LEARN ABOUT THE
NWTMN
NWTMN
DECLARATION
We, the Indigenous Métis of the South Slave region, declare and affirm that:
we are a distinct Métis Nation within Canada;
we have Aboriginal rights to lands, resources and governance throughout our traditional territory protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982; and
we have a right of self-determination.
We hold these rights because we are aboriginal people of the Mackenzie and Athabasca river basins. Our ancestors lived on these lands, which the Creator provided, and governed themselves according to our own laws and customs, from time before memory.
We continue to live in harmony with nature and respect the bounties of the land.
We have lived in friendship, peace and harmony with our Aboriginal neighbours, in accordance with the Great Law that was given to our Aboriginal ancestors by the Creator. We, as Métis people, have a distinct history, culture and way of life separate and independent from the First Nation people, with whom we have had and continue to have relations. We honour our Aboriginal ancestors and relations.
Clearly, we are distinct from First Nation peoples. We, the Indigenous Métis of the South Slave, are direct descendants of the first people of European heritage to reach this region, well before Canada became a nation in 1867 under the British North America Act, 1867. The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed in the Daniels case that Métis are “Indians” under federal legislative responsibility within the meaning of section 91(24), B.N.A., while remaining a distinct people.
The Royal Proclamation, 1763 set the stage for the establishment of a fiduciary relationship between the Crown and the Northwest Territory Métis Nation:
“And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.”
According to the Supreme Court of Canada, “The doctrine of terra nullius (that no one owned the land prior to European assertion of sovereignty) never applied in Canada, as confirmed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Aboriginal interest in land that burdens the Crown’s underlying title is an independent legal interest, which gives rise to a fiduciary duty on the part of the Crown.”
The “Report of the Minister’s Special Representative on Reconciliation with Métis: Section 35 Métis Rights …”, dated June 14, 2016, stated:
“Métis are a unique and distinct rights-bearing Aboriginal peoples and are one of three recognized Aboriginal peoples identified in subsection 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 whose rights are recognized and affirmed in Section 35. Unlike First Nations and Inuit …, Métis emerged as a distinct Aboriginal peoples as the result of unions between European explorers and traders and the original inhabitants of what is now Canada.”
We have traditionally used, occupied and managed the land and resources throughout our traditional territory before Government unilaterally imposed its control and management over our traditional territory and resources. The traditional territory of the Métis Nation encompasses the whole of the Northwest Territories and the northern parts of the provinces bordering the Northwest Territories.
Before the fall of Quebec in 1759, French and mixed blood “coureurs de bois” traveled into the Athabasca country, living with First Nation families on the land. When North West Company traders explored north to Great Slave Lake in the 1780s, they met the family of the French/Dene “coureur de bois” Francois Beaulieu I and his Chipewyan wife Ethiba.
This family was only one of several Métis families established in the region in the 1700s. Because of their presence, trading companies set up posts in the area of what is now Fort Resolution, beginning in the 1780s. All of the Indigenous Métis are descended from one or more of these families.
Beaulieu and his son, Francois Beaulieu II, along with other Métis families including, but not limited to, the Mandeville, Cayen, Houle, Poitras, Tourangeau, St. Germain, Mercredi, Lafferty and Heron families, were vital players in building the country that was to become Canada. Métis played a nationally significant role in northern exploration, the fur trade and Treaty-making. At the same time, our ancestors were creating a new nation of Métis.
Francois Beaulieu I was one of Alexander Mackenzie’s voyageurs on his epic journeys down the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean in 1789 and, in 1792, up the Peace River and over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. His brother Jacques was an interpreter for explorer/trader Peter Pond.
Francois Beaulieu II and Francois Baptiste “le Camarade” de Mandeville were advisors, guides, hunters and interpreters; Beaulieu for Sir John Franklin’s successful expeditions to Great Bear Lake and the Arctic Coast and Mandeville for Sir George Back’s expeditions. Beaulieu mapped the route to the mouth of the Coppermine River for Franklin, via the Marion and Camsell Rivers and Great Bear Lake, Beaulieu also brought Father Faraud, the first priest north of 60°, to Fort Resolution in 1852.
Beaulieu II resisted the Hudson’s Bay Company monopoly in Rupert’s Land, travelling to trade as far as the Red River settlement in what is now Manitoba. He and his clan were based at Salt River, now known as Thebacha, from where they hunted buffalo. Beaulieu II had a camp at the Salt Plains (within the area now known as Wood Buffalo National Park). He extracted salt from the salt plains for trade, and farmed, as well as operated the trading post. Beaulieu II was considered a leader of the Dogrib people north of Great Slave Lake, as well as a head trader of the Chipewyan south of Great Slave Lake. He traded with the Yellowknives, and as far west as Fort Simpson.
