Commemorating the 1850 Sault Ste. Marie Métis Petition
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Oct 20
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 24
On October 21, 1850, Treaty Commissioner William B. Robinson delivered a petition to the Crown on behalf of the Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie seeking recognition and protections for their River Lot homes along the St. Marys River.
The 1850 Sault Ste. Marie Métis Petition was penned following the advice Treaty Commissioner Robinson gave the Métis during the recent Robinson-Huron Treaty negotiations, after asserting he “had no power to give them free grants of land” as part of the treaty-making process.
The 1850 Sault Ste. Marie Métis Petition reads:
To His Excellency the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, Governor General of British North America and Captain General of Her Majesty’s Forces therein &c. &c. &c.
The Petition of the Undersigned Inhabitants of the village of Sault Ste. Marie.
Humbly Sheweth:
That Your Excellency’s Petitioners, with the exception of some five or six, are all of mixed Indian Blood and have been born upon the soil that Each of them has held, occupied and cultivated the land, wherein they now reside for very many years, most of them having inherited their possessions from their mothers, and the residue having purchased from half-breeds or Indians. That the five or six, from above referred to, came to the Country some thirty or forty years since, and married Indian women, through whom they acquired their said possessions respectively, which they have occupied and cultivated ever since, that they all served the Crown during the last War, most of them having been present at the taking of Mackinac, and that some of them even received a Grant of Land from the Crown for their services:
Your Excellency’s Petitioners therefore humbly pray that they will not be disturbed in their possessions, lives or boundaries, or, in any way molested, and that Your Excellency will be pleased to cause their several possessions to be confirmed to them by a free Grant from the Crown:
And Your Excellency’s Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
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