Ouellet | Metis, Cree, Mixed-heritage: Montagnais | Surname Anchor Post

Index: Indigenous, Metis & Mixed-Heritage Surname Anchor Posts

Each of these posts is dedicated to one surname that is carried by someone connected to indigenous, Metis or mixed-heritage people in Canada. Please be aware that it’s a synthesis of the information I’ve collected in my personal research throughout the years and is by no means complete!

SURNAME NOTES | OUELLET

Surname lists: Surname Anchor Posts, Metis (ON)
Regions: Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Western Canada
Ethnicity: Metis, Cree, Mixed-heritage: French, Montagnais
Associated surnames: Adam, Adshare, Ballendine, Beauregard, Berger, Blackburn, Bottineau, Bremner, Briand, Caron, Champagne, Cleary, Collin, Courchene, Dauphinais, Desjarlais, Desmarias, Desnoyers, Dubois, Dumas, Dumont / Dumond, Dupuis, Durocher, Favel, Genton/ Genthon, Gingras, Godin, Grandbois, Guiboche, Hamelin, Houle, Ka Kanaweyimikui, Lacerte, Ladouceur, Lafournaise, Laine, Lamirande, Landry, Laplante (Upd. 2023), Lapointe, Legare, Leveille, Malaterre, Marcellais, Marion, McComber, Mcgregor / Soteriioskon, McGillis, McKay, Meunier, Minnie, Montour, Moreau, Parenteau, Paul, Pelletier, Petit, Plante, Poitras, Proulx, Racette, Rivard, Robinson / Robertson, Sansregret, Sauve, Savard, Short, Sioui, St. Germain, Tremblay, Trottier, Wahoianonnente, Wells, Welsh.
Misc.:
1. The first officially recognized Metis Ouellettes were French Canadian Joseph Ouellette and his Assiniboine wife Angelique.
2. Variations of the Ouellette surname include: Ouellet, Ouelette and the rather uncommon Wellet.
3. There were more than a dozen Ouellettes (or their spouses) associated with the 1885 Resistance. They were: Abraham Ouellette (m. Virginie Racette), Bernard Ouellette, Charles Edmund Ouellette, Cyprien Ouellette, Elise Ouelette (m. Daniel William Hamelin, Emelie Ouelette (m. James Sauve), Jean Baptiste Ouellette (m. Cecile Courchene), Jean Baptiste Ouellette Jr. (m. Caroline Parenteau), John Edward Ouellette, Jose / Joseph Ouellette (m. Therese Houle), Joseph Ouellette (m. Marie Parenteau), Joseph Ouellette III (m. Madeleine Paul), Julien Ouellette (m. Angelique Moreau), Marie Francoise Ouelette (m. Elie Dumont), Marie-Ann Ouelette (m. Joseph Bremner), Mary-Jane Ouelette (m. Charles Racette III), Marguerite Ouelette (m. Maxime Collins), Moise Napoleon Ouellette, Rose Marie Ouelette (m. Salomon Boucher), Thomas Ouellette and finally, Veronique Ouelette (m. Michel Dumas). The 1885 North-West Resistance by the Metis and the Cree, Kainai, Piikani, Saulteaux and Siksika peoples took place against a backdrop of starvation, broken treaties and encroachment by new settlers in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The resistance fighters eventually lost and Canada’s federal government asserted its control over the area. [Source: Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance, Lawrence Barkwell, Louis Riel Institute]. See External Links below for more information.
4. The earliest Montagnais Ouellet that I’ve seen is Joseph Ouellet who married Marie / Demerise Savard in 1884. (Note: marriage database contains both Innu Montagnais First Nations and mixed-heritage Montagnais / French marriages as listed in a study by the Communauté Métisse du Domaine du Roy et de la Seigneurie de Mingan. Some mixed French/Montagnais descendants self-identify as Metis (see Etienne Rivard’s discussion paper).