Isabella Mainville Ross (10 January 1808 – 23 April 1885) was the first female registered landowner in British Columbia.
[1]: 2 Ross's father was a French-Canadian who spent his life working for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC).
When Isabella was fourteen years old, she married Charles Ross at the HBC Fort known at the time as Lac La Pluie.
[1] At Fort McLoughlin, Isabella created relationships with other HBC officials, including Governor Simpson.
He wrote,"'the wife of Mr. Ross [...] a Saulteau half-breed of Lac La Pluie [...] displayed great courage'" in her daily life.
In a letter to his sister Elizabeth, Charles revealed that she suited the sphere of work, and that she had no problems moving around the west.
He wrote that Isabella was not "fitted to shine at the head of a nobleman's table, but she suits the sphere [in which] she has to move much better than any such toy.
[1][6] Ross is an important figure in the history of Victoria, Métis peoples and indigenous feminism.
[6] In their book Finding a Way to the Heart: Feminist Writings on Aboriginal and Women’s History in Canada, Robin Brownlie and Valerie Korinek use her as a figure to illustrate the problems faced by Métis peoples, and reflect on the relationship between race and gender in the 19th century.