Mandeville, who was allied by marriage to the distinguished Dogrib chief Edzo and a close friend of the famous Yellowknives chief Akaitcho, helped make peace among the warring Dene peoples. The Mandevilles lived and hunted for trade as well as domestic use, in the Thelon River area by the 1830’s. “Le Camarade” described and mapped the portage route via the upper Thelon to the Back River for the explorer George Back. Mandeville helped build Fort Reliance for Back in 1833. The Mandevilles also founded the village at Little Buffalo River, near the present site of Fort Resolution.
These were not the only posts and villages the early Métis founded. In 1868, Joseph King Beaulieu, son of Francois Beaulieu II, founded a trading post at Fond du Lac (Snowdrift), near the site of the present community of Lutsel K’e. In 1874, King Beaulieu built the trading post at the last rapid on the Slave River, now known as Fort Smith, from the portage which started at Fitzgerald. Other communities founded by Métis in the same era included Jean River, Rocher River and Smith’s Landing/Fitzgerald.
The Métis Nation of the South Slave arose during the same era as the Métis fur trade communities from the American Midwest-Great Lakes region and the historic Métis Nation of the Canadian prairies. Our Métis Nation had trade and marriage links to those communities. Many of us are related to Métis people from the Great Lakes or Red River who came north in the 1700’s and 1800’s. The Lafferty family is one distinguished family who can trace their heritage back to the American Great Lakes Métis Communities, via Red River, Fort Chipewyan and Fort Resolution.
We honour our Métis women, who were among the first northern Aboriginal women to receive a Euro-Canadian education. Some, such as Francois Beaulieu’s daughter Catherine, were educated at Red River and returned to act as educators and catechists. Those who were the wives of traders were often midwives and healers. They were also known for their strength of character and independence. Catherine Beaulieu had her own dog team; and made lengthy journeys around Great Slave Lake to trade with the people.
We are proud Métis, known historically as “the free people”, or “gens libres” in Michif French. As early as 1862, Francois Beaulieu II identified himself to Father Emile Petitot as “a Métis born and bred in the woods”. He lived to be 101 years old, and left many descendants. The priests referred to him, fittingly, as “Le Patriarche” – the patriarch or founding father of the Indigenous Métis.
Métis knowledge of the waterways of the region and development of its transportation routes and methods have a solid foundation in Canada’s history. We were famous long-distance canoemen, who showed traders new and shorter routes to the fur country. After 1826, we were York boatmen, and captains of brigades. And, from 1883 when steam boats came to the region, we were boat-builders, woodcutters, trackers, deckhands, and pilots like the legendary Johnny Berens.
Some of our ancestors fought in the battles for Métis rights to protect their traditional land on the Prairies. Most of the Indigenous Métis of the South Slave were not part of the Red River Métis resistance, but regarded it as important and kept in touch with events. Martyred Métis Louis Riel is said to be our relative, through the Bouchers, a Chipewyan family of Ile a la Cross, Saskatchewan.
Many times, our Dene relatives have honoured our people by selecting them as spiritual, trade, war or talking chiefs. In 1899 at Fort Chipewyan, influential Métis trader Pierre Mercredi interpreted the Chipewyans’ conditions for accepting Treaty 8. In 1900, at Fort Resolution, Michel Mandeville was the interpreter. There, the Chipewyans put forward another respected Métis leader, Pierre Beaulieu, to be their chief. The Treaty Commissioner refused to allow this, because he was Métis and because he refused to accept extinguishment as a condition of the Treaty.
Pierre Mercredi interpreted again during the 1920 Treaty boycott in Fort Resolution, and is credited with using his good offices to help resolve the crisis. This action was typical of the role Métis played throughout our history, as intermediaries and diplomats between the Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. Two Métis men, Napoleon Lafferty and Patrice Mercredi, became the only native northerners to be ordained as priests in the Mackenzie-Athabasca district.
Other Métis helped Canada establish its presence in our territory by working to carry the mail hundreds of miles by dog-team and as buffalo rangers and special constables, enforcing the law as far east as the Thelon River valley in the Barren Lands. Many of our people fought for Canada in the two World Wars, the Korean War, the Gulf War and Bosnia, including members of the Loutit, Heron, Sanderson, Mercredi and Evans families. Our people continue to serve with the Canadian Forces to this day.
