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

Métis communities have long been known for their generosity in peoples’ times of need, even when facing immense hardships themselves. Despite the Treaty commissioner’s promise to protect the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community’s rights, for example, Métis families were displaced from their lands on the St. Mary’s River following their exclusion from the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty. Many were forced to relocate over the next decades as Canada and Ontario opened the region to settl

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

The generosity of Métis people has long contributed to the building of their own Métis communities and others around them from the ground up, such as the construction of the church of The Sacred Heart in Sault Ste. Marie. In 1835, the Métis of Sault Ste. Marie successfully petitioned the Catholic bishop for permission to construct a new church on the north side of the St. Marys River, near their River Lot settlement. As a community, they not only took the initiative to advoca

The Métis Nation of Ontario’s Statement of Prime Purpose is a declaration of Métis values and a vision for contemporary Métis self-government. It memorializes the Métis history, culture, and generosity that have sustained and inspired generations of Métis people in what is now Ontario. The value of generosity runs deep through Métis communities historically and into the present day. It can be found in the harvester who provides for the larger community through a successful a