Eastern Ontario Metis Historical Research Project
MEMBERSHIP
As Aboriginal Rights are Community based Rights, the following Community definition has been established. Membership in the Council is open to all Verified and Registered Metis, who:
a) have proved their heritage and been accepted as Citizens or members of Metis Nation of Ontario
b) whose origins, as Metis, can be traced to the Three United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry - in the Province of Ontario, Canada.
c) whose mixed-blood origins can be documented in these 3 Counties between the years of 1750 and 1900.
We are the "Community" - Métis Status can only be achieved by acceptance by a historic Métis Settlement. It cannot be achieved by membership in larger Aboriginal organisations. Even hunting and fishing rights are tied to Historic Settlement Areas and cannot be used or given away by politaccly based organisations.
A SMALL contribution to Nationhood
Recently, I had the opportunity to read the Bi-Centennial Book (1776-1976) of Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. This historic book marks the formation of a “new nation” with the birth of a baby girl named Charlotte. Charlotte was born on September 1st 1785. Her father was Patrick Small, a Wintering Partner with the North West Company. He had taken up residence in the Frobisher Fort in the fall of 1784. Unfortunately the Cree mother of Charlotte is not identified. Charlotte was also blessed with the birth of a sister named Nancy. It is further reported that after seven seasons in the post at Ile-a-la-Crosse Patrick Small retired from the fur trade and left the North-west, leaving behind his native wife and two children. A small pension was given, to ensure their survival.
So might end the story of Charlotte and Nancy Small, two Métis girls from the North West – whose births and place in history were heralded in this book where it stated:
“Sakitawak has now known the union of two peoples. Already a ‘new nation’ is in the making”. (1)
However, fate was to once again thrust upon them the responsibility of Nation Building, this time in South Eastern Ontario. Both Charlotte and Nancy were destined to marry North West Company partners, not just any partners but perhaps two of the most famous, David Thompson, the well known explorer and John MacDonald of Garth (his son Rolland, was arguably the first Aboriginal Member of Parliament in Upper Canada), who history has labeled as “One of the most colourful of these fur traders” (2) . Both of these well known and historic Canadians settled in the Historic Métis Settlement area in and around Stormont Dundas and Glengarry (Eastern Ontario). To their credit they moved “Home” to the Counties with their Aboriginal families. Unfortunately MacDonald of Garth’s marriage was not destined to last (later married the niece of Laird Hugh McGillis), however David Thompson and his wife remain married until death (after 60 years of marriage they died within months of each other). Some claim that the two Small girls had as many as 15 to 18 children between them, in itself a major contribution to the local Métis community. Subsequently, the Métis descendants of Patrick Small and his unknown Cree Indian wife can be found throughout eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, to this day. (It has been relayed to me that some present day descendants of David Thompson still hunt and trap in the Ottawa Valley).
Yet they were not the only Nor’ Westers to return to the Counties with their families. Hugh McGillis had married an Indian woman out West and after buying the Sir John Johnson Manor House in Williamstown, Ontario was known as “Laird McGillis” (I understand that a rather extensive geneological work was done on the McGillis Brothers by Western
Another famous, local, Métis family (connected to MacDonald of Garth), are the Campbells. John Duncan Campbell, a Loyalist and North West Company partner married the Métis daughter of MacDonald of Garth. He even returned to Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan where he ran the Trading Post for the Nor’Westers. After a successful career in the North West he bought MacDonald of Garth’s farm (situated on the boundary of Stormont county and Glengarry. The approximately. 5000 sq. ft. home, built in 1816, overlooked the St. Lawrence River. This is now a National Historic Site (Inverarden Regency Cottage).
Even the well known Reverend John Bethune’s (the first Presbyterian minister in Upper Canada and a United Empire Loyalist, who settled in Williamstown) family became Métis by the marriage to a Metis daughter of yet another North West Partner from Montreal, Quebec. The Church records of Rev Bethune are an important primary source, not just for the Métis but for a large segment of the local population of that time.
