The Mothers of the Métis Nation
The mothers of the Métis Nation were the Indigenous daughters of the land, beautiful and exotic to a young man from Quebec. The attraction was often reciprocated when young Indigenous women met these young voyageurs.
The daughters provided access to the land and resources. The whole point of voyaging into the North-West was to trade with the Indigenous peoples who supplied the furs. To obtain the furs, one needed to establish a relationship with the bands. The best way to do that, sometimes the only way, was to marry one of their daughters. This was a general practice in the North-West. Sometimes couples married for love; sometimes it was a pragmatic arrangement. Either way, most of the voyageurs wanted women and needed them. For those who were hungry for female companionship or sex, the beautiful young Indigenous women were the only women available in the North-West. Beyond companionship and sex, when a voyageur stayed with a band, it was the daughters who looked after their domestic needs.
The voyageurs had to adapt to the customs of the Indigenous peoples. The lure of independence and freedom from their old lives in Canada was often sufficient inducement for a voyageur to embrace a new life and adapt to the customs of the Indigenous people he now began to live with. Generally, there was much goodwill between Indigenous peoples and the voyageurs. This is not to say that relations between voyageurs and Indigenous peoples were always smooth. Trading partners usually have disputes, and the Euro-Canadian trade competition, often quite brutal, had an impact on their Indigenous partners. Sometimes there were Indigenous attacks and sometimes the voyageurs instigated a conflict. Cultural misunderstandings were common, and until secure trading alliances were established with a particular band, caution was necessary on both sides.
It took a voyageur with unique skills to successfully establish a trade relationship with Indigenous people. By marrying into a band, à la façon du pays (in the fashion of the country), the voyageur took on familial obligations. He became the son in a new family and contributed whatever talents and skills he had to the betterment of this family and her band. In this way the new son earned access to and learned about the land and necessary hunting, fishing and trapping skills. In return he provided the family and the band with his connections to the fur-trading companies.
Entering into a relationship with an Indigenous woman, à la façon du pays, was marriage without the benefit of clergy or state sanction. This was not marriage as understood by Euro-Canadians at the time, their ideas being framed by the strict rules of Christianity and European property laws. It was marriage as the Indigenous people understood it and as the voyageurs learned to understand it. Indigenous custom was that if the marriage was not working out for the woman, the man, her family or the band, it could be dissolved with little fuss. That doesn’t mean that all dissolved marriages ended at the mutual desire of both partners. There are many tales of love in the North-West, unrequited, deeply cherished or scorned.
A TALE OF LOVE SCORNED
In 1799 a young man from Maskinongé in the Trois-Rivières region of Quebec signed on as a voyageur with the North West Company (Nor’Westers). Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière paddled into a new, exciting life, but he also signed on in the middle of the fur-trade war, when the Nor’Westers were hiring increasing numbers of young men. In 1804, during one of the few truces in the trade war, Jean-Baptiste was terminated along with dozens of other young voyageurs.
Losing his job didn’t dampen his romantic reputation as a voyageur when he returned to Maskinongé. Voyageurs were much admired in Quebec and people were hungry for their stories. Jean-Baptiste obliged with tales of his adventures in the North-West, some of which may even have been true. In 1805 at a soiree where he was invited to recount his tall tales, he met the lovely and spirited Marie-Anne Gaboury. They fell in love and got engaged based on her understanding that Jean-Baptiste intended to settle down as a farmer in Maskinongé. But Jean-Baptiste was never going to be content with such a life after tasting the freedom and independence of life in the North-West. So Marie-Anne had a choice. She could become a fur-trade widow, which meant staying in Quebec, seeing her husband once every few years, running the farm and raising her children alone. Or she could go where no white woman had gone before.
Apparently Jean-Baptiste agreed to Marie-Anne coming with him because he was confident, erroneously as it turns out, that the North West Company would refuse a female passenger. When the Nor’Westers proved indifferent to this unusual passenger, Marie-Anne headed into the North-West in May of 1806 with a bigamist. Jean-Baptiste was married, according to the customs of the country, to an Indigenous woman in the North-West. He also had children. One can only wonder how many excuses flitted through his head as he paddled with his new wife at his side, slowly but steadily heading straight toward his first wife and family.
The inevitable collision occurred when the newlyweds arrived in Pembina at the end of July. His first wife, not a woman to be scorned, tried to murder Marie-Anne. The tales vary widely. One version of the story is that the murder attempt was by knife. Another version says fire. Yet another version tells a tale of poison. In that version Marie-Anne escaped because a dog ate the poisoned food and died instead. The accounts are only consistent on one fact: there was at least one murder attempt. Jean-Baptiste, acquiring a bit of wisdom a tad late, scooped up his new wife and took her some forty miles away. The first wife, unnamed, along with her children, is never heard from again.
Fluid relationships and serial monogamy among the voyageurs were common. The voyageurs changed their postings regularly and might never return to a wife. The termination of a relationship in those circumstances was often mutual. Her family would not want to lose a daughter, and the relationship might end when her hunting band left the area. Other voyageurs returned to Lower Canada and abandoned North-West wives. Lifetime commitments were not the norm.
But some of the sons were deeply attached to their Indigenous wives. Some of these women, with their children, travelled in their own canoes and followed a voyageur as he moved from post to post. So, the woman was paddling, portaging, changing diapers, feeding and caring for her children and keeping up with the voyageurs. The fact that women with their children could and did keep up with the voyageurs doesn’t dent the male superhero reputation; it does give some indication of the strength and skills of Indigenous women. Perhaps they should be added to the superhero legends.
Women were particularly important to the fisheries. They were often the ones who did the fishing, and when one considers the important role fish played as a food source, it is possible that the women may have provided as much or even more food than the men did. One particular story about Marguerite Kirkness highlights the role women played in the fisheries.
MARGUERITE KIRKNESS
The Marguerite Kirkness story is set in July and August of 1810 in Île-à-la-Crosse, where her husband, Andrew Kirkness, was employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company as a fisherman. On July 6 Andrew and Marguerite had a fight and she left him, crossing over to the nearby Nor’Wester post. In the ensuing weeks officials from the Company sought, more than once, to get Marguerite back, which was highly unusual behaviour. It was not the norm in those days for traders to stir themselves simply to restore strained marital arrangements, especially for a First Nation woman.
Unusual, that is, unless she had some value, which she did—her fishing skills. While it was Andrew who had the contract to provide fish, Marguerite was the real fisher in the family. Without her, Andrew was simply unable to provide the fish necessary for the post. This is why the Company officials went to such efforts to get Marguerite back. She was their food source. It didn’t take long for the Nor’Westers to figure out they were hosting a valuable woman.
The Bay men were convinced that Marguerite was being held by the Nor’Westers against her will, which may have been true. The fur-trade war was ruthless and the Nor’Westers were not above trying to starve out the Bay men. Whether or not Marguerite was a willing partner in this offensive, the tactic worked, and the Company was forced to close its post at Île-à-la-Crosse. This story provides us with insight into the remarkable fishing skills possessed by First Nation women and how many men depended on their skills. Marguerite and Andrew appear to have reunited and relocated to Red River.1
It is the northmen of the Nor’Westers who established the bonds that enabled the creation of the Métis Nation. Forged in freedom and independence, engraved by constant travel and shared companionship, nurtured by songs and stories, unbreakable bonds began to form. The bonds were strengthened when they married First Nation women with similar values of freedom and independence and with deep attachments to the North-West. These bonds were the framework and consciousness that were necessary to develop a new nation in the North-West.