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PROOF

OUR OPINIONS

The following documents are just some examples of children brought back east when the fur trade was waning.

Records for the children of the fur trade Thomas family -- in Hudson QC -- St James Church - early 1800s




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Marriage record for John Macdonell and Magdeleine Poitras -- notice it lists their children (and their ages) -- in Oka QC 1813




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HIDDEN CHILDREN OF THE FUR TRADE -- EXAMPLE

Marriage record for Claude Bourbonnais (born 1800) to Cleophee Sauvage in Vaudreuil QC -- both had Native mothers, and both of their fathers were fur traders together in Temiscaming QC.




Claude's father Paul is documented as having been with Simon Fraser in 1793, and at Red River 1818. He was a 3rd generation trader, married his second cousin Josephte Lalonde in 1807 (also Metis, and newly widowed from her fur trade husband). They were both 40 yrs old when they married by contract. Lalonde was not the natural mother of Claude. His real mother was either Cree or Ogi-Cree. Lalonde had at least 17 pregnancies while married to Joseph Deschamps, but only 3 of her children survived infancy, are documented in the contract, and are not Paul's children.

Here, the notary files for the inventory of Josephte Lalonde's deceased husband's estate -- the morning before the marriage contract on the same day April 13, 1807 -- between her and Paul Bourbonnais, while his son Claude was about 7 yrs old.




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And note in the above marriage of Claude Bourbonnais to Cleophee Sauvage -- her cousin Elizabeth Cown was present. She was the daughter of fur trader George Cown. Below is her baptism in 1804, when she was with her parents in the fur trade at 8 yrs old, but she was in Vaudreuil QC in 1826 to witness the marriage of her cousin Cleophee.




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OUR OPINIONS

These are just a sampling of children of the fur trade that were brought back to Quebec. Fur trade networks were extensive, and these families went into hiding when it became dangerous to admit you were Native.

Some scholars in the west would like to have people believe that children were not brought back, but this proves they were. And Metis in the west know that children being removed from their mothers was something they also experienced.

They would also like to insinuate that by doing genealogy, or looking into archives, that orgs or communities are somehow "fake" or "becoming" something, but their western Metis communities and families have had to dig into archives to prove who they are, and piece their families back together in registries. Somehow though, anyone doing this outside of Red River is cast as being not legitimate.

And ironically, they try to insinuate that by using the term "Indian", "Native" or "part Native", we are not legitimate, when Metis Nation orgs in the west are using these same terms to describe what proof a person needs to register. This is a term people understand. That's why we use it.

We think this assembly of documents gives a glimpse into communities that nobody knew about -- and that's just what fear, shame, oppression and division creates -- communities that have become dissociated from each other.

(Information on this site are the opinions of Voyageur Metis. Photos of persons used on this site are from family albums within our communities. Images of archives are for educational purposes only.)























































































































             



































































































































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