Métis in the Nipigon area have maintained a deep sense of their distinct Métis identity and community, organizing and acting collectively across many generations. In 1880, for example, Métis in the Nipigon area signed several petitions in which they identified themselves as “half-breeds”, distinct from their First Nations relatives and neighbours. The first petition, submitted by the “Indians and half breeds of the Pic River,” requested reserve lands. Another petition fro

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