Weekly Crossword: Jan 20 - Jan 24, 2025
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Jan 25
- 4 min read
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Métis Harvesting Around Lake Superior
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 conduct activities throughout the year.
One of the Michipicoten’s most successful Métis harvesters was Toussaint Boucher.
In addition to being an accomplished spear fisherman, Toussaint Boucher was also a skilled Métis hunter and trapper. In January 1858, for example, Michipicoten’s harvesting activities focused almost entirely on hunting and trapping, producing one lynx, three deer, and thirty-one rabbits.
All thirty-one rabbits were reported as harvested by Toussaint Boucher.
Without Toussaint Boucher and the other Métis harvesters, Michipicoten and other trading posts across the Homeland would have struggled to succeed throughout the winter season.
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Métis All-Season Travel Experts
For generations, Métis have been expert all-season travellers of the lands and waters of their Homelands.
As Christy Ann Simons recounted in her memoirs of growing up on St. Joseph Island, near Sault Ste. Marie, during the late 1800s, the local Métis community’s craftsmanship and place-based knowledge enabled them to travel freely all year long:
“The sailboat was their method of traveling in summer, dog team and snowshoes in winter (homemade sleds and shoes).”
For many, including the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community, the abundant waterways were the primary transportation routes. As Simons recalled, “[The Métis] lived mostly along the shores so roads were not needed, only trails along the shore.”
These time-honoured Métis skills enabled Métis families and communities to sustain themselves from the lands and waters and excel in various related professions such as guides, boat steerers, and commercial fishermen.
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Métis Winter Moose Hunting
Métis communities in what is now Ontario have relied on big game as a source of winter food for generations, with moose being amongst the most important.
Many historical records document Métis hunting moose, including in the Upper Great Lakes. For example, an 1893 report by James Cleland Hamilton in The Georgian Bay: An Account of its Position, Inhabitants, Mineral Interests, Fish, Timber and Other Resources describes:
“A ‘moose yard’ is then a bonanza for the hunter, generally an Indian, or half-breed, who may lay in his winter supply of meat, to be used fresh as long as the frost lasts, or smoked for later use.”
A century after Hamilton’s report, Métis harvesters Steve and Roddy Powley would be charged for harvesting a moose to feed their own Métis family over the winter, leading to the landmark R. v. Powley Métis rights victory at the Supreme Court of Canada.
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Métis ‘Scooting’ Across the Bay
Métis around Georgian Bay and throughout the Upper Great Lakes have relied on the water for year-round travel for generations.
Boats, for example, were the main transportation method for the many Métis living on Georgian Bay’s eastern shores or its thirty-thousand islands during the ice-free portion of the year. Dog teams and snowshoes helped ensure that Métis could travel and remain connected during the frozen winter months.
In the late fall and early spring, getting across the bay became a problem. As the early winter ice formed, it became unsafe for travel. Similarly, the spring thaw would make transportation by dog sled or snowshoes unsafe.
During these shoulder seasons, the scoot became a popular form of Métis travel on Georgian Bay since the 1930s. Scoots are “flat-bottomed, propeller-driven watercraft hand-built by residents living around Georgian Bay.”
Métis veteran and Georgian Bay Métis Community member Andrew Trudeau (1924-2013) was one of Georgian Bay’s most famous. Andrew was known in his youth as “waterman” and was often found fishing and working on handmade boats and scoots.
Trudeau’s many works, including his collection of drawings, have been the subject of gallery exhibits, newspaper stories, and documentaries. He is perhaps best remembered for taking to the air in one of his handmade scoots during the annual Penetanguishene Harbour scoot race in 1949.
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Métis Winter Hunting Capotes
Métis across the Homeland are connected through shared culture, including material items such as clothing. A common piece of winter clothing worn by many Métis from Ontario-westward was the capote.
The capote is a thigh-length coat with full-length sleeves which could come with or without a hood or cape. Early capotes were made with Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blankets, often identified by the colourful stripes around the blanket. These blankets were fashioned into coats for Métis men to wear during the frigid winter months.
By 1825, for example, the Moose Factory account book noted 900 “capots” in various sizes and styles. The most popular capote colour for Métis was blue. However, a significant trade was made with white capotes, which were popular for their usefulness as camouflage during winter hunting.
The white capotes blended in with the snow, which proved useful during the snowy winters while Métis overwinterers, like those at Moose Factory, went on their hunts to provide sustenance for the families.
Many Métis wear capotes in various styles today to showcase pride in their Métis heritage.
