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.
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