The Georgian Bay Métis Community’s distinct way of life, grounded in the region’s abundant lands and waters, has faced numerous threats by settlers from the south for generations. The 1885 Ontario Fisheries Act, for example, attempted to place restrictions on some of the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s most culturally and economically important practices. In response, Métis fishermen, such as William Dusome, organized acts of resistance. By the turn of the twentieth centur

The introduction of Ontario’s Fisheries Act made it difficult for Métis in Georgian Bay and across the Upper Great Lakes to practice their way of life. In response, the Métis in Georgian Bay pushed back. Métis fisherman, William Dusome, was particularly active in leading Métis resistance to Ontario’s Fisheries Act in Georgian Bay. In 1898, for example, the Department of Marine and Fisheries recorded that Métis fisherman William Dusome was persistent in refusing to adhere to f