Métis women played an essential role in provisioning the fur trade posts of the Abitibi Inland and western James Bay regions. Métis women from the Abitibi Inland Métis Community are documented hunting, trapping, and snaring a variety of birds and game, including geese, partridges, beaver, martins, and rabbits. Fishing—especially for whitefish—was common too. In addition to hunting, snaring, and fishing, Métis women actively participated in maple sugar production, as well as o

Métis people have long used their deep place-based knowledge to secure gainful employment and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families. One of the most common Métis place-based professions was guiding. By the turn of the twentieth century, Métis in the Mattawa region were well known for their roles as expert guides for visiting anglers and hunters. As the century progressed, some worked as canoe trip guides for summer camps. The expert skill of these Métis guides h

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

Throughout history, travelling between Métis communities has been an important part of maintaining economic, political, cultural, and kinship connections. While canoes were a common means of transportation throughout the lakes and river systems of the Métis Homeland, they became increasingly dangerous in winter. When lakes began to freeze, canoe routes became difficult or impossible to navigate, and cold temperatures made birch bark canoes brittle. This meant that many Métis

Hyppolite Brissette’s fur trade career began in 1817 when he signed a three-year contract with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) as a “middleman” in a canoe brigade. With that commitment, Hyppolite began a decades-long fur trade career that took him across the Métis Homeland. Hyppolite’s first journey ended at Cumberland House, an HBC post in Saskatchewan. Cumberland House was a key stop for boat brigades heading west into the fur-rich Athabasca region, known for pemmican prod

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