Métis net fishing traditions, with deep roots in the Upper Great Lakes, have played a foundational role in shaping the economic and cultural practices of Métis communities across the Métis Homeland.
At the Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie, in particular, the practice of fishing using weighted nets to catch whitefish emerged as a vital subsistence and commercial activity.
As Métis families from the Upper Great Lakes moved westward and travelled throughout the Métis Homeland, they carried these fishing techniques with them. For example, economic parallels existed between St. Laurent and Sault Ste. Marie, including the importance of fisheries.
In the Métis community at St. Laurent, for instance, fishing became even more central to the Métis way of life than the buffalo hunt. While some Métis at St. Laurent still participated in bison hunts during the winter, “the overall tendency for many seem to have been to gradually abandon the chase and to undertake ice fishing on a larger scale.”
Similar patterns appeared in Île-à-la-Crosse, in present-day northern Saskatchewan, where fisheries were critical for both survival and the local economy, and dominated daily records.
Renowned Métis and fur-trade historian Arthur Ray–who was an expert witness on Métis economic history in the Powley, Belhumeur, and Goodon cases–draws connections between Île-à-la-Crosse, Sault Ste. Marie, and other Métis settlements, noting that “fisheries were of crucial importance for subsistence” and that whitefish, caught using weighted nets, was a primary resource.
Fishing, particularly with the use of weighted nets, has become a unifying thread across Métis communities to this day.