Understanding the Impacts of a Transitional and Mixed Regional Economy on the Emergence of the Historic Métis of Mattawa

"French River Rapids", Hudson's Bay Company voyageurs by Paul Kane, circa 1849-1856. Object number: 912.1.2. Gift of Sir Edmund Osler. Image courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum.

This chapter emerges from research I conducted in support of expert testimony for a Métis rights case heard in Québec provincial court. The Métis harvester is a member of the historic Métis community of Mattawa, a small Ontario town located in the Ottawa River Valley on the “border” of western Québec . In 2017, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) and the Province of Ontario recognized this community in Mattawa as an historic rights-bearing Métis community. The Métis harvester maintains a traditional territory on the “Québec-side” of the river, and the Province of Québec does not recognize the existence of any historic rights-bearing Métis communities in Québec. This case presented a series of interesting and challenging questions regarding the history and present-day existence of a Métis rights-bearing community in the larger Outaouais region. In this chapter I explore, how a regional and transitional mixed economy was integral to the emergence of this historic Métis community in Mattawa. My research suggests that the establishment and maintenance of fur trade posts along this transportation corridor and the establishment of a booming timber trade within the region, contributed to the emergence of a local population of Métis and the eventual establishment of a historic Métis community. Métis from Mattawa fluidly harvested, worked, and lived in an region that encompassed both the present-day provinces of Québec and Ontario.

Pulla, S. (2021) Understanding the impacts of a transitional and mixed regional economy on the emergence of the Historic Métis of Mattawa. Eastern Métis: Chronicling and Reclaiming a Denied Past. New York: Lexington Press.

Read the chapter here.