In 17th Century New France, a class of entrepreneurs emerged commonly called voyageurs. They were hired to travel as guides and paddlers. A typical voyageur was short, strong, and French-Canadian. They wore fur hats or red toques, deerskin leggings and moccasins, a hooded coat, and an intricately woven utility belt called a sash. Voyageurs were essential to exploration and trade, and they were mainstays in the Northwest Company in particular. The canoe brigades of Voyageurs often traveled twelve hour days over thousands of kilometers using songs to regulate the tempo of the paddles. When rivers were impassable, they carried their canoes and cargo over treacherous terrain in “portages”. They would winter in the North West, becoming the first Francophones in Western Canada. These winterers and freemen (without contractual obligations) and their relationships with First Nations would eventually give birth to a new indigenous people — the Métis nation.
