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

Marguerite Guilmond, the Métis matriarch of the well-known Métis Boissonneau family, was a Métis woman originally from the English River region in present-day Manitoba. As a young adult, Marguerite fell in love with Joseph Boissonneau. Joseph was born in Lower Canada in 1787 but eventually made his way westward—first to St. Joseph Island in the Upper Great Lakes before continuing farther west, where he met Marguerite. Marguerite and Joseph soon started a family together. By t

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 communities across the Homeland were active in the fur trade and significant contributors to the essential ‘overwintering’ practice. Overwintering involved living and working at remote fur trade posts throughout the winter months, often with only a few other employees and companions. While canoe brigades and seasonal traders would return to their home bases, overwinterers would continue living near and conducting commerce with First Nations trappers, trading en déroine

After the War of 1812, the Nolin family began to expand their connections and influence westward beyond the family’s home at Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Great Lakes. Louis Nolin, the eldest son of Jean Baptiste and Marie Angelique, moved westward to the Red River settlement, where he became an interpreter for Lord Selkirk and the Hudson’s Bay Company. This was a crucial role, as the Red River area was a center of growing tension between the Métis, European settlers, and f