Weekly Crossword: Feb 24 - Feb 28, 2025
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Mar 1
- 11 min read
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Nicolas Chatelaine: “Chief” of the Half-Breeds
Métis leader Nicolas Chatelaine was born around 1795 on the shores of northern Lake Superior. While little is known about his early years, Chatelaine's involvement in significant historical events from his late teens onward is nothing short of remarkable.
Chatelaine fought for the British in the War of 1812, serving in a detachment fielded by the North West Company. Ebenezer McColl, Inspector of Indian Agencies, would later reflect on Chatelaine’s service, saying: “I understand that the amount of $250 was given to this veteran of the War of 1812 as an acknowledgment of the great services he had rendered to his Country…”
In 1824, Chatelaine began working for the Hudson’s Bay Company as an Indian interpreter at Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake), where he managed two HBC posts between 1850 and 1859.
After retiring from the HBC in 1870, Chatelaine took on the role of interpreter at Fort Frances. In 1873, he was a witness at the signing of the North West Angle Treaty (Treaty No. 3), using his influence to help secure the agreement.
Two years later, in 1875, Nicolas Chatelaine as “Chief” of the Halfbreeds of Rainy River and Rainy Lake negotiated and signed the Métis Adhesion to Treaty No. 3—the only known exception to Canada’s historic policy to not negotiate treaties with Métis—securing recognition, presents, annuities, payments, and lands for his Métis community.
When Canada failed to fulfill its treaty promises, Chatelaine continued advocating for his Métis community, signing a petition along with two of his sons, asking the government to pay the annuities promised under the Adhesion.
Seeing Canada’s lack of intent to ever implement the Métis Adhesion to Treaty No. 3, Nicolas Chatelaine applied for scrip in St. Vital, Manitoba in 1878, stating on record that he had received "promisses [sic] from the officers of the government that I was to get my scrip at Fort Francis with many other people of that locality.”
Ebeneezer McColl, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, advocated for Chatelaine’s claim, writing:
“I am of the opinion that you will be only fulfilling the spirit of your instructions by giving him the scrip in question. He is a worthy man…”
However, because Canada deemed Chatelaine to be a resident of Ontario, not of the Northwest Territories, his claim for scrip was rejected.
While seeing no just and lasting resolution of his Métis community’s claims in his lifetime, Chatelaine remained a notable and respected figure within the Rainy Lake region until his death in 1892 at nearly one hundred years old.
Reflecting on Nicolas Chatelaine’s extraordinary life in 1889, shorty before Chatelaine’s death, Inspector of Indian Agencies, Ebeneezer McColl wrote:
“Mr. Chastellaine is a French Half-Breed, one of nature's noblemen of commanding presence, being six feet four inches in height, 98 years of age and totally blind… I would therefore recommend that whether he be placed on the retired list or not, the amount paid him will not be interfered with until he is ‘gathered to his fathers’.”
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Métis Emerge “in the shadows of the HBC post”
The Métis of Rainy Lake and Rainy River—known today as the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community—are one of the many distinct Métis communities that emerged along the major waterways of west-central North America during the last decades of the 1700s.
Owing to its unique geography, Lac La Pluie (Rainy Lake) became a vital hub in the North West Company’s expansive fur trade network. Located near the height of land midway between the fur-rich Athabasca region and North West Company headquarters in Montreal, canoe brigades from both directions could complete a round-trip journey to Rainy Lake in a single season, returning home before the winter freeze-up.
As a transportation and commerce hub, Rainy Lake became a location for relationship building and deep intercultural exchange, for generations.
Even after the North West Company’s merger with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, Rainy Lake remained a district headquarters and home to a large company workforce. This was increasingly offset by a growing number of locally born “freemen” who were not employed directly by the HBC, but who were relied upon by the HBC for their knowledge of the territory and ability to deliver essential goods and services, from food provisions to language interpretation.
By the mid to late 1800s, a distinctive Métis community emerged “in the shadows of the HBC post” in what is now Northwestern Ontario. This community included the inter-connected Métis populations “in and around: Lac La Pluie (Fort Frances); Rat Portage (Kenora), Eagle Lake (Dryden/Wabigoon) and Hungry Hall (Rainy River). The Lake of the Woods area includes Rat Portage, White Fish Lake, Northwest Angle, Wabigoon and Long Sault”.
In addition to a distinct economic identity, the historic Northwestern Ontario Métis Community was extensively inter-connected through kinship connections such as marriage, as well as godparenting and witnessing relationships. The community formed its own settlements, elected its own leaders, and collectively advocated for its own political interests.
The Northwestern Ontario Métis Community also maintained deep marital and economic connections with other Métis communities and families across the Métis Homeland.