We have suffered many of the same wrongs as our First Nations relatives, including attempts by the Government of Canada to take over our lands and resources,; to govern our people without consultation and our consent and to eradicate our languages and way of life. Métis suffered as much from government neglect, as interference. Our rights and our very existence as an Aboriginal people were never acknowledged.
Our treatment by Canada in the last 100 years has been unjust through Government’s non-recognition of our Aboriginal rights.
We hold the federal government to account for creating inequity in our communities, where none existed before. When Status Indians were permitted by regulation to continue harvesting in Wood Buffalo National Park, we were not. We were forced out of the Wood Buffalo National Park by Canada without compensation or recognition of our aboriginal rights. When Status Indians and Inuit had their medical treatment paid for, we did not. We have supported institutions like the Church and the education system but found ourselves subject to racism and discrimination, often enshrined in government policy. As a result, many of our people lived in hardship. Even now, there continues to be differential treatment between Métis, Status Indian and Inuit students whereby Métis students continue to receive lesser benefits than Status Indian and Inuit students.
We are a strong people and we have survived to this day because of the strength, unity, love and caring of our families and community.
We, the Indigenous Métis of the South Slave, now reside mainly in the communities of Fort Smith, Hay River, Fort Resolution and Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. We did not cede, surrender or release Aboriginal title to the lands and resources throughout our traditional territory. We shall always have Aboriginal rights to the use of our lands and resources. We also have the inherent right to govern ourselves in matters that are internal to our communities and traditional territory, integral to our distinctive culture and practices, customs and traditions, and with respect to our unique relationship to our land, water and resources, and essential to our operations as governments.
The federal government has a fiduciary obligation to our people, which is protected by section 35 of the Constitution of Canada. This is a sacred trust that must be upheld by the Crown and we insist that justice prevail.
Our rights are not dependent on, and cannot be compromised, by the will of other governments. We have the right to exercise them for our benefit at any time. We would prefer to negotiate in good faith with other governments to take our rightful place in Canada. We are willing to work with First Nation people and other governments for the purposes of community harmony.
We shall govern ourselves in all areas that affect Métis people, with the guiding principle that future generations must benefit from our actions. We, ourselves, will take on the responsibility of healing the wounds of the past that were inflicted upon us by others. Our government is based on our beliefs, values, traditions, history, customs and laws as Métis people. Our Métis Constitution sets out our principles, structures of government, jurisdictions and authorities.
We place high value on the wisdom of our Elders and will continue to use their guidance in all matters affecting Métis people. We will ensure that their knowledge of our identity, our nationhood and historic place within Canada, and of our Aboriginal rights, is passed on through our children for generations to come.

NWTMN
PRINCIPLES
&VALUES
VALUES
A strong Metis Nation embracing Métis Rights.
MISSION
A strong Metis Nation embracing Métis Rights.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
We believe in:
- The National definition of Métis
- Continuing to build our foundation for future generations
- Fairness and respect for all people
- The need to work in unity and harmony
- Métis participation in building our Nation
- Encouraging & assisting Métis people to achieve their goals
- Honesty, integrity and professionalism
- Achieving self-government
- Our Métis rights as recognized and affirmed in Section 35 of the Constitution Act (1982)

NWTMN
HISTORY
& TIMELINE
NWTMN
HISTORY
NWTMN
TIMELINES
NWTMN
HISTORY
ANCESTRY
“Métis” means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Indigenous peoples, is of historic Métis Nation ancestry, and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.
Métis people are a post-contact Indigenous nation, born from the unions of European fur traders and First Nations women in the 18th century. The descendants of these marriages, the Métis, would form a distinct culture, collective consciousness, and strong Nationhood in the Northwest. Distinct Métis communities developed along fur trade routes that made the Métis Nation Homeland. Today, the Homeland includes Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, parts of British Columbia and Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and the northern United States. We were here before Canada existed. The Métis are a robust, thriving community and one of three legally, politically, and culturally distinct Indigenous peoples of Canada, recognized by s. 35 (2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. Métis people have a unique identity, culture, language, way of life, and historic self-government.
THE FUR TRADE
The history of the Metis is entwined with the history of the fur trade.
The Métis were at the heart of the fur trade. We acted as guides, interpreters, clerks, canoe men, fur packers, trade negotiators, and provided provisions to the Hudson’s Bay Company, % European fur traders. the Metis were expert hunters themselves and developed York Boats and red River cart systems for transporting goods and furs. Metis communities settled along fur trading routes in Canada’s historic northwest, with the largest being the Red River Settlement.
