ONTARIO MÉTIS FACTS

Métis leadership in the Upper Great Lakes has long been shaped by resilience and collective action. Historical leaders like Michel Labatte and Pierre Giroux exemplify this proud legacy through their commitments to advocacy and community service. After their relocation from Drummond Island, Métis in Penetanguishene quickly recognized the urgent need for a space to gather and practice their faith. When government promises of land for a church went unfulfilled, Labatte, Giroux,

After being displaced from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, Upper Great Lakes Métis came together as a community to rebuild and maintain their collective identity. Central to this effort was creating a shared space for gathering and practicing their faith, leading them to request the establishment of a local church. Although the government had promised land for a church in 1829, this commitment was never fulfilled, reflecting a broader pattern of neglect towards Métis in t

Following their relocation from Drummond Island after the War of 1812, members of the historic Georgian Bay Métis Community became founding permanent residents of what would later grow into the Town of Penetanguishene and nearby Tiny Township.  A generation later, many elderly Georgian Bay Métis Community members, like Lewis Solomon and Elizabeth Longlade (nee Dusome) remembered Penetanguishene’s pre-settlement era when the future town site was “mostly a cedar swamp, with a f