Métis communities across the Homeland were active in the fur trade and significant contributors to the essential ‘overwintering’ practice. Overwintering involved living and working at remote fur trade posts throughout the winter months, often with only a few other employees and companions.
While canoe brigades and seasonal traders would return to their home bases, overwinterers would continue living near and conducting commerce with First Nations trappers, trading en déroine. They were also responsible for carrying out the day-to-day tasks that kept posts running and post inhabitants alive through the region’s long, icy winters.
Métis trader John Saunders recalled that in the 1840s and 1850s, only small quantities of provisions could be transported along the “long and difficult” journey from Moose Factory during the winter months. This meant that Métis families had to furnish their own provisions to sustain themselves and others.
In the winter of 1848, for example, Valentine Saunders’ resilience and generosity were commended by the postmaster at Flying Post:
“For poor Valentine notwithstanding his numerous and needy family has presently given Tom both fish and hares when he would not procure them himself.”
The Saunders family’s overwintering practices near Moose Factory demonstrate Métis communities’ deep care and concern for their fellow overwinterers and highlight their deeply rooted knowledge of the lands and waters in which they lived.