Tag Archives: toboggan

Métis carioles and tuppies

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On the left, Tatânga Mânî [Chief Walking Buffalo] [George McLean] is in his traditional First Nation regalia on a horse. In the centre, Iggi and a girl engage in a “kunik,” a traditional greeting in Inuit culture. On the right, Maxime Marion, a Métis guide, holds a rifle. In the background, there is a map of Upper and Lower Canada, and text from the Red River Settlement collection.

This blog is part of our Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada series.

Nations to Nations: Indigenous Voices at Library and Archives Canada is free of charge and can be downloaded from Apple Books (iBooks format) or from LAC’s website (EPUB format). An online version can be viewed on a desktop, tablet or mobile web browser without requiring a plug-in.

by William Benoit

Originally, a “cariole” referred to a horse-drawn sleigh, especially the lightweight open sleigh used in French Canada. During the era of the fur trade, dogs pulled carioles, which were important vehicles in winter that enabled the transporting of high-profile persons as well as mail, supplies and furs. These toboggan-style sleds had sides of animal hide (or canvas), and birch boards for planking.

Coloured lithograph of two men walking and one man seated in a cariole pulled by three dogs.

Hudson’s Bay Company governor travelling by dog cariole with a First Nations guide and a Métis musher, Red River, 1825. (c001940k)

Initially, the sides of a cariole were made from wet animal hide that was left to freeze over a lightweight wood frame. The cariole would keep its shape for that first winter. With the spring thaw, the owner would remove the leather and use it for something else. This practice was then repeated the following winter. In later years, the sides of carioles were decorated with painted designs.

Colour reproduction of a dog cariole arriving at a home met by a group of men, women and children.

People travelling by dog cariole to meet others for Christmas, Manitoba, unknown date. (e002291374)

The custom of decorating sled dogs with ornamented harnesses and embroidered blankets or “tuppies” (Michif tapii, from French tapis, “rug”) originated with the Red River Métis during the first half of the 19th century. Their tuppies and the “standing irons” upright part of their dog harnesses were trimmed with large jingle bells, fringe, tassels, pompoms and feathers. One can only imagine the sense of celebration when seeing and hearing the arrival of Métis sled dogs.

William Benoit is the Advisor for Internal Indigenous Engagement in the Office of the Deputy Librarian and Archivist of Canada at Library and Archives Canada.