Nation Métis Contemporary

THE BIG TRAVELERS

Big Travelers They left early this morning, the wind of the north caressed our hands, far from the country far from the beach there is dream only and following day rows, oar, oar grant the tour of the world, the tour of the world, yes we will make. Thank you to you Tex Lecord of us to have given so beautiful words, of the words that make relive our ancestor traveler. Beyond winds, the forests and the strong currents, these men of exceptional courage went from the before always of before without knowing the day of the return ever with his. But for the bachelors several one found wife there, The marriage to the Indian was a gesture of the most serious, with beautiful ceremonies. I have an Innu friend that this to get married of the sort and croyer me it is beautiful to see, one of the beautiful ceremonies that I saw.

Joseph Cardinal

It is very possible that several of the travelers of the time of the bill of furs carried the Cardinal name, since the name is frequent in the Canada French, but a lot of those that carry the name in the west of the country have for ancestor Joseph Cardinal that got settled on the outskirts of the lake the Doe toward 1800. Born in Montreal in 1756, he/it is had the use of the Company of the Northwest when he comes in the west. He comes with Alexander Mackenzie in his journey of exploration in the Arctic ocean, taking down the Mackenzie stream in search of a navigable road toward the Pacific. In September 1799, he comes with David Thompson in the lake the Doe, and in September of the same year, he surrenders to the strong George on the left strand of the North Saskatchewan. In 1802, he works in the region of the River-La-Paix, and in 1804, he acts as interpreter to the Strong Edmonton. In 1824, he is hired by George Simpson to open a track chevauchable of the lake the Doe, where he lived, in the strong Assiniboine on the Athabasca river. He had to travel fairly far Northbound in search of furs since in 1828, he comes with some hunters dénés in the strong Edmonton.

It is ever of the seen, and all people of the strong come to see these natives dressed of their traditional costume with the hood and the low of the coat carved in tip. Even in his old age, he was a very vigorous man. He is 88 years old when he guides abbot J. B. Thibault of the Cold lake to the lake the Doe in 1844, and in 1852, he helps the father Albert Lacombe to choose the site of the mission Our Lady-Des-Victoires on the strands of the lake, no far from where he lived, and where the mission is always. In 1810, Alexander Henry notes in his newspaper that Cardinal had two women and four children who lived with him along the North-Saskatchewan river. Lasting his long life, we know that he has at least three wives, of which an is known merely as Rose Crisis. at the time of the visit of the roving priest J.B.Thibault, in 1844, he/it marries in rightly marriages Louise Frobisher, an alliance probably heart elder. He seems that she/it dies shortly after, since four years later, he marries Isabelle Green Hood. In 1880, one said that three hundred of his descendants lived on the outskirts of the lake the Doe. He lived until the age of hundred years and his body rests in the cemetery of the mission Our Lady-Des-Victoires.

After the visit of Albert Lacombe in 1852, one of the his sons, Alexis, commit like mate of the missionary, and accompanies it like guide and supplier, station that he will occupy during a lot of years. In Alberta, one finds a lake and a stream carrying the Cardinal name. The Jacques lake in the national park of Jasper is named for Jacques Cardinal, a caterer of furs of the region (that was known also like Jim, Jaco, Jacco and Jacko). He is buried on the strands of the river that carry his name. A mountain, a collar and some hills also carry his name. It is possible that this Jacques was Joseph's son.

LIFE OF FAMILY

The first miscegenations of the Northwest At the men of the North, family's notion generally means an union with an autochthonous or métis woman. The miscegenation coincides with the exploration of the west by the Europeans in the XVIIe century. The meetings take place during the journeys of bill, where the travelers must communicate with the Natives to move and to conduct exchanges. Just before the bill, only 25% of the travelers of the Northwest started a family with an Autochthonous. In 1821, nearly all travelers, officers and wintering bourgeoises have an autochthonous wife and the children. Beyond the comfort and the love that they bring to their spouses, the Natives greatly contribute to the trade of furs. Of the marriages like the country Permitting to weave a vast domestic network above all, the autochthonous marriage defers the European marriage: found on a voluntary character, he can resolve in a separation, so that an Autochthonous can have two or three consecutive husbands. Marriage like the country Marriage like the country The marriage like the country unites travelers and autochthonous women according to the custom of the First nations, without the approval of the clergy. He/it includes elements typical of the Low Canada as the dowry, the parental consent and the wedding.

