For generations, Métis across the Homeland, including the Georgian Bay Métis Community in the Upper Great Lakes, have relied on fishing to provide sustenance. Ice fishing was a common and important way to keep Métis families and communities fed in the winter months. An article in the Ann Arbour Register from October 12, 1893, for example, highlights the distinctive and effective ice fishing methods used by Métis in the Upper Great Lakes: “I visited Georgian bay, a part of

For generations, Métis in the Upper Great Lakes have used their deep connection to and knowledge of the waters to earn a living for their families, creating prosperity through water-based professions like captaining, guiding, and commercial fishing. Boat building became another vital livelihood for many Métis families around Georgian Bay as government regulation, settler tourism, and broader economic changes caused traditional Métis economies to decline in the late 19th and e

The Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Rat Portage was the northernmost outpost at Lake of the Woods, near present-day Kenora. For generations, it served as the bridge between the traders of the Red River and the Upper Great Lakes. George L. Huyshe, a solider in Colonel Garnet Wolseley’s 1870 expeditionary force to the Red River, described the post at Rat Portage as: “a small affair, three log houses roofed with bark and enclosed by a high wooden palisading. The Company maintain

As the fur trade declined, fishing became the primary occupation of many Métis in the Upper Great Lakes. This included the “little” Métis village at Killarney that relied upon the bountiful surrounding waters to feed their community and generate an ongoing income. Over the generations, many visitors to the area described the Métis fishing economy in Killarney, including their collective advocacy around the protection of Métis fishing rights that date back to as early as 1838.

Like many other Métis communities, the Métis of the Upper Great Lakes relied on the bounty of their surrounding waterways for sustenance and survival. Many Métis were known as skilled fishermen, who used their expertise to feed their families and generate economic prosperity for their Métis communities. An article in the Ann Arbour Register from October 12, 1893, for example, celebrates Métis fishermen on Georgian Bay, who were “skilled hunters and know many curious habit

While the term “Métis” is most commonly used today to recognize the culturally and politically distinct communities that emerged from Ontario westward beginning in the late 1700s, other terms such as “Halfbreed” or variations of it have also been used historically by both outsiders and the Métis communities themselves, particularly when advocating against Canadian territorial expansion. In many cases, throughout history, the terms “Métis” and “Halfbreed” have been used inte