Wilfred Vasseur was born July 12, 1893, to Charles Vasseur and Mary Jane Jeffrey in Penetanguishene. The Vasseurs were one of the Georgian Bay Métis Community's founding families who had received a land grant “across the bay” from the British naval base in Penetanguishene harbour after relocating from Drummond Island following the War of 1812. Wilfred's service during the First World War began on May 9, 1918, when he was conscripted during the conflict's final months. Unlike

Charles Henry Vasseur, born September 6, 1889, and Albert Paul Vasseur, born February 27, 1896, were two Métis brothers from Penetanguishene and descendants of one of the Georgian Bay Métis Community's founding Métis families. Their grandfather, Charles Vasseur, had received a land grant “across the bay” from the British naval establishment in Penetanguishene harbour after relocating from Drummond Island following the War of 1812.   On February 10, 1916, Charles and Albert ma

On November 25, 1915, just weeks after his eighteenth birthday, Karl Henry Dusome volunteered for service in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, enlisting in his hometown of Penetanguishene. On his enlistment papers, he proudly listed his occupation as “Tailor,” a reflection of the trade he learned from his Métis father, John Peter Dusome, a respected tailor and business owner in Penetanguishene. Less than a year later, in October 1916, Karl Henry departed for England with the

Karl Henry, son of Métis tailor John Peter and Alice Dusome, learned the value of skill and hard work from an early age through his father's tailoring business, situated in the heart of Georgian Bay. J. Dusome Tailoring first opened its doors in 1884, more than a decade before Karl Henry's birth in November 1897. The October 1884 edition of the Penetanguishene Herald  announced the “New Tailoring Establishment” on Robert Street, advertising clothing “...made up in the Latest

George Dusome was born on July 17, 1899, the oldest child of Paul and Victoire Dusome in what would become their large Métis family. Though growing up in relative poverty, George and his family shared a love of music—a trait common among many of Penetanguishene’s Métis families. According to his niece Leona Paul, "They loved to dance, they loved to sing, they loved to play the mouth organ and guitar."  On March 3, 1916, at just seventeen years old, George voluntarily enlisted

Loyalty to family has long been a foundational value for Métis in the Upper Great Lakes, including the Georgian Bay Métis Community, both before and after its relocation from Drummond Island in 1828. This observation was made by many, including A.C. Osbourne, who wrote about the community’s Métis families in 1902: “Fidelity, however, was a marked characteristic among them … This also explains the apparent anomaly of numerous couples, with large families … ”  Georgian Bay Méti