The Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community and its Métis families have consistently fought for their distinct Métis rights and protection of their Métis River Lots on the St. Mary’s River for nearly two centuries.
One of the most notable examples of the Sault Ste. Marie Métis Community’s collective action—and allyship with neighbouring Anishinaabe—has become known today as the Mica Bay Incident.
In November 1849, 50 to 100 First Nations and Métis warriors boarded a schooner from Sault Ste. Marie and set sail for Mica Bay, a mining location operated by the Quebec Mining Company, roughly 100 kilometres north of the settlement.
Armed with guns, knives, and a borrowed cannon, the Métis and First Nations allies shut down the mine and evicted the miners as an act of resistance against colonial encroachment on and exploitation of their shared territory.
Missionary Frank O’Meara recorded the incident as being “a party of half breeds
accompanied by two Chiefs”.
John Bonner, the Mica Bay Mine manager, wrote about the incident in his report:
“about 30 Indians and half breeds entered my room in their war dresses each armed with a gun and some also with Bowie Knives… I had not the means of defense either in arms or ammunition against an armed body, represented to be from 60 to 90.”
Not wanting violent escalation, the leaders of both the Métis and First Nations contingents immediately surrendered themselves to the authorities following the action, even though they had the military advantage.
While there were reported to be between 50 and 100 warriors at Mica Bay, only four were arrested: Anishinaabek Chiefs Shinwaukonse-ibun and Nebainagoching-ibun, and Métis leaders Charles Boyer and Eustache Lesage—an ancestor of Steve and Roddy Powley.
More than one hundred years later, the oral stories and histories passed down through the Lesage family to Steve and Roddy Powley undoubtedly loomed large when they decided to bring their Métis harvesting into the open—despite the legal risks it would bring.
Like their ancestor, Eustace Lesage, the Powleys surrendered to Crown authorities in order to peaceably bring their longstanding Métis rights-related grievances into the public record of the colonial legal system.
Both the Mica Bay Incident and Powley victory have become defining acts of political leadership in advancing Métis rights and advocacy, not just in the Upper Great Lakes but for the entire Métis Nation.
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