In addition to their own strongly held Métis identity, the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community also gained recognition as a distinct place-based Métis collectivity by Europeans and First Nations alike—eventually signing the 1875 Treaty 3 Half-Breed Adhesion as a distinct Métis collective.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Canada’s “less clear” Métis Rights Policy
At the time of its Confederation in 1867, Canada was comprised of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and parts of present-day Ontario extending to the height of land that lies northwest of what is now Thunder Bay.
At that time, colonial law recognized the Hudson’s Bay Company as having rights to the area known as “Rupert’s Land”—the vast expanse of west central North America that drains into Hudson’s Bay to which the Hudson’s Bay Company had been granted a Royal Charter in 1670.
In 1969, however, Canada entered negotiations with the Hudson’s Bay Company that would see it come to control the Company’s Rupert’s Land interests. Seeing the threat to their customary way of life, Métis in the Red River famously resisted Canada’s attempted land transfer—a collective Métis action known today as the Red River Resistance.
The Red River Resistance reignited Canada’s desire for a straightforward transportation route between Fort William (Thunder Bay) and the Red River, and spurred the development of the “Dawson Road” that had first been proposed by surveyor Simon J. Dawson in 1859 but had only seen approximately twenty-five miles completed in its first decade.
In 1870, Rupert’s Land was formally transferred to Canada through the Rupert’s Land and Northwest Territory Order. To ensure legal and peaceable access westward, the 1870 Order committed Canada to addressing the land claims of “Indians”—the territory’s original First Nations and Métis inhabitants. As the Supreme Court of Canada later stated:
“This meant dealing with the indigenous peoples who were living in the western territories… The government policy regarding the First Nations was to enter into treaties with the various bands, whereby they agreed to settlement of their lands in exchange for reservations of land and other promises. The government policy with respect to the Métis population ... was less clear.”
Canada’s “less clear” Métis policy was particularly complicated by the region’s unique geography. Métis living in “Keewatin”—the name given to Rupert’s Land after 1870—were eligible to receive “Half-Breed” scrip, which was Canada’s preferred method for extinguishing Métis title to the land at the time. Those living in Ontario were not.
The Métis of Rainy Lake and Rainy River (whose descendants make up what is known today as the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community) lived partially in what was then Ontario and partially in Keewatin. This resulted in some members of the Métis Community being eligible for scrip and some not—and complicated just and lasting settlement of the Métis community’s inherent rights.
While this unfairness was acknowledged—and some Métis along the Dawson Road, like Michael Morisseau, were compensated and recorded in the Dawson Route Paylists prior to treaty—Canada did not take steps to fully remedy it.
In 1873, Canada signed Treaty No. 3 with various First Nations in northwestern Ontario. While Métis individuals participated in the treaty-making process as interpreters and witnesses, the Métis community was excluded from signing.
This exclusion, in keeping with Canada’s policy to not negotiate treaties with Métis, left the Métis of Rainy Lake and Rainy River to further navigate Canada’s unfair and complicated system for the time being.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
The Métis Adhesion to Treaty Number 3
Two years after the signing of Treaty Number 3, Surveyor General John S. Dennis returned to Fort Frances for the purpose of meeting with Anishinaabe chiefs to settle reserve boundary issues. There, Dennis was met by a delegation of Métis seeking their own adhesion to Treaty No. 3.
Following short negotiations, Nicolas Chatelaine, acting as “Chief” of the “Half-breeds of Rainy River and Rainy Lake,” signed an adhesion to Treaty No. 3 on September 12, 1875, with Surveyor General Dennis who was representing “Her Majesty the Queen through the Government of the Dominion”. The 1875 “Halfbreed” Adhesion read, in part:
“The said Halfbreeds, keeping and observing on their part the terms and conditions of the said treaty shall receive compensation in the way of Reserves of land, payments, annuities and presents, in manner similar to that set forth in the several respects for the Indians in the said treaty.”
The promises in the 1875 Métis Adhesion were made to a distinct group of Métis—as Métis—not as “Indians.”
As part of the Halfbreed Adhesion, the “Halfbreeds” advocated for two new “reserves of land” of their own, rather than join existing First Nations bands or integrate into existing reserve lands.
Significantly, the 1875 Métis Adhesion does not state that the “Halfbreeds” had to become “Indians”. Instead, the text recognizes that the “Halfbreeds” collectively adhered to Treaty No. 3 as a distinct Métis group, and thereby became entitled to the same benefits and rights as the Anishinaabe who had also signed the treaty in 1873.
Despite the Métis community’s repeated efforts, the promises made in the 1875 Halfbreed Adhesion were quickly broken and have only begun to be meaningfully addressed by Canada in recent years—including through the signing of an Agreement on Advancing Reconciliation with the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community in 2017.
