Grey Owl – Pioneer Conservationist and Pretender

Probably the most famous visitor to Metis was Grey Owl, although his fame was still in the future. Metis did much to catapult him to his star status.

The tall man with aquiline features and pony tail cut a figure wherever he went. But when Archie Belaney arrived in Metis he was largely unknown. He lived in the woods near Cabano with his wife, Anahareo (Gertrude Philomen Bernard) who was of mixed Mohawk and Algonquin heritage. Belaney had eked out an existence as a trapper and occasional contributor of articles to the English magazine, Country Life, writing under his literary alter ego, “Grey Owl”. His true identify would be unmasked after his death in 1938. He was born and raised in Hastings, England. While he nourished an admiration and love of Indigenous traditions, he had no First Nations ancestry at all.

Today, Grey Owl is seen with a mix of admiration and revulsion. He promoted the cause of conservation and his books make him one of the first to articulate the need to protect animal habitats and ecosystems. But his appropriation of an Indigenous persona is considered the most outrageous example of a white man donning the ways of a First Nations person for personal gain.

Belaney’s career as a public speaker began in Metis when summer resident Alice Peck convinced him to give his first lecture in 1929.  A packed hall waited on his every word, while Anahareo stroked their pet beaver “Jelly Roll”. It was the start of a career as a speaker that took him from Massey Hall in Toronto to Albert Hall in London.