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.
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