In naming my relations, I acknowledge and am accountable to the ancestral and familial gifts of knowledge and embodied practice that inform my systems of thought, ways of practice, and my identity as Bois Brûlé / Aabitaawikwe / Wisaakodewikwe.[1] ​​My family names are Vasseur, St. Onge, Lafrenière, and Berger (Burgie) and Beaudoin. My reality and identity are grounded in the lived experiences of my Ancestors, upheld through time and space by my grandparents and passed down to me through my parents.​

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Through my maternal grandfather, I am a descendant of Marie Lafrenière, daughter of Marie Veronique (Veronica) St. Onge and Oliver Lafrenière. Marie Helen Neilon, my great-grandmother, is the granddaughter of Marie Lafrenière. Marie's mother, Veronica St. Onge, was born on Drummond Island, Michigan, and is the daughter of (Katrine) Geneviève Vasseur. Geneviève Vasseur was born in Michilimackinac (present-day Mackinac Island, Michigan) and was baptized at the mission of St. Ignace, Michilimackinac (Mackinac Register of Baptisms 1695-1821, p. 117). She was the daughter of Madeleine (Lac Courte Oreilles Nation, baptized at the mission of St. Ignace, Michilimackinac, Mackinac Register of Baptisms 1695-1821, p. 113) and Jacques Vasseur. ​A godparent of the Vasseur family baptisms at the mission of St. Ignace was Sieur Alexis Laframboise, the maternal great-grandfather of Gabriel Dumont (Mackinac Register of Baptisms 1695-1821, p. 116). Geneviève's sister, Louise Vasseur (married Caron/Carow), is recognized as one of the founding mothers of the Agatha Biddle Band (Weller, 2021, pp. 104-105). She was baptized at the mission of St. Ignace and was enumerated in the Halfbreed Census Register (No. 194), Ottawas and Chippewas of Michigan, Treaty of March 28, 1836, where she and some of her children received monies. 

 

Geneviève Vasseur's brother, Louis Vasseur, fought at the Battle of Seven Oaks (Barkwell, 2015, p. 31). In a "Statement respecting the Earl of Selkirk's settlement upon the Red River," Francois Firmin declares Louis Vasseur as a Bois Brûlé (Appendix, pp. 99-100).[2] Louis Vasseur and his family are documented on the Red River census starting in 1834, with Louis listed as "Native" on the 1834-1835, 1838, 1840 and 1843 Red River censuses. In 1842, he was enumerated in the Tiny Land Concession 15 Registry as Louis Vasseur of Red River Settlement, transferring a land deed in Tiny, Ontario, to his brother, Charles Vasseur. Geneviève’s nephew, Baptiste Vasseur (son of Louis Vasseur and wife, Marguerite Pelletier), took up Half-Breed Scrip in 1873 under the Red Lake & Pembina Treaty. Geneviève's other nephew, Joseph Vasseur, took up Half-Breed Scrip (No. 1042) under the North West Half-Breed Commission in 1886. Geneviève's brothers, André and Charles Vasseur, alongside a total of 22 Halfbreeds, signed the Penetanguishene Halfbreed Petition of 1840, petitioning they receive the same presents (annuities) as their First Nations kin and land and hunting rights (Barkwell, 2014, p. 1). Geneviève's husband, Joseph St. Onge (French-Canadian, signed on behalf of his wife), and two Halfbreed sons, Antoine St. Onge and Toussaint St. Onge, also signed the 1840 petition.​​ Multiple children of Veronica St. Onge's sister, Madeleine St. Onge, and husband Antoine Lafrenière moved westward to Manitoba in 1877, where the Lafrenière family played a significant role in the establishment of the Red River community, St. Léon, Manitoba (Société historique de Saint-Boniface, p. 8).​

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Through my paternal grandfather, I am a descendant of Theresa Berger (Burgie), daughter of Joseph Berger (Burgie) and Marie Beaudoin. Marie Beaudoin was born on Drummond Island and relocated with her husband during the Drummond Island migration to Penetanguishene, Ontario. Theresa Berger (Burgie) was born in Penetanguishene in 1841. Her brother, Charles Berger (Burgie), was enumerated in the 1901 Census of Canada in Tay, Simcoe as “F.B.” or "French B." for French Breed under Racial or Tribal Origin, along with her sisters, Christina Berger (Burgie) and Philemon Berger (Burgie). Under Personal Description, members of the Berger (Burgie) family were identified racially as "R" for Red. Theresa’s daughter, Josephine Berger (St. Pierre), married my great-great-grandfather, Louis Dubois (Woods). They met in Waubaushene, Ontario and lived at the mouth of the Moon River (near Mactier, Ontario) with five other families, including the Longlades and the Cascagnettes. My great-grandfather, Albert Woods, was born at the Moon River in 1892 and lived there until he was 17 years old. Through my paternal grandmother, I am a descendant of Irish immigrants, whose family moved to Canada from County Kerry, Ireland, during the mid-19th century due to the Great Famine.

 

[1] Oral Knowledge held and shared by Isaac Murdoch in a Facebook post (2018). The term Aabitaawizininiwag (pl.) translates to half people and was used by the Anishinaabek to call French Breeds in Ontario. Aabitaawikwe translates to half woman in Anishinaabemowin.​ The term Wiisaakodewininiwag (pl.) translates to half-burnt peoples, referring to peoples of mixed ancestry. The term Wiisaakodewikwe identifies an Indigenous woman of mixed ancestry in Anishinaabemowin.

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[2] Bois Brûlés is French for "burnt wood" and is a historical term used to describe Métis individuals, particularly from the Red River in what is now Manitoba, Canada.