Who are the Wood Buffalo Métis?

© John Leclair 2005

 

Fort McMurray Métis with Northwest Scrip Commission circa 1900

The history of the Wood Buffalo Métis is as vast and varied as the region. Originally voyageurs, fur traders, buffalo hunters, freighters, and trappers, the Métis came to the Athabasca country primarily with the fur trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. In many cases Métis families were begun here as a result of marriages between local Cree and Dene (Chipewyan) women and European men assigned to the fur trade. Some would say that the first Métis arrived in this region exactly 9 months after the first white man!

Other early Métis traveled to and often through this area from Red River (Now Winnipeg) to the Athabasca country of Fort Chipewyan with the Northwest Company and later the Hudson’s Bay Company. Many of their Native roots were Cree, Anishnabe (Ojibwe), Iroquois and Sioux. The Métis were often translators and advance scouts for the fur trade, translating and negotiating trade between their First Nations cousins and their European employers.

As well, many Métis came to this part of Canada as a result of persecution after the Red River Rebellion of 1869-1870, and the Northwest Rebellion at Batoche in 1885.

Before there were any roads to this area, the people travelled by water. The primary routes followed to this part of the country were from the east, via Ile a la Crosse and La Loche through the Methye Portage and Clearwater River, from the southwest via the Athabasca River, and from Lac la Biche across country and via the Christina River.  More recently, within the past hundred years or so, many Métis families have arrived here from other areas.  Some are still here, and some have since moved on.

To this day, many of the early Métis names are still heard in the Wood Buffalo region. The following list was compiled from HBC records and journals, church records, National Archives Métis Scrip application records, and consultation with local Métis.

If there are any names that I have missed, please email me at bighalfbreed@hotmail.com and I will gladly add them.

Here are some original Métis family names in the Wood Buffalo Region:

ARMIT
AUGER
BEAULIEU
BOUCHIER (BOUCHER)
BOURK (BOURQUE)
BRAZEAU
CAMPBELL
CARDINAL
CASTOR
CHRISTIE
COOK
COOKIE
COOPER
DESJARLAIS
DESMARAIS
FLETT
FOSSENEUVE (LATER SHOTT)
FRASER
GAIRDNER (GARDNER)
GLADU (GLADUE)
GUILBEAULT (WIFE OF J. MOBERLY)
HARPE
HOULE
JANVIER
LABOUCANE
LADOUCEUR
LAFFERTÉ (LAFFERTY)
LAMBERT
LAMCOURT
LAVALLÉE
LÉPINE
LINDSTROM
LIZOTTE
LOUTTIT (LOUTITT, LAUTTIT)
MCAULEY
MCDONALD
MCFARLANE
MCKAY
MCKENZIE
MCLEOD
MERCREDI
MORIN
POWDER
PRUDEN
QUINTALL
ROSS
SANDERSON
SHOTT
SPENCE
SYKES
TAIT
TOURANGEAU
TREMBLAY
VILLEBRUN
WANIANDY
WYLIE


 

Many of the names in the Wood Buffalo Region including Fort McMurray, Lac la Biche and Fort Chipewyan can be found in The Genealogy of the First Métis Nation , (Sprague, D.N.; Frye, R.D.,  Winnipeg, Pemmican Publications, 1988). This census was taken in 1858 in the Red River/ Fort Garry district of what is now southern Manitoba.

Métis families such as Flett, Ross, Loutitt, Fraser and McLeod originated in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. They arrived on the shores of Hudson's Bay, migrated through York Factory and Norway House to Red River and then on to this area through the northwest via Fort Carlton and Ile a la Crosse.  Some came directly through Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan River and then followed the Churchill River system to the Athabasca country.  Other French Métis such as Auger, Cardinal, Ladouceur, and Gladu originated in France and travelled as voyageurs and "courer du bois" via Quebec to Red River and onward throughout the northwest to this area. There are still many branches of all these Métis families throughout northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The journey for many of our European and Métis ancestors was often spread over several generations to reach this part of the country. 

And we’re still here.

 

Emile Shott and son with dog team on Franklin Avenue 1922

 

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