The Roussain family, from the historic Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie, have been prominent advocates and organizers throughout Métis history, from the Upper Great Lakes to the Red River. In 1816, for example, Eustace Roussain rallied Métis in the Upper Great Lakes to support Cuthbert Grant’s efforts against Lord Selkirk’s troops in the Red River, culminating in the Battle of Seven Oaks. Eustace was later charged for his role in the conflict. Louise Roussain, another Saul

Elizabeth Turner was baptized at Moose Factory on June 30, 1822, alongside her brothers, Joseph Jr. and Philip. Elizabeth grew up immersed in the rich and dynamic world of the fur trade. Her father, Joseph Turner Sr., was a lifelong and dedicated servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Her mother, Emma, was a skilled Métis woman who raised her children within her Métis traditions on the western shores of James Bay. As the Turner siblings entered adulthood, Elizabeth’s brot

While some members of the Nolin family moved further west to Red River in the last years of the 1810s, others remained in Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Great Lakes where they continued to play important roles in their Métis community for generations to come. Adolphus and Marie Madeline Nolin, for example, remained in Sault Ste. Marie and married into the Sayer and Corbiere families—both prominent Métis families in the area. They eventually settled onto the same River Lots t

While Métis people hold diverse spiritual beliefs, many Métis in the Upper Great Lakes— like other Métis communities throughout the Métis Nation Homeland—practiced the Catholic faith. An 1893 visitor to Killarney, for example, described the community as consisting of “many half breeds at Killarney, mostly French and Roman Catholic, and there is a small Roman Catholic church.” With few churches in the Upper Great Lakes during the early 1800s, Métis travelled long distances