The Johnson family (Sir John Johnson Manor House in Williamstown, Ontario) were also of mixed-blood origin, Sir William Johnson (1715-1774), Sir John’s father, Trusted Friend of the Six Nations had taken a Mohawk wife, Caroline Peters who bore him 3 children and died in 1753 and then Mary Brant (after Indian nuptials), the sister of Chief Joseph Brant (Six Nation fame). Sir William gained this friendship through his fair dealings with the Indians, as a trader, having earlier opened his own Trading Post (In the Colonies, prior to the American Revolution). His son, Sir John Johnson, brought the Loyalists to Johnstown (now known as Cornwall). With the Loyalists came the Mohawks. Descendants of Sir William are still found in the Counties.
Unfortunately written History tends to only record the very good (famous) or the very bad (villains). Without question, other western Métis existed in the area, perhaps unrecorded as their contributions were not as well known. I have come across entries, found in the local archives, of at least one young Indian boy living with a Nor’ West family in the Glengarry area, one might draw the conclusion that this was a “Country Child” brought back to live with the fur trader’s “white” family. The area also saw a number of other mixed blood families, as the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne was close at hand. It is of interest that the Nor’ Westers had hired hundreds of Mohawks to aid them in their fur trade pursuits. At one point the Mohawk employees, of the North West Company, numbered around 300. Descendants of some of these can still be found out west (mostly Alberta, I’m told), not to mention here in this area. Giving Mohawk mixed-bloods, from that era, every right to claim historic Métis connections and citizenship, especially if they resided in the historic Métis settlement area or in the so called Historic Métis Homeland, as it is presently interpreted.
On the 7th of February 1818 four residents of Stormont Dundas and Glengarry were brought to trial on charges of treason and being being assessories to the murder of Governor Semple (“Seven Oaks”) All four were acquitted, the four being John MacDonald of Garth, Hugh McGillis, Simon Fraser and John McLauchlin. Yet further proof of this regions connection with the Métis and the North West. It is obvious that Ontario’s Métis were not confined to just Ontario or just western Canada, their scope and endeavors far surpassed the confines of any arbitrary territorial boundaries.
I don’t intend these ramblings to be a concise history lesson, but rather general observations as to the establishment and existence of a Métis Community in Eastern Ontario. These facts are recorded history, which leads one to wonder if our younger brothers out west are at all familiar with Canadian History. Being Métis is the evolution of a unique part of North American History at a particular time (1700 – 1900? ) by a distinct group of people (mixed-bloods) who were directly or indirectly involved in the fur trade industry. One of the centers or cradles of that Industry was found, or at least headquartered in Montreal and in Eastern Ontario, without doubt mixed-blood peoples were active in that pursuit from Montreal west. All of these mixed-blood peoples, from that timeline were and their descendants are Métis! In the case of Eastern Ontario documented proof exists as to their existence, especially in Glengarry and South Stormont.
While eastern Ontario can look to two “Small” girls (among others) to pinpoint the establishment of our community and irrefutably bind our area in with the Historic Métis Homeland, I do not, for one moment, believe we are in a unique position. Other areas, once thought to be outside the Historic Métis Homeland, also have ample evidence to substantiate their claim to be a Historic Métis Settlement Area and hence part of the Historic Métis Homeland. Together we form an unbroken chain across Ontario, coupled with our younger Western Brothers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and into the far reaches of British Columbia and further in to the North. Together we constitute the Métis Nation. Without doubt the erroneous boundaries of the Historic Métis Homeland must be reassessed to address the realities of the true history of the Métis Nation. Presently the Canadian Government is addressing the status of Louis Riel and his contribution to Canada, perhaps its also time for the misinformed Métis to reassess their tainted and biased version of Métis History.
(1) Ile-a-la-Crosse 1776-1976 SAKITAWAK Bi-Centennial (1977) (reprinted 1996)
Published by the Ile-a-la-Crosse Bi-Centennial Committee
(2) History of Stormont Dundas and Glengarry copyright 1946
by John Graham Harkness, KC
Recently, driving down highway 2, just east of Cornwall, Ontario (County Glengarry) I saw a heard of Buffalo. Laughing to myself, I caught myself saying, “what are they doing here – they don’t belong here”. My thoughts immediately came to the plight of the local Métis and how some people believe that we are not here or we don’t belong here and others just don’t believe we exist. I guess this would be of great concern, as Métis leaders try to identify our Nation and determine just who are and where are the Métis.
