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History

The Trading Companies

In 1670 the Hudson's Bay Company set up a trading post in the lands of the Cree people. Another group of Métis had its beginnings there. This group came about when English and Scottish traders met Cree women. Later, some of these Métis mixed with other Métis further south.

In 1738, Pierre de La Vérendrye, an explorer from Trois-Rivières, in New France, set up a trading post, Fort Rouge, near La Fourche, the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. Here, White fur traders and Aboriginal women were able to trade. Today, this place is still a main meeting place in the city of Winnipeg.

By 1780, another fur-trading company had been set up, in direct competition with the Hudson's Bay Company. The North West Company built trading posts all along the rivers and lakes up to the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. Travel between the trading posts was mostly by water, so European and Aboriginal men paddled canoes for the North West Company. This combination of two groups also resulted in mixing between Aboriginal women and French men.

Source		Source		Source
View of the south bank of the Assiniboine River at the Forks, circa 1873		Corner of Portage and Main, Winnipeg, 1872		Hudson's Bay Company job posting

In 1821, after years of fighting over control of the fur trade, the Hudson's Bay Company and The North West Company merged to become one. This brought more French and English fur traders west, all working for the new, merged Hudson's Bay Company. The Métis population grew once again.

Aboriginal people like the Ojibwa had good relations with the French traders. The French traders stayed and looked after their wives and children. The English and Scottish men, on the other hand, mostly left their Aboriginal wives and children behind. The Métis sometimes adopted these other children as their own.