The Old Plains Métis Way of Life

by George J. Lepine, Toronto Métis Council (Dec 1997)

I received a letter from my father the other day talking about the Métis way of life in the Red River Valley.

I am from that area, and if you ever visit the western plains, be sure to stop in Winnipeg. There you can see a lot of Métis history, as well as the Forks which traders and plains' people used as post and travel points.

It is located on the other side of St. Boniface, overlooking the Cathedral where Louis Riel and my great great grandfather, Ambrose Lepine, rest.

Like the First Nations, the Métis were a nomadic people, dependent on the buffalo. Their movements were far more leisurely than that of the commercial freighters who ran between Pembina and the Red River Settlement. The Métis usually travelled four or five families to a party. The head of the household rode a pony while the rest of the family shared the Red River cart with all of their belongings.

When carts stopped for the night camps, men rode off to shoot prairie chicken and small game for the next day's meal. Women and children gathered firewood and wild berries, and plums in season.

Every wife possessed one piece of white linen that could be spread on the ground as a tablecloth, and each party would carry a fiddle and dance to music when in camp. If they erected their buffalo hide tents they slept in a circle, feet towards the centre pole, and the family dog kept watch under the cart nearby. Regardless of the time spent on the trail no one undressed. The white man might discard his hard boots and coat, but like the Native, the Métis kept his gun within arm's reach.

In summer the night's silence was deep, broken only occasionally by the howling of coyotes. In autumn when little streams and rivers were bridged with golden leaves, the cry of southbound wild geese, ducks, and swans evoked memories. The enchantment of the prairies seeped into a man's blood and seldom left him.

The Métis Voyageur Vol. I No. 1 Dec 1997, p. 14
Métis Nation of Ontario, Toronto, ON

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