Weekly Word Search: Jan 13 - Jan 17, 2025
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Jan 18
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 23
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Overwintering at Rat Portage
The Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Rat Portage was the northernmost outpost at Lake of the Woods, near present-day Kenora. For generations, it served as the bridge between the traders of the Red River and the Upper Great Lakes.
George L. Huyshe, a solider in Colonel Garnet Wolseley’s 1870 expeditionary force to the Red River, described the post at Rat Portage as:
“a small affair, three log houses roofed with bark and enclosed by a high wooden palisading. The Company maintained thirteen men at this post, but nine of them are employed at small outlying posts in the vicinity.”
One of those men was a well-known and respected Métis trader named George Macpherson.
“Mr. Macpherson, the official in charge, was most civil and obliging. He is a Scotch half-breed, a quiet gentlemanly, elderly man.”
Macpherson was known for being a longstanding regional fur trade leader and overwinterer, who, as Huyshe noted in his writings, had “been for thirteen years buried alive at this post!”
Like many Métis overwinterers (also known as Hivernants in French), Macpherson relied on dog sled teams to carry out his essential winter work. George Huyshe described Macpherson’s team as ‘mangy-looking pariah dogs’—albeit useful and hardworking.
“These dogs are of all sizes and colours, nasty-looking brutes, but very useful. They do all the winter work, galloping for miles over the frozen snow, dragging small sledges.”
Because of persevering Métis overwinterers like George Macpherson, fur trading posts throughout the Métis Homeland could continue operating and thriving.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Overwintering: A Métis Family Affair
Many parts of the Métis Homeland are known for their harsh winters, and the Rainy Lake District is no exception.
Throughout the historic fur trade period, when others left for more seasonable locations, many brave Métis families remained at various trading posts throughout the cold winter months to keep the fur trade economy alive and thriving—a practice known in English as overwintering, or hiverner in French.
One of the Rainy Lake District’s well-known overwinterers was renowned Métis interpreter Nicolas Chatelain, who was described in the Hudson’s Bay Company’s 1824-25 District Report:
“Nicholas Chatelain (a Half Breed) Interpreter is an acquisition to the Post. Speaks the Saulteaux language well and is feared by the natives, and is perfectly acquainted with Geographical part of the Country, more particularly to the North side of Lac La Pluie. In short he is a man that ought not to be lost sight of.”
With a reputation as a sober, hard worker, Chatelain was a sought-after overwinterer and future leader within the Northwestern Ontario Métis Community. In 1832-33, Chatelain overwintered at ‘the mouth of the river’ on Shoal Lake with two assistants.
Chatelain undoubtedly passed his values and work ethic to his sons, Louis and Joseph. When employed by the HBC themselves, they would overwinter at Rainy Lake. A generation later, both were recorded as overwinterers in the list of ‘Advances in Lake Superior District… Winters of Lac la Pluie, Oct. 2, 1858’.
Fur trade practices like overwintering provided Métis children with opportunities to learn vital skills and tricks of the fur trade from their parents, which would enable them to achieve professional success for themselves and their families someday.
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Drummond Islanders Survive Wintery Storms
The Georgian Bay Métis Community is home to many descendants of the Métis families who were forced to relocate from their homes on Drummond Island after the British ceded it to the United States following the War of 1812.
The treacherous voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, across the unpredictable waters of Georgian Bay, holds an important place in the community’s history. Many first-hand accounts and stories are documented in "Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828" published by A.C. Osborne in 1901.
Lewis Solomon was one of the Drummond Islanders who later recounted the harrowing relocation that many Métis families faced across the waters of Georgian Bay, just as winter’s fury was setting in.
Of the many stories he recorded, Solomon’s tales of Métis resilience and survival are perhaps best embodied by that of Mrs. Angelique Lepine (nee Cadotte) and her young child during their late November voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene:
“Mrs. Lepine, in the darkness and fury of the storm, wrapped the babe in a blank, and having tied it on her back, lashed herself securely to the mast, and there clung all night long through a furious storm of wind and drenching rain, from eleven o'clock till daylight, or about six o’clock in the morning.”
This was not Lewis Solomons’s only tale of Métis Drummond Islanders’ survival in the face of wintery storms. In his account, Solomon also told the story of the Labatte family’s survival on the wintery waters of Georgian Bay, which ultimately led them to establish a new home at Thunder Beach:
“A storm came on and one of the ropes broke. His nephew took the rope in his mouth and crawled out on the other rope and hitched it again. It broke the second time and the storm drove them into Thunder Bay (Tiny), where they settled.”
These tales are vivid reminders of the resourcefulness and determination that enabled the Georgian Bay Métis Community to establish a new home for themselves after profound colonial disruption and relocation, one that remains the home of many of their descendants today.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
The Remarkable Angelique Lepine
Angelique Lepine (nee Cadotte) was a Métis woman born in the Upper Great Lakes in the early 1800s. As a young woman, she married Pierre Lepine, a French-Canadian. Soon after, the couple welcomed their first child, Therise, into the world.
However, that world was one of upheaval for Angelique’s Métis community. In 1828, Angelique, her husband, and their baby daughter were among the many Métis families forced to relocate from their homes on Drummond Island after the British ceded it to the United States following the War of 1812.
As late November’s wintery weather set in, Angelique’s family boarded the schooner Hackett alongside soldiers, livestock, military supplies, and their worldly possessions and set sail for Penetanguishene across Georgian Bay’s cold and quickly changing waters.
As the ship rounded the southernmost point of Manitoulin Island, a wintery storm arose. The captain and crew, intoxicated, lost control and abandoned the vessel after it ran aground off “Horse Island.” Mrs. Lepine and her baby daughter were left aboard the floundering ship.
Lewis Solomon, himself Métis who made the voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828, later recounted what happened next:
“Mrs. Lepine, in the darkness and fury of the storm, wrapped the babe in a blanket, and having tied it on her back, lashed herself securely to the mast, and there clung all night long through a furious storm of wind and drenching rain, from eleven o'clock till daylight, or about six o’clock in the morning, when the maudlin crew, having recovered in a measure from their drunken stupor, rescued her from her perilous position in a yawl boat.”
The remarkable Angelique Lepine and Therise both survived the tragical journey and eventually joined their Métis community in Penetanguishene. There, they would live the rest of their lives, with the heroic Angelique living to the advanced age of 95 years. She is buried at Lafontaine.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Métis Ice Spearfishing
Métis across the Homeland relied on fishing for sustenance throughout the year. Not only did fishing provide food to Métis communities, but it was also relied upon by many as an essential economic practice.
During the winter months, Métis along Northern Lake Superior had to be creative if they were going to continue fishing on the frozen lakes and waterways. One common practice was ice spearfishing.
In January 1840, for instance, an ice spear fishery in Michipicoten Bay yielded a small but welcome harvest of trout, as there was a great need for fish that winter.
The saviour was local Métis fisherman Toussaint Boucher. He speared his first catch on January 24th under dangerous conditions, leading the officer at the Michipicoten Post, Roderick McKenzie, to comment:
“Touissant Boucher speared 5 trout under the ice today, certainly at some risk to life since it is not (the ice) above 2 ½ inches thick.’ He speared three more on 30 January, 5 on 9 March, 13 on the 10th, 7 on 11th, and 6 on the 12th. ‘Goulait (the Indian)’ then took over spear fishing until April 1, while Boucher was away carrying the winter packet to St. Marys.”
Because of Toussaint Boucher and many other skilled Métis fishermen across the Homeland, entire communities could thrive during the winter months. Many of these critical Métis skills continue to be practiced today.
