ONTARIO MÉTIS FACTS

Telling Our Stories and Histories.

Learn the facts about rights-bearing Métis communities in Ontario. All the images, videos, and original source materials you need with none of the spin.

Featured Stories

Sault Ste. Marie's Deep Connections Throughout the Métis Homeland

Most people are aware of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community’s deep and rich history. But did you know that it also has deep historical and contemporary connections throughout the Métis Nation Homeland? For example, Elzéar Goulet was second in command of the Métis militia under Louis Riel’s Provisional Government. He became a martyr of the Red River Resistance. He also had connections to the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community in the Upper Great Lakes. Goulet’s Métis grandmothe

The Roussain Family: Métis Advocates

The Roussain family, from the historic Métis community at Sault Ste. Marie, have been prominent advocates and organizers throughout Métis history, from the Upper Great Lakes to the Red River. In 1816, for example, Eustace Roussain rallied Métis in the Upper Great Lakes to support Cuthbert Grant’s efforts against Lord Selkirk’s troops in the Red River, culminating in the Battle of Seven Oaks. Eustace was later charged for his role in the conflict. Louise Roussain, another Saul

R. v. Powley: A Strategic Métis Nation Decision

Understanding its potential historical significance and broader implications, the entire Métis Nation made the strategic decision to rally together in unanimous support of R. v. Powley, the Powley family and the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community during their ten-year legal ordeal. As explained by Manitoba Métis Federation President David Chartrand in a September 24, 2003 written address to MMF citizens: “As I suggested earlier, the past week was closed by two historic decisio

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Newest Stories

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 Rie

Métis Mail Carriers: Icebergs & Ingenuity

During harsh winters across the Upper Great Lakes, land-based knowledge and ingenuity could be the difference between life and death for Métis mail carriers. In a 1948 Sault Star article, Charlie Davieaux reflected on a particularly dangerous trip across Lake Superior in the early 1880’s. Charlie, his father, Hyacinthe, and a third man had found themselves trapped in the narrow end of open water, completely surrounded by “fields of thickly packed ice cakes.” The trio used th

Métis Mail Carriers: “gone six weeks”

Métis mail carriers demonstrated the significant personal sacrifices many Métis made in the Upper Great Lakes and throughout the wider Métis Homeland to serve their communities. Having recently celebrated his 85th birthday, Charlie Davieaux “...sat smoking his pipe while reliving many of the adventures of the early days in Algoma…” with the Sault Star in 1948. These “adventures,” however, reflected the dangerous, sacrificial nature of being a Métis mail carrier in the early 1