Mannawanis Sakahikan

Metis patriot James Patrick Brady was born at Lake St. Vincent in 1908, and grew up in St. Paul des Metis.  “Jim” was strongly influenced by his maternal grandfather, Laurent Garneau, who was an active supporter of Louis Riel in the historic Metis resistance of 1869.  Although his formal education was limited, Brady was a self-taught intellectual who had strong democratic socialist leanings.  In the early 1930s, he became one of the founding fathers of the Metis Association of Alberta, which lobbied the government to improve the quality of life for Metis and secured a land base for them.  Brady was deeply involved in fighting for Metis rights his entire life.  He was also a key organizer of both the Saskatchewan Metis organization and its LaRonge local in the 1960s.  In June 1967, Brady and a fellow prospector went missing while on a prospecting expedition in Northern Saskatchewan.  An extensive RCMP search did not locate either man, and their demise remains a mystery.