise, into the world. However, that world was one of upheaval for Angelique’s Métis community. In 1828, Angelique, her husband, and their baby daughter were among the many Métis families forced to relocate from their homes on Drummond Island after the British ced

Sara Mary Moore was born in Moose Factory in 1818. Her Métis father, George Moore Jr., was a steersman with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), who had entered the company’s employ as a labourer half a decade earlier. George and his wife, Emma, raised Sara Mary within the vibrant Métis fur trade world of traders, guides, and woodsmen along western James Bay. In 1833, George briefly moved east “to Canada” before retiring to the Red River in 1834. Then, about 16, Sara Mary moved

Métis across the Homeland have consistently demonstrated pride through significant accomplishments and simple everyday actions. Many Métis individuals have shared stories that reflect these points of pride in contributions to their Métis family and community life. Elizabeth Longlade (née Dusome) was one such Métis matriarch from the Georgian Bay Métis Community, centred at Penetanguishene, in the Upper Great Lakes, who shared her life’s story and points of quiet personal prid