Authentic Non-Métis Storytellers

Storytellers have long sustained Métis communities, celebrating the Métis way of life and safeguarding stories to be shared across generations. Non-Métis storytellers who have immersed themselves in community and captured the authentic Métis voices of their members have also contributed meaningfully to this legacy.

A.C. Osborne and Christy Ann Simons are two such observers who, despite not being Métis, took great care to document the vibrant Métis lives, relationships, and experiences unfolding around them.

Osborne chronicled the lives of Métis families in and around Penetanguishene throughout his decades-long career as a local journalist and as editor of the Penetanguishene Herald. His most significant contribution, The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828, offered members of the Georgian Bay Métis Community a rare platform to share their experiences in their own voices. 

Introducing the work, Osborne takes care to note his intent to maintain his Métis interviewees’ original voices, stating the collection contains, “six of the more interesting personal narratives… presented, almost, or as nearly as possible, in their own words…”

One of those voices was Angelique Langlade. True to his intent, Osborne chose to present her “mixed dialect” almost verbatim, describing it as “picturesque and pointed.” This deliberate choice offers remarkable insight into both Osborne and Angelique’s characters and the distinct speech patterns of that time and place.

Similarly, Christy Ann Simons, in her 1951 autobiography, In the Beginning, offered a unique view of Métis life on St. Joseph’s Island, just south of Sault Ste. Marie, as well as the profound impact Métis families had on her during her upbringing. 

When sending the completed manuscript to her grandniece, Anne, for instance, Simons explained, “I have taken 2 days to [marshal] my memories of long ago… I have a sufficient array of [fact] arranged…” She also reminds readers that her narrative represents her personal perspective, writing, “Remember this is just a story of our family and of the Island as we saw it.”

Simons describes moments of Métis hospitality and generosity as she remembers them, sometimes catching herself “sidetracked” by vivid memories. 

Like Osborne, Christy Ann Simons made efforts to elevate Métis voices. When recounting her mother’s experience traveling to Bruce Mines for supplies, for example, her mother recalled a Métis man who ferried her across without charge. When she asked why he refused payment yet declined to help other non-Métis families, he replied, “You treat us like we are people. They treat us as if they are better than us, and we are nothing. We no like.”

Together, the writings of A.C. Osborne and Chrity Ann Simons preserve a vital record of Métis presence, resilience, and community life, ensuring these stories continue to be heard, valued, and carried forward for future generations.

See Our Sources

• The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828

• In the Beginning, Christy Ann Simons, 1951

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