THE BUFFALO HUNT
The Métis developed a unique political and legal culture with strong democratic traditions, including elections of buffalo councils for organized buffalo hunts.
Laws of the hunt were created and enforced by buffalo councils.
The creation and initiation of these laws were the first steps towards Métis self-government and the earliest known form of government in Canada.
TRAGEDY OF METIS SCRIP
Laws of the hunt were created and enforced by buffalo councils.
The creation and initiation of these laws were the first steps towards Métis self-government and the earliest known form of government in Canada.
NWTMN
TIMELINES
The following information is intended to provide a brief summary of the historical events contributing to the political evolution of the Northwest Territory Métis Nation, as well as the development of various other governments in the Northwest Territories, related negotiations for lands, resources and self-government, Treaty land entitlement and evolving aboriginal case law.
Pre-European contact
The Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, Yellowknife , Slavey, Hare, Mountain Dene, Gwich’in, and Inuvialuit lived a nomadic lifestyle on the sub-arctic and barrenlands of what would one day be called the Northwest Territories. Occupying their traditional territories, they hunted, trapped, fished and traded to survive.
1670
The King of England gave the Hudson ‘s Bay Company control over the people and fur trade within the watershed of the Hudson Bay (Rupert’s Land).
1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 by King George III recognized Aboriginal people as “nations or tribes” and acknowledged that they continue to possess traditional territories until they are “ceded to or purchased by” the Crown. “…Whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds… And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure, for the present…to reserve under our Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the Lands and Territories not included with limits of Our…new Governments, or within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company, as also all the Lands and Territories lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall into the Sea from the West and the North West….”
(The Royal Proclamation recognized Aboriginal self-government and set out to develop a system of peaceful cooperation between two very different cultures in which neither would dominate the other.)
1771
Francois Beaulieu II was born at Great Slave Lake.
1786
Peter Pond sent Laurent Leroux on behalf of Gregory McLeod and Company down the Slave River to Great Slave Lake. The Ross and Pangman outfit sent Cuthbert Grant of the Northwest Company north that same year. They establish two houses on Stoney Point (Grant Point) and the fur trade competition begins on the south shore of Great Slave Lake.
1789
Northern Métis Francois Beaulieu, Delorme, Fabien and Mandeville guide Alexander Mackenzie down his “River of Disappointment” (he was looking for the Pacific Ocean) to the Beaufort Sea.
1792-93
Francois Beaulieu I guides Alexander Mackenzie from Fort Chipewyan to the Pacific Ocean.
1816
The battle of Seven Oaks was a skirmish between the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and Métis at a ravine called Seven Oaks on June 19 where the Métis defeated the HBC and asserted their rights to free trade. The event propelled Métis nationalism in the Red River region.
1820
With the help of a map drawn by Francois Beaulieu, Francois Mandeville and Pierre St. Germaine guide John Franklin to the mouth of the Coppermine River.
1821
The Hudson’s Bay Company absorbed the Northwest Company and exercised its monopoly until 1870.
1823
A peace agreement between Dogrib Chief Edzo and Chipewyan Chief Akaitcho was brokered by the Métis Francois Baptiste “Le Camarade” de Mandeville at Roundrock Lake.
1828
Hudson’s Bay records reveal that Francois Beaulieu II hunted with five families in the Lac La Martre (Wha Ti) area north of Great Slave Lake.
1833
Captain George Back arrived at Fort Resolution and hired Francois Mandeville and Louis Cayen. They built Fort Reliance for him at the east end of Great Slave Lake
1840-60
The Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Church began establishing missions in the Athabasca and Mackenzie regions. In the absence of any government aid or services in the north, the missions took it on themselves to provide health care and relief aid to the aboriginal peoples who were suffering increasing epidemics of diseases previously unknown to them. The missions also operated orphanages and residential schools.
1849
Sayer Trial, the first Métis rights case. In 1849, Guillaume Sayer, a Métis free trader, appeared before a Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) magistrate facing charges of trading illegally outside of the HBC trade monopoly. The Métis community compelled the magistrate to suspend his sentence. This was viewed as an assertion of Métis freedom to trade.
1850
The Métis in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, fought for inclusion in the Robinson Huron Treaty. They were denied participation as a collective, but their lands were guaranteed by Robinson, the treaty commissioner.