Weekly Word Search: Feb 10 - Feb 14, 2025
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Feb 15
- 5 min read
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Americans Leave ‘Ruins’ in the Soo
The Métis fought as allies to the British in the Upper Great Lakes throughout the War of 1812, protecting their communities and homelands from American invasion.
Métis militiamen fought in the Voyageur Corps, raised by the North West Company, and played key battlefield roles in pivotal engagements like the capture of Fort Mackinac. Métis women also contributed significantly to the war effort, equipping soldiers and their loved ones with essential items, like now-famous Mackinaw jackets.
With their communities on the front lines of the war, however, along the future international border, it's unsurprising that the War of 1812’s devastation and American vengeance hit the Upper Great Lakes Métis very close to home.
For example, on July 21, 1814, the Americans raided Sault Ste. Marie, to destroy the North West Company depot, which lay at the economic heart of the community and was central to the livelihoods of many Métis families in the region.
North West Company trader Gabriel Franchère observed “the ruins the enemy had left”:
“The Americans had come, with a force of one hundred and fifty men, under the command of Major Holmes; and that after having pillaged that they all considered worth taking, of the property of the N.W. Company and that of a Mr. Johnston, they had set fire to the houses, warehouses, &c.”
This vengeful act by the Americans was undoubtedly remembered following the imposition of the international border, which left the Métis of Drummond Island with the impossible choice of relocating their lives to Penetanguishene or risking further American wrath by remaining on the Island.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Métis Memories of the War of 1812
Métis have a strong collective memory, carrying important knowledge and stories across communities and generations.
Following the War of 1812, many of these memories involved American acts of aggression that disrupted and displaced Métis communities in the Upper Great Lakes due to their allyship with the British in defence of their homelands during the conflict.
One such memory was that of the July 1814 American attack on Sault Ste. Marie that destroyed the North West Company depot, which served as an economic and employment hub for many Métis families in the region. That infamous and devastating American attack was provided naval support by the schooners, Tigress and Scorpion.
After being spotted by the British shortly after near Mackinac Island, the two vessels were hunted down and eventually captured near Nottawasaga on Georgian Bay. They were ultimately towed to Penetanguishene and scuttled in the harbour.
With such devastating impacts on their lives at the hands of the vessels and those who commanded them, culminating in their community’s relocation from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene following the war, it is no wonder then that Métis in the Upper Great Lakes carried the story of the Tigress’ and Scorpion’s capture with them across generations.
Even in the early 1900s, Antoine Labatte, son of Métis War of 1812 veteran Louis George Labatte, and Jean Baptiste Sylvestre were among members of the Métis community at Penetanguishene to keep the memories of the War of 1812, like the Tigress’ and Scorpion’s capture, alive, ensuring that future generations would continue to know their Métis community’s story.
These memories and others continue to be shared and passed down within the Métis community today.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Wissakodéwin: “Half-Burnt Wood” People
Many names for Métis exist across the Homeland that continue to be used by Métis people and communities today. Some of these names were originally ascribed to Métis by their First Nations neighbours and relatives. One such name is wissakodéwin.
There are numerous examples in the historical record of Ojibwe in the Upper Great Lakes referring to Métis or “Halfbreeds” as wissakodéwin, an anishinaabemowin word meaning “half-burnt wood.”
In 1853, Fr. Frederic Baraga, who spent time living with the Ojibwe in the Upper Great Lakes, published A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, in which several conjugations of wissakodéwin, rooted in the word wissakodé meaning “a burnt forest,” are provided as anishinaabemowin translations of “halfbreed”, including:
“Halfbreed, aiabitawisid. I am a halfbreed, nindi abitawis. Half-breed man wissakodéwinini. Halfbreed woman, wissakodewikwe.”
Fr. Baraga also includes a more detailed description of the word, similar to the French “Bois Brûlé,” meaning “burnt wood,” which was used to describe Métis people in both the Upper Great Lakes and Red River in the early 19th century.
“Wissakodéwinini, s. half-breed man, half whiteman and half Indian, (from a white father and an Indian mother, or vice versa;) half-burnt-wood-man; pl. wag,-They call the half-breeds so, because they are half dark, half white, like a half-burn piece of wood, burnt black on one end, and left white on the other.”
Many Métis from the Upper Great Lakes continue to proudly carry the name wissakodéwin today, often using it to situate themselves, their family, and their community within the broader Métis Nation’s kinship and political networks.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
“The new shoots… from Mother Earth”
Métis in the Upper Great Lakes, like others across the Métis Homeland, were given and hold unique names for themselves, recognizing their distinctiveness and relationships to others. One of those names was wissakodéwin, an anishinaabemowin word meaning “half-burnt wood.”
In 2008, Métis Elder and language speaker Tom McCallum referenced the term wissakodéwin in a traditional knowledge report published by the Métis Centre of the National Aboriginal Healing Foundation when discussing the names ascribed to Métis by their First Nations relatives:
“To the Cree, we are nehiyowak. Ekwa kohtak anma apihtaw’kosisan isihkatew. Apihtaw’kosisan means a sort of half-son. This was translated into English as Halfbreed. To the Ojibway, we are mixed-blood. They say wisahkotewinowak which translates to mean where the fire has gone through and burnt everything, and new shoots come up from the ground.”
Elder McCallum then builds upon his description, further explaining the deeper meaning of the term in relation to the emergence of the Métis as a distinct Indigenous people and nation of the land:
“That’s where the Métis come from; they were the new Nation, the new shoots that come up from the ground from Mother Earth.”
Rooted in this history, many Métis with ties to Upper Great Lakes Métis communities continue to identify with the name wissakodéwin today.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
“Half breed… Come let us kiss!”
Throughout history, Métis have been known by many different names across the Homeland, many attributed to specific Métis communities or regions. Wissakodéwin, an anishinaabemowin word meaning “half-burnt wood,” is one such name, often connected to Métis communities in the Upper Great Lakes region of the Métis Homeland.
One variation of the word, wissakodéwin, spelled phonetically as “We sau co da we nin,” comes from an Anishinaabe song recorded in the summer of 1833 near Fond du Lac, on Lake Superior. The song was transcribed as follows:
“We sau co da we nin; - a / Yah au eyhe ce au wha yah. / Waus sah, ke douge e bau, - a / Ya – / Ka kate, ke sau ge in; a / Yah / Um ba, o giene de dau. A”
The English translation of this song was transcribed as meaning:
“Half breed, you come from far; Yes; I love you; Come let us kiss!”
In addition to demonstrating the distinctions that the Anishinaabe recognized between themselves and their Métis neighbours, songs like the one from Fond du Lac speak to the deep respect and allyship that the two peoples historically showed to one another.
