While harvesting for food and furs occurred throughout the year around Northern Lake Superior, it took expert knowledge of the waters and lands to harvest throughout the notoriously harsh winters—knowledge that Métis, born and raised in the region, were well-equipped with. For instance, the 1858 Michipicoten post journal identifies six out of the post’s nine post harvesters as Métis. Like many fur trade posts, Michipicoten relied heavily on skilled Métis harvesters to conduc

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 Georgian Bay Métis Community’s distinct way of life, grounded in the region’s abundant lands and waters, has faced numerous threats by settlers from the south for generations. The 1885 Ontario Fisheries Act, for example, attempted to place restrictions on some of the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s most culturally and economically important practices. In response, Métis fishermen, such as William Dusome, organized acts of resistance. By the turn of the twentieth centur

In the late 1700s, the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company began establishing fur trade posts in the Lac la Pluie and Rat Portage areas—present day Rainy Lake and Kenora. Daily post journals recorded many of the activities in the region. This included fishing by local Métis. Like many Métis communities in the Upper Great Lakes and farther west, Métis in the Lac la Pluie region were actively employed in commercial fishing activities that were essential to provisioning

Like many Métis, the Métis of the Abitibi Inland and western James Bay regions began transitioning away from traditional fur trade occupations in the early 20th century. Many entered employment in new and rapidly growing regional industries such as the railroad and forestry. Despite these profound economic changes, hunting remained an integral part of life for the Abitibi Inland Métis Community. The continued practice and importance of the Abitibi Inland Métis Community’s tra

On November 16, 2004, the Métis Nation of Ontario and Chiefs of Ontario signed a historic Political Protocol Agreement. The Agreement was created in recognition that, “First Nations and Métis peoples within Ontario have a history of respecting and recognizing each others interests, as well as, working in partnership and cooperation, as neighbours and relations, in support of each others interests and aspirations”. Its purpose was to, “affirm mutual respect, recognition and s