We are the Métis of South Eastern Ontario and we are a Historic Métis Settlement, whose founders included many North West Company partners and their Aboriginal families. Even places like Thompson Manitoba are called after people who called our area (Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry) their Home. In 1814, as part of a gift giving ceremony, North West Company partner Alexander MacDonnell presented the Métis People with their flag, which would soon become a trademark for the nation. Alexander MacDonnell happened to live in and called Greenfield, County Glengarry, his home. David Thompson, the great Canadian explorer, married a Métis, by the family name of Small, from out west, had 13 children and lived a happy 60 some years with his Métis wife – he lived in Williamstown, County Glengarry, for some 15 years - many “locals” are descendants of that marriage. I have been in that home (Bethune Thompson House)! That home was also occupied, at one time, after the American Revolution, by the Reverend Bethune, whose descendants can also claim to be Métis. The Campbell family, yet another local Métis family, are in direct descent of a one time “factor” at the Nor Wester Fort at Ile-A-La Crosse, who married a Métis – their family lived at the Inverarden Regency Cottage (located in what is now Cornwall, Ontario) for 150 years, this is now a Canadian historic Site - their Métis family (descendants) still reside here in the Counties and have included politicians, lawyers, businessmen, large and prosperous farmers, etc. in their history, even a contemporary family member is just completing his Ph.D. (also a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario). MacDonald of Garth is yet another famous figure, who married a “black scot”, again by the name of Small, “out west” and returned home to County Glengarry, his son was perhaps the first Aboriginal member of Government in Upper Canada. Daniel Daigle, my best man, at my wedding 25 years ago this year, can trace his “Huppie” ancestors to Batoche and the Red River Settlement – he is one of my closest neighbors and best friend. My Derouchie ancestors were known Métis, with farmland, in what was called “the old Indian lands” (sometimes called the Native Quarter or Savage Lands - just east of Cornwall) and blood ties to another branch of my family, who hauled river barges up over the Long Sault rapids – with a team of horses. The Campbells and Adams (my mother’s family) families were joined by marriage through the marriage the daughters of the Grant family.
On Sept. 9th 2001, I was standing in a field in County Stormont, just north west of Cornwall, Ontario - that field once was part of Simon Fraser’s farm. Fraser was, as I’m sure your aware, a Nor Wester of some fame – with many historic ties to the Métis people. My daughter, lives in Fort St. John B.C., both Simon Fraser and David Thompson figure predominately in the history of that community (and others).
Local history books talk about the North West Company and the Partners and their Aboriginal families. One can even visit a local museum and see the displays that depict the Nor Westers and their Aboriginal families.
That we exist cannot be contested – but we are the forgotten of the Métis People. Bad enough being forgotten – but to have Métis leaders say we aren’t Métis, that we don’t exist, really hurts. Some don’t recognize our heritage, our birthright, because they are caught up in the misinformation of the few, who are advancing their own agendas – how can they claim we don’t exist. WHAT GIVES THEM THAT RIGHT! We are every bit a part of the Métis Homeland as is the Red River Settlement. For as long as the North West Company existed we had voyageurs in and out of our community, many retiring Nor’ Westers settled here (with their mixed-blood families). Their descendants and the mixed blood community have as much right to be called Métis as anyone in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta or British Columbia.
We need your help to set the record straight, we are a Historic Métis Settlement, a community that has never forgotten our proud Métis past – but it would be great if you knew it as well.
To borrow a Mohawk term, we are the “Eastern Door” of the Historic Métis Homeland.
I would request that you help us in our efforts to be recognized as a viable and visible part of the Historic Métis Homeland. Please let the Métis people know we are here and please let our Brothers and Sisters, of the Homeland, know of our plight. We feel and know that the Nor’ Westers Métis descendants and other local mixed-blood people, who dwelled in and around the historic settlement in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (incl. City of Cornwall) area, meet all the criteria of being Métis. If we are not Métis – then we are all in trouble.
In a recent copy of the “Voyageur” (from the Metis Nation of Ontario) a map outlined the various forts and posts of the Hudson Bay Company in Ontario. Even I was amazed by the expanse of their operation. I could not help but wonder about the Métis who were involved in that vast operation. The Métis were the Super Highway of the past – every bit as important to Canada’s economy as the Super Highway of the Internet today.
WE ARE METIS!
I could go on – however I think the point is clear.
