The Métis of the Canadian West were originated by hundreds of
fur trade employees who liked the fur trade lifestyle and
decided to stay on, taking Aboriginal women to wife. Many of
former contract employees, or engagés, refused to renew
their contracts; in the language of the day, they were called
gens libres or freemen, a term they understood in the full
sense of the word. After watching the French-Canadian fathers
who had practiced the trade, the children of these freemen
tended to be sharp dealers and traders, especially when having
to do with the Hudson’s Bay Company. They knew the value of
their work and expected to be treated accordingly; the
Portage-la-Loche brigades were notorious for sit-down strikes,
probably before the term had been invented in the industrialized
world.
The life and times of some of the most significant Métis
families of the day are illustrated in the following pages, . |