Annie Maude McKay was born into a prominent English Métis family on October 10, 1892, at Fort à la Corne.

[1] Her father, Angus McKay (born 1858), worked for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), which had a trading post at Fort à la Corne.

[4] After her mother's death, her uncle, judge and House of Commons member James McKay, enrolled her and her sister at St. Alban's Ladies College, a distinguished Anglican private school in Prince Albert.

[4] Scholars such as Valerie Korinek have discussed the photo, and McKay's life and friendships in general, as evidence of early queer community at the university.

[8] The photo of McKay and Weir became the cover for Korinek's award-winning 2018 book Prairie Fairies: A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930-1985.