Matonabbee

Matonabbee was born near Fort Prince of Wales on Hudson Bay to a Chipewyan father and Cree mother, growing up bilingual and serving as a key intermediary for the Hudson's Bay Company. Following two failed attempts by Samuel Hearne to cross the barren grounds, Matonabbee took charge of the third expedition in December 1770.

Matonabbee famously observed to Hearne that previous expeditions had failed because they had not included women, who performed the indispensable labor of dressing furs, making snowshoes, and carrying provisions. Under Matonabbee's masterful leadership, the party completed the arduous trek to the Coppermine River. When the French destroyed Churchill in 1782 amid smallpox epidemics, grief drove him to take his own life.