Throughout her life, she challenged cultural stereotypes of First Nations women and proved herself to be "an intrepid, resourceful, and self-reliant woman who could manage on her own in the wilderness and yet was no stranger to the customs and trappings of modern civilization".

"Catherine Papineau Bernard, 'Big Grandma', was a respected member of the community who combined a strong Catholic faith with a fierce pride in her heritage and the knowledge and crafts of her people.

[2] This was not to be, since later in the summer she would meet a guide working at the resort: A handsome mysterious man, dressed in a buckskin vest, a Hudson Bay belt and moccasins, Archie appeared to Gertie like the dashing daredevil heroes she idolized – Jesse James and Robin Hood.

[4]: 9 In February, 1926, forgoing her plans for school, Anahareo (as she would come to be commonly known) joined Belaney near Doucet in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, where he was earning a living as a trapper.

[4]: 12  She accompanied Belaney on the trapline and was horrified by what she experienced: Nothing in her small-town up-bringing had prepared her for the heart-wrenching sight of the frozen corpses of animals who had died in agony while trying desperately to escape from the unyielding metal jaws of the leghold traps.

When the mother beaver was caught, he began to canoe away to the cries of the kittens, which greatly resemble the sound of human infants.

[6]: 27–33 I speedily discovered that I was married to no butterfly, in spite of her modernistic ideas, and found that my companion could swing an axe as well as she could a lip-stick, and was able to put up a tent in good shape, make quick fire, and could rig a tump-line and get a load across in good time, even if she did have to sit down and powder her nose at the other end of the portage.

She dressed in a distinctive way that was not typical of Indigenous women – in breeches, fringed buckskin jackets and vests, and laceup prospector boots.

The transformation began with the appearance of his first article, "The Passing of the Last Frontier", which was published in 1929 in the English outdoors magazine Country Life.

He had fully entered into the persona of Grey Owl by January, 1931, when he gave a talk at the annual convention of the Canadian Forestry Association in Montreal.

It set the pattern for numerous speeches Grey Owl was to give, dressed in his Indian regalia, with films of his tame beaver to illustrate his stories.

"[5]: 79 Meanwhile, Anahareo was asserting her independence and bucking stereotypes by embarking on prospecting expeditions in remote areas of northwestern Quebec.

"[1]: 295  She accepted one job that involved hauling 1,320 kilos weight of equipment to a distant lake in winter by dog sled.

[12] At Grey Owl's request, Anahareo returned from the prospecting trip in the summer of 1935 to help him prepare for the upcoming lecture tour in Great Britain and to look after the beavers in his absence.

She sewed his costume for the tour and later wrote: Archie brought back five moose-hides and about two pounds of beads, but since every stitch of his outfit had to be hand-sewn, with only three weeks to do it in, I told him that I wouldn't have time for beadwork – and besides all that fancy stuff would make him look sissified.

'[4]: 173 After Grey Owl's return from the wildly successful lecture tour in Great Britain, the couple's tumultuous ten-year relationship suffered a serious rupture in April 1936, and they agreed to separate for some time.

[9]: 163–164 With her daughter Dawn still in the care of a family in Prince Albert, Anahareo made some effort to pursue a film career in Hollywood.

Due to entrenched cultural stereotypes, she also faced particular challenges as an unwed Indigenous mother: The possibility that Ann would be forcibly taken away from her, and she herself institutionalised, were not negligible.

After taking shelter for some time in a Salvation Army residence for unwed mothers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, she gave Ann up for adoption by the Eagles, an Anglo-Canadian couple, who took her to live with them in Calgary.

[15] After having been away for many months on his second lecture tour, taking in Great Britain, the United States and Canada, Grey Owl returned home, a very ill man.

Shortly afterwards, the sensational news broke that he was not half-Indian, as he had claimed to be, but an Englishman born in Hastings, without a trace of Indigenous blood.

[4]: 187 At the invitation of Grey Owl's London publisher, Lovat Dickson, Anahareo travelled to England in 1939 and there met Belaney's mother, Kittie Scott-Brown.

[17] They were married in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they hoped to find good job opportunities, but ended up doing menial labour.

According to Kristin Gleeson, the use of alcohol was a problem for the couple: Eric, like Grey Owl, was no stranger to drink and by this time it was a familiar part of Anahareo’s life.

For Anahareo alcohol was an integral part of any celebration, good time, relaxation or party that enabled her to overcome her shyness and become outgoing, but for Eric it was a daily necessity.

The reviewer reported that "the manuscript itself was 'bulky, untidily put together and poorly typed', and that 'the spelling and punctuation leave much to be desired and the authors frequently use words in their wrong context'."

Starting in the late 1960s, interest in his life, long on the wane, began to increase, as Kristin Gleeson observed: As the public became more aware of the negative impact of pollution and the importance of the wilderness to the health of the planet, more Canadians began to view Grey Owl through his role in pioneering wilderness preservation and felt he should be recognized for these achievements.

(The company later approached Anahareo for the rights to her book for parts to be included in a scaled-down production of Dickson's story, but she refused.

Anahareo's reaction to the opening night performance was scathing: It was "totally unrealistic and the actress bore no resemblance in appearance or mannerisms and definitely not in spirit to her.” She stated: "It turned out to be a parody.

Archie must have flipped in his crib.”[19] Two profiles of Anahareo appeared in the Vancouver Weekend Sun and BC Outdoors in 1980 and 1981, which "succeeded in portraying Anahareo as a living, breathing First Nations woman who could not be easily slotted into any old Aboriginal stereotype... She was a determined woman, with miles of experience, who was committed to her views.