Our History

Willow Lake Métis Nation

Willow Lake Métis Nation (WLMN) are a Métis community whose citizens now mostly reside in the community of Anzac, Alberta. WLMN’s roots lie in the history of the fur trade in Alberta and the economic and political circumstances that evolved during and after the fur trade.


The historical Willow Lake community was close to trade and travel routes that connected Fort McMurray and Willow Lake to Lac La Loche to the east, to Fort Chipewyan to the north, and to Lac La Biche to the south. Willow Lake Métis people lived on and derived their livelihood from the lands between these locations through much of the later fur trade period, and WLMN people continue to use these lands to exercise their Indigenous rights, sustain their culture and identity as Métis people, support their community, and pass their knowledge and way of life on to their descendants.

The two historical family lines, the McKenzie and Quintal's have origins in the vicinity of Willow Lake, Cheecham, and Fort McMurray as far back as memory and oral history extends. Citizens and their ancestors have a history in the region dating back at least two hundred years. In the 1920s, ancestors of some current Willow Lake families were moving into the area to trap and to work on the rail line. Lawrence and Pete Whitford came into the area in the 1920s; George Lavallee came into the area from Lac La Biche and settled in Anzac.

Many of the personal histories of present-day WLMN Citizens reflect the history of Northern Alberta (including the Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray regions) and Métis culture and connection to the land. Cultural practices that characterized Métis communities in northeastern Alberta before European control included living off the land by hunting, trapping, fishing and plant gathering, supplemented with varying degrees of wage labour. 
Many present-day WLMN members were taught harvesting skills by parents and grandparents who were highly experienced in hunting, trapping, fishing, and plant gathering. These cultural practices continue to be taught on traplines that have been in their families for several generations. WLMN members also value traditional practices that continue to characterize the community, such as sharing food and labour, caring for Elders, and gathering to feast and dance and tell stories. These traditional cultural practices continue to connect them as a Métis community today.

The WLMN community are connected through kinship, economic interests, and political ties with surrounding First Nations and Métis communities in Northeastern Alberta. 
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