Weekly Word Search: Jan 27 - Jan 31, 2025
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Feb 1
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 2
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First Nations Allyship in Georgian Bay
January 27th, 2025, marks the 185th anniversary of the Penetanguishene Petition, through which members of the Georgian Bay Métis Community wrote to the Crown demanding recognition of their distinct political identity and their inclusion in annual present-giving be restored. This petition was the first in a long line of Métis communities using petitions as a form of political advocacy from the Upper Great Lakes westward.
These efforts and the Georgian Bay Métis Community from which they came were also recognized by First Nations who, in addition to having distinct names for their Métis neighbours and allying with one another to defend their shared interests, also raised their voices to advocate for their Métis neighbours on numerous occasions.
One such example was the exclusion from presents, which spurred the Métis to petition the Crown in 1840. As documented by Indian Agent Samuel Jarvis in 1840, First Nations elders in Georgian Bay were advocating alongside Métis to have the Métis re-included in receiving “Indian presents” after recently being excluded by colonial authorities:
“Upon every occasion that I have visited the Lake Huron tribes an appeal has been made to me to remove the disability imposed upon the Class of Half-Breeds not only by the elder members of the Indian Communities but also by the Half-Breeds themselves.”
At this time, Métis had already been living in distinct communities separate from First Nations for over a generation. The First Nations’ advocacy described by Indian Agent Jarvis built upon that of the Métis communities themselves, including an incident in July 1839 in which members of the Métis community at Penetanguishene confronted Jarvis demanding equal rights and recognition:
“July last when at Penetanguishene a number of [Métis] surrounded the house I was in, for their purpose [of] claiming and insisting upon having that which they [asserted?] was their right, as long as the distribution of presents to the Indians was continued by government.”
The Georgian Bay Métis Community’s legacy of advocacy continues to this day.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
“Magnificent” Métis Guides of Mattawa
Métis people have long used their deep place-based knowledge to secure gainful employment and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families. One of the most common Métis place-based professions was guiding.
By the turn of the twentieth century, Métis in the Mattawa region were well known for their roles as expert guides for visiting anglers and hunters. As the century progressed, some worked as canoe trip guides for summer camps.
The expert skill of these Métis guides has been recognized by community members, clients, and independent observers alike. A July 1900 issue of Rod and Gun in Canada, for instance, notes of the Mattawa region’s expert guides:
“The guides of the region are mostly Frenchmen, with a strong dash of Indian blood in their veins, or else Scotch half-breeds. They are all magnificent canoe-men . . .the canoe-men of to-day are as nearly perfect as any human beings are likely to become; they will pole or paddle all day without showing signs of fatigue; they never make a mistake; never take the wrong side of the rapid, to find out when too late that there is a big rock ahead.”
Guiding remains an important profession for many Métis throughout the Homeland today.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Michilimackinac: Nexus of the Fur Trade
Before the British and United States imposed the international border following the War of 1812, which displaced portions of the Upper Great Lakes Métis Community to Penetanguishene, many Métis families lived, travelled, and worked throughout the Upper Great Lakes’ many islands.
Michilimackinac, or Mackinac Island, was once such island that served as "an eighteenth century nexus for the Great Lakes fur trade" where many Métis families emerged with a distinct Métis collective identity in the Upper Great Lakes. Among the prominent Métis families associated with Michilimackinac were the Langlades, Cadottes, and Nolins, who thrived as traders, interpreters, and militia members.
During the summer, Mackinac Island was a hub of activity, with hundreds of Métis, Odawa, Ojibwa, and other Great Lakes peoples gathering to trade and negotiate political agreements. In contrast, the island’s winter months saw its residents—many of them Métis—settle in and prepare for the harsh weather.
The Métis people’s deep knowledge of the land and water surrounding Mackinac Island enabled them to adapt and prepare effectively for winter, reinforcing their presence and connection to the island and contributing to their distinct collective identity in the Upper Great Lakes.
As Jacqueline Peterson describes the Métis community in Many Roads to Red River, "The expansive engine of the fur trade, coupled with the French Métis system of wintering out… made such a development certain."
Click here to view the original story and sources.
Historical Métis Recognition
For generations, historic Métis communities in what is now Ontario saw themselves as distinct from First Nations with whom they shared territory. This is confirmed by the Métis communities’ own words as seen in their numerous political actions to defend their own interests and rights, consistently self-ascribing as “Halfbreeds”.
The historic record also confirms that, for generations, First Nations and settler populations alike viewed and respected the Métis as a distinct people with a way of life and culture unique to that of First Nations with whom they coexisted.
In October 1871, for example, Indian Agent Robert J. Pither drew up lists of payments in exchange for Canada’s right-of-way along the Dawson Route. One of these lists was entitled “Halfbreeds of Fort Frances” and recorded payments to nine Métis households.
These distinctions were echoed two years later during negotiations for Treaty 3. In October 1873, for instance, Chief Mawedopenais of Rainy River requested that “halfbreeds” be included in the treaty alongside the Anishinaabe.
However, Treaty Commissioner Alexander Morris explained that he was:
“sent [there] to treat with the Indians. In Red River, where I came from, and where there is a great body of Half-breeds, they must be either white or Indian. If Indians, they get treaty money; if the Half-breeds call themselves white, they get land. All I can do is to refer to the matter to the government at Ottawa, and to recommend what you wish to be granted.”
Such distinctions, along with many others like them, demonstrate that the distinctiveness of the Métis was well understood, as well as their kinship and connections to other Métis Nation communities.
Click here to view the original story and sources.
MNC’s Charlottetown Accord Map
With only one exception, every Métis Nation Homeland map produced and used by the Métis National Council since its 1983 founding has included historic Métis Nation communities in what is now northern Ontario.
Many of these Métis Nation Homeland maps were developed for formal presentations and submissions by the Métis National Council. This includes a Métis Nation Homeland map contained within the Métis National Council’s Charlottetown Accord Backgrounder, produced in 1993.
The map, prominently displayed as the backgrounder’s letterhead alongside images of Métis leaders Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont, depicts the Métis Nation Homeland as extending northeast to Moose Factory and south to Sault Ste. Marie and Drummond Island on Lake Huron–home of the Georgian Bay Métis Community prior to their relocation to Penetanguishene–Killarney, and other locations along the Bay’s eastern shore following the imposition of the international border.
The map is accompanied by a brief written statement about the MNC’s composition and the extent of the “traditional Métis homeland”:
“provincial governments in the traditional Métis homeland – Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia together with the Métis National Council and the provincial members organizations in these provinces…”
This map and the accompanying statement about the “traditional Métis homeland” were developed prior to the Métis Nation of Ontario’s founding and formal entry into the Métis National Council in 1994. This demonstrates the Métis Nation’s long-held understanding of the deep cultural, political, and kinship connections that have joined the Métis Nation from Ontario-westward for generations.
