Culture & Heritage

Who are the Métis?

The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people with a unique history, culture, language, and territory that includes the waterways of Ontario, surrounds the Great Lakes, and spans what was known as the historic Northwest.

The Métis Nation is comprised of descendants of people born of relations between Indian women and European men. The initial offspring of these unions were of mixed ancestry. The genesis of a new Indigenous people called the Métis resulted from the subsequent intermarriage of these mixed ancestry individuals.

Distinct Métis settlements emerged as an outgrowth of the fur trade, along freighting waterways and watersheds. In Ontario, these settlements were part of larger regional communities, interconnected by the highly mobile lifestyle of the Métis, the fur trade network, seasonal rounds, extensive kinship connections and a shared collective history and identity.

Who was Louis Riel? 

To learn more about Métis political leader and father of Conferderation Louis Riel please click here to read an informative PDF document about his life, his work, and his importance to the Métis people.