Among the rituals and festivities that surround the marriage, one counts the manuring of the calumet, the wife's dressing to the Canadian, and the offer of a gift to the bride's parents. These marriages are serious; generally, the committed only have at a time a woman and are faithful to him. The companies of bill and the marriage The two companies of bill have very different policies as for the marriages like the country. The Company of the Bay of Hudson (CBH) is interested merely to the trade and encourage the miscegenations little. In spite of the interdiction of these unions by the company, one begins to count them toward 1730. The situation evolves until the XIXe century, where the CBH stops prohibiting the marriages like the country and worry more of the fate of the families. The Company of the Northwest (CNO) is a lot more open to these alliances that contribute to the trade of furs. She even provides to the needs of the wives and children.

In 1806, this economic burden begins to bother it, so that the unions are controled henceforth. However, the setting in application of the regulation is not constant. Marriages of short and of long general way length, a marriage like the country is valid during the period of service of the traveler. The length of the unions varies three to five years (according to the length of the contract marks), but some last a whole life. An union can also be broken when the wife's tribe moves for hunt. After the traveler's departure, the métisb children are integrated to their mother's tribe, who transmits them the cultural heritage - notably the language and the métis art. He often arrives that the traveler, who returns to the Low Canada to the term of his contract, confide his/her/its wife to the good care. of another man! To the contrary, the traveler who wants to enter into a permanent way with his wife leaves the service and becomes a free man. And the children... métis in company of his two wives métis in company of his two wives

Some travelers settle in the west with their families and create the first Métis collectivities thus. Others bring their children with them to the Low Canada or in New England. The mother remains with the man to whom one confided it or return by his family. The children of the committed of the CNO receive little support of their fathers and are free to choose their destiny. The boys can join an autochthonous collectivity, to work for the CNO as traveler or clerk under contract, or can become autonomous workers. As for the girls, they marry a traveler, a clerk or a bourgeois and stay to the stations of bill. After 1790, the children, especially the boys, can be sent in the East to be baptized there and educated. Some choose to come back in the west and become commercial. The distinct identity of the children of travelers Cuthbert Grant, Métis chief in the Battle of the Seven Oak Cuthbert Grant, Métis chief in the Battle of the Seven Oaks The companies of bill maintain narrow ties with the Métis community in order to get his support in the control of the bill. With an unique heritage and one distinct life style, the Métis try to make use of their double inheritance. They want the right to live in conformity with their own customs, without interference of the colonial governments. Camp of métis on the prairie, with cart Camp of métis on the prairie, with cart,

June 19, 1816, the increasing animosity between the Métis and the CNO, on the one hand, and the colonial administration of Assiniboia and the CBH, on the other hand, reaches his point culminating at the time of the battle of Seven Oaks. This armed conflict opposes a mainly métis rider group and a group of colonists and employees of the CBH directed by the governor of the colony. Although unforeseen, the battle of Seven Oaks marks the collective wakening of the aspirations of thebmétis or the Woods-Burnt, as one called them at the time. This event succeeds in uniting the Métis against their common enemy, either the governor of Assiniboia and his laws, that were discerned like being to the service of the CBH. Cuthbert Grant, métis leader in the Battle of Seven Oaks Robert Semple, gouvernet of the térritoires of the company of the Bay of Hudson (CBH), killed in the Battle of the Seven Oaks. Did you know it? The métis collectivities develop themselves differently according to the place where they are established. The idea of a métis nation is not therefore unanimous. The Natives assign less importance to the genetic inheritance that to the life style. Thus, they consider people of mixed origin as being of theirs, so much as these live among them and as them. Previous.

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