Métis communities across the Homeland were active in the fur trade and significant contributors to the essential ‘overwintering’ practice. Overwintering involved living and working at remote fur trade posts throughout the winter months, often with only a few other employees and companions. While canoe brigades and seasonal traders would return to their home bases, overwinterers would continue living near and conducting commerce with First Nations trappers, trading en déroine

The Georgian Bay Métis Community is home to many descendants of the Métis families who were forced to relocate from their homes on Drummond Island after the British ceded it to the United States following the War of 1812. The treacherous voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, across the unpredictable waters of Georgian Bay, holds an important place in the community’s history. Many first-hand accounts and stories are documented in "Migration of Voyageurs from Drummon

The Labatte House at Thunder Beach, near the Métis settlement at Penetanguishene, stands as an enduring testament to Métis resiliency in the Upper Great Lakes. That legacy all began on a fateful Christmas Eve in 1834. Like many Métis families from Drummond Island, the Labattes were relocated to Penetanguishene after the War of 1812. Many, including Louis George Labatte, were promised land grants in the region as recognition for their service during the war. After settling br

Louis Riel’s execution by Canada on November 16, 1885, cast a long shadow over Métis communities throughout the Métis Homeland, including Métis communities in the Upper Great Lakes and northern Ontario. Since the Red River Resistance of 1869/70, southern Ontario had been an epicentre for anti-Métis racism. Like Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s federal government, the Ontario provincial government—led by Premier Edward Blake—was dominated by English-speaking Protestants that

Joseph Turner Sr., a devoted servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), began his career in 1799 at the depot at Moose Factory, a key trading post on the coast of James Bay. Like many HBC employees and “factory boys” of his time, Joseph Sr. spent years traveling between Moose Factory and its connected inland posts, navigating vast distances and forging relationships essential to the fur trade. Joseph Sr. married Emma, a Métis woman whose life was equally defined by resilience

A GROUP OF VOYAGEURS. (From photo, taken in 1895.) 1. Lewis Solomon, 2. John Bussette, 3. James Larammee, 4. Francis Dusome The Solomons were one of the first Métis families to battle the rough fall waters of Georgian Bay from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, as part of their Métis community’s relocation after the international border was imposed upon the Upper Great Lakes following the War of 1812. Before their journey to Penetanguishene, William Solomon, his Métis wife