Marion Larkman - Oral History
“It’s a Nation we’re building, a Nation”

Marion Larkman was born on Curve Lake First Nations Reserve and raised in a Métis settlement pioneered by her grandfather, Jack Jacobs, at Burleigh Falls, Ontario. Like so many of his neighbours who had relocated from the Curve Lake area, Jack was of Irish and Ojibway descent. He owned a fishing camp and lodge called the Summerset Hotel, which largely catered to American visitors. This operation served as a primary revenue source for the Jacobs as well as the wider community of thirty families during the tourist season. Guiding gave way to more rigorous effort in the fall and winter as the men first left the water to hunt and trap, spending the remainder of the year in the wood lots.

Life was tough for those who eked out a living from the land. Marion remembers that a traditional Métis existence “was hard work!” Starting at age seven, she tended a trap line alongside her father for eight consecutive years. Their days commenced well before sunrise as they harvested in a large area around Stoney Lake; rabbits were snared for food while muskrat, beaver, mink, and otter provided pelts for sale. Shelter could be primitive at this time of the year. One winter was passed in a lean-to with warmth provided only by a stove fabricated from discarded oil drums.

There was no school in Burleigh Falls during the Great Depression. Instead, Marion received her formal education via correspondence courses which arrived in the mail. She learned to read and write in this fashion as time permitted after work. In the evenings, by the light of a coal lamp, she would complete her assignments under adult supervision. Although she was unaware at the time, her father, who was illiterate, acquired the same basic skills as he assisted his child with her school exercises.

The outbreak of the Second World War provided great opportunities for Marion who enlisted in the army even though she was under-aged. Military service provided a steady income, warm clothing, and regular rations. Educational prospects also improved, allowing her to begin secondary school and operate a switchboard. Civilian experiences at the fishing lodge and along the trap line gave her the requisite abilities to serve as a butcher and cook at the Barriefield army base outside Kingston. Marion’s military service is commemorated at the Curve Lake First Nation where her name is believed to be on a plaque alongside other veterans from that community.

Marion returned to Burleigh Falls after the war. There, she married and raised a family of twelve children. She has passed along much of her traditional knowledge about medicine and Native languages to her own children as well as the sixty-one grandchildren she is proud to call her own. Marion casts a giant shadow across the Aboriginal community, particularly in her role within the Métis Nation of Ontario. As a charter member of the provisional council, she is often a featured speaker at important events such as Louis Riel Day and at the Annual General Assembly. She also serves on the board of the Metis Nation of Ontario’s Cultural Commission which seeks to preserve and promote Metis history, values, traditions and pride in Métis arts and culture.

Marion’s dauntless spirit is sustained by the fact that her Metis community shares in her vision that “It’s a Nation we’re building, a Nation”