As the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community continues to fight for a just and lasting resolution of its outstanding claims related to the 1875 Métis Adhesion, it does so with a commitment to ensuring that the rights and interests of First Nations and private landowners are acknowledged and respected. While lands may be included in its lasting resolution, for example, the Métis Community is not seeking the return of or interest in any specific reserve lands that are now within what is known as Couchiching First Nation.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Historical Métis Recognition
For generations, historic Métis communities in what is now Ontario saw themselves as distinct from First Nations with whom they shared territory. This is confirmed by the Métis communities’ own words as seen in their numerous political actions to defend their own interests and rights, consistently self-ascribing as “Halfbreeds”.
The historic record also confirms that, for generations, First Nations and settler populations alike viewed and respected the Métis as a distinct people with a way of life and culture unique to that of First Nations with whom they coexisted.
In October 1871, for example, Indian Agent Robert J. Pither drew up lists of payments in exchange for Canada’s right-of-way along the Dawson Route. One of these lists was entitled “Halfbreeds of Fort Frances” and recorded payments to nine Métis households.
These distinctions were echoed two years later during negotiations for Treaty 3. In October 1873, for instance, Chief Mawedopenais of Rainy River requested that “halfbreeds” be included in the treaty alongside the Anishinaabe.
However, Treaty Commissioner Alexander Morris explained that he was:
“sent [there] to treat with the Indians. In Red River, where I came from, and where there is a great body of Half-breeds, they must be either white or Indian. If Indians, they get treaty money; if the Half-breeds call themselves white, they get land. All I can do is to refer to the matter to the government at Ottawa, and to recommend what you wish to be granted.”
Such distinctions, along with many others like them, demonstrate that the distinctiveness of the Métis was well understood, as well as their kinship and connections to other Métis Nation communities.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Métis Collective Advocacy as “Halfbreeds”
Métis communities emerged in west-central North America from the initial marriages of European fur traders and First Nations women beginning in the late 1700s. Several generations of continuous intermarriage and community-building between the children of these unions gave rise to a new and unique culture—Métis culture—distinct from those of their European and First Nations forebears.
The emergence of these distinct communities necessitated the use of new language to identify and describe them. While the term “Métis” is most commonly used today to recognize those distinct communities from Ontario westward and has been enshrined in Canada’s Constitution since 1982, other terms such as “Halfbreed” or variations of it have also been used historically by both outsiders and the Métis communities themselves.
Numerous instances exist from present-day Ontario westward of Métis communities asserting themselves and advocating, as “Halfbreeds”, for their distinct rights and way of life.
In 1878, for example, Métis bison hunters from the Cypress Hills—identifying and distinguishing themselves from First Nations, as “Half-Breeds”—petitioned the Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories for reserve lands and hunting rights equal to those of First Nations, stating:
“The humble request of the undersigned, all Half-Breeds, living in the vicinity of the Cypress Mountains, exposes very respectfully: … the Half-Breeds are prevented from hunting from the 14th day of November… that the Indians [sic.] are only restrained from the 15th day of February… For these reasons your petitioners ever humbly pray your council… amend the clause referred to above, granting them the same rights and privileges that are allowed the Indians [sic.]… [and] obtain for the undersigned a section of land for a special reserve.”
Métis self-identification as “Half-Breeds” and advocacy for reserve lands in the Cypress Hills mirrors that of the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community who, in 1875, signed the “Adhesion by Halfbreeds of Rainy River and Lake” to Treaty 3. Similar to the Cypress Hills Métis bison hunters, the “Halfbreeds of Rainy River and Lake” advocated as a distinct collective for two new “reserves of land” of their own—rather than join existing First Nations bands or integrate into existing reserve lands—as well as “payments, annuities and presents, in manner similar to that set forth in the several respects for the Indians [sic.]”.
This pattern of Métis community self-identification and collective advocacy as “Halfbreeds” is repeated across the Métis Homeland, throughout the historical record, from present-day Ontario westward, including: the 1840 Petition of the “Half breeds” residing at the Town of Penetanguishene; 1850 petition from the “half-breeds” of Sault Ste. Marie; 1876 petition of “Half Breeds” to join Treaty 4; 1880 petition from “Half-breeds of the Lakes Qu’Appelle”; and many more!
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Nicolas Chatelaine’s Métis Scrip Application
In 1878, Métis Leader Nicolas Chatelaine applied for scrip in St. Vital, Manitoba. Chatelaine had previously led the Métis community in Northwestern Ontario in signing the Half-Breed Adhesion to Treaty No. 3.
On his application, Chatelaine stated he had received "promisses [sic] from the officers of the government that I was to get my scrip at Fort Francis with many other people of that locality.”
While many ancestors of today’s Northwestern Ontario Métis Community applied for scrip, they were often denied because of their residence in Ontario and confusion over the border between Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and Manitoba, which was not formally confirmed by the Crown until 1884.
However, some were successful in receiving it. For example, Nicolas Chatelaine’s children, Narcisse and Marie Anne, had successfully applied for Métis Scrip in Manitoba, having moved to Red River in 1870.
