Métis communities in what is now Ontario have relied on big game as a source of winter food for generations, with moose being amongst the most important. Many historical records document Métis hunting moose, including in the Upper Great Lakes. For example, an 1893 report by James Cleland Hamilton in The Georgian Bay: An Account of its Position, Inhabitants, Mineral Interests, Fish, Timber and Other Resources describes: “A ‘moose yard’ is then a bonanza for the hunter, genera

Métis net fishing traditions, with deep roots in the Upper Great Lakes, have played a foundational role in shaping the economic and cultural practices of Métis communities across the Métis Homeland. At the Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie, in particular, the practice of fishing using weighted nets to catch whitefish emerged as a vital subsistence and commercial activity. As Métis families from the Upper Great Lakes moved westward and travelled throughout the Métis Homeland

From the earliest days of the Métis Nation, Métis communities and their leaders have recognized the value of maintaining a unified voice across the Métis Homeland—from the Upper Great Lakes westward—and have consistently achieved shared victories for all Métis by standing together as one. Early examples of Métis organizing and collective advocacy across geographically distant Métis communities for the shared benefit of all are numerous. In 1816, for instance, Métis from a

Following the historic 2003 Powley decision, which centred on the Sault Ste. Marie Métis community’s harvestings rights, Métis communities across the Métis Homeland utilized the ruling to advance additional cases that affirmed their own Métis harvesting rights—both in the courts and through negotiations—leading to further Métis rights victories that have together benefitted all Métis people. These included court cases like R. v. Goodon (Manitoba), R. v. Laviolette (Saskatch

After the unanimous decision in the Powley case that Steve and Roddy Powley were exercising their Métis right to hunt that is protected under s. 35 of the Constitution, there became a need to identify which people were, in fact, Métis for the purposes of Constitutional rights protection in Canada. The Supreme Court determined that the appropriate way to define Métis rights in s. 35 is to modify the existing legal test used to define the Aboriginal rights of Indians [sic.],

The Métis National Council (MNC) intervened at the Supreme Court of Canada in support of Steve and Roddy Powley and the historic Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community. This intervention was presented by MNC Co-Counsel, Clement Chartier, at the Supreme Court. In its submission, the MNC states that, “the Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie is a part of the Métis Nation,” situated within a broader Métis community in the Upper Great Lakes, and “is one of the oldest and well-recognized