John Saunders’s Diverse Education

Born into a Métis fur-trading family at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Matawagamingue post in 1845, John Saunders learned a self-sufficient, community-oriented way of life from an early age, rooted in the surrounding lands and waters. 

After spending his early years learning with his family on the land, when John was about nine years old, his parents sent him to live with his grandmother at Moose Factory, where he could begin receiving a more formal education.

There, John attended a local school run by the Anglican minister, Rev. J. Horden. However, John often missed classes, continuing to learn instead from his grandmother on the land, helping her with chores and other everyday tasks. As Saunders later reflected, “In this work, I had to take part, and this kept me away from school many a time.”

After briefly rejoining the rest of his family, John returned to Moose Factory at the age of fourteen, following his father’s footsteps in the fur trade. Working as an apprentice during the day, he continued to pursue his education, occasionally attending evening classes with the same teacher to strengthen his reading and writing skills.

After completing his apprenticeship, Saunders went on to work as a missionary, where he drew on his multilingual abilities and education, both from his teachers and Métis family, to build relationships, spread literacy, and connect with communities across the Homeland.

See Our Sources

• John Saunders, “My Autobiography, July 18, 1876” General Synod Archives

• Saunders Family Vignette

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