“from the lakes and rivers of Ontario”

From the moment the Métis Nation of Ontario was founded 1993 and articulated its guiding aspirations in its Statement of Prime Purpose, it has publicly asserted that the Métis Homeland extends westward “from the lakes and rivers of Ontario,” beyond those directly adjacent to the prairies in Northwestern Ontario.

The MNO’s founding 1993 description of the Métis Homeland mirrored that of the broader Métis Nation, as represented by the Métis National Council—which the MNO had not yet joined—that had recently published official documents, like the MNC’s Charlottetown Accord Backgrounder, which included a Métis Homeland map extending northeast to Moose Factory and southeast of Sault Ste. Marie to Drummond Island on Lake Huron, home of the Georgian Bay Métis Community prior to their relocation to Penetanguishene in 1828. 

The MNO has also consistently asserted that the Métis Homeland does not extend east of Ontario into Quebec and the Maritimes, and that while many Métis citizens live today in southern Ontario, no historic Métis communities existed south of the Upper Great Lakes. 

Since the Métis Nation of Ontario’s establishment and recognition by the Métis Nation as the “representative organization of the Métis people in Ontario” in 1993, it has steadfastly uplifted and represented Métis citizens who descend from historic rights-bearing Métis communities in northern Ontario, as well as Métis from more western reaches of the Homeland who live in Ontario today, not other individuals of mixed First Nations and European ancestry that do not descend from historic Métis communities.

See Our Sources

• MNO Statement of Prime Purpose

• 1993 MNC Backgrounder on the Charlottetown Accord

• MNC Press Release from November 8, 1993

• Additional Submissions to the MNC Expert Panel

• MNC Expert Panel Final Report

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