Nolin Sisters: “Pioneers in Education”

Métis sisters Angélique and Marguerite Nolin carried their commitment to education with them across the Métis Homeland, creating a lasting legacy for generations to come. 

Raised within a strong and active Métis family along the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie, Angélique and Marguerite Nolin were sent to Montreal for their schooling. During the 1800s, being educated in Montreal was not uncommon for the Métis children of successful fur-trading families, including Louis Riel. 

As Angélique and Marguerite’s brothers gradually moved westward through careers with the Hudson’s Bay Company, much of the family followed, eventually settling in the Red River region by 1819. Only a few years later, Marguerite and Angélique founded the first school for girls in the Red River Settlement. 

Through their work, Marguerite and Angélique Nolin passed on the importance of education and empowered young Métis girls, beginning a legacy that would last for generations. Today, the Nolin sisters’ educational legacy and trailblazing role as “Pioneers in Education” is commemorated by a monument in St. Boniface, which reads:

“In 1829, Métis sisters Angélique (1787-1869) and Marguerite (1780-1878) Nolin opened the first formal school for girls in Western Canada at Red River. The school was located in the north-east of this site, between the St. Boniface Cathedral and the St. Boniface Museum. During Manitoba’s early educational history in the 1800s, Angélique and Marguerite were unique because they were well educated Métis women who were not members of any particular religious order. This stone is dedicated to the work of the Nolin sisters and the impact they made on the early formal education in Manitoba and their legacy that continues today.”

See Our Sources

• Angelique and Marguerite Monument

• Nolin Family Vignette

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