Fort William, on the north shore of Lake Superior, became an important gathering location within the historic fur trade when the North West Company relocated their Lake Superior district headquarters there in 1803. Annual gatherings at Fort William brought together North West Company employees from across its vast geographic network. These gatherings at Fort William became known as the ‘Great Rendezvous’. The Rendezvous was an important part of the annual fur trade cycle. It

Métis people have long used their deep place-based knowledge to secure gainful employment and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families. One of the most common Métis place-based professions was guiding. By the turn of the twentieth century, Métis in the Mattawa region were well known for their roles as expert guides for visiting anglers and hunters. As the century progressed, some worked as canoe trip guides for summer camps. The expert skill of these Métis guides h

Before the British and United States imposed the international border following the War of 1812, which displaced portions of the Upper Great Lakes Métis Community to Penetanguishene, many Métis families lived, travelled, and worked throughout the Upper Great Lakes’ many islands. Michilimackinac, or Mackinac Island, was once such island that served as "an eighteenth century nexus for the Great Lakes fur trade" where many Métis families emerged with a distinct Métis collective

The families which make up Georgian Bay Métis Community have deep and enduring connections amongst each other, as well as with other Métis families and communites in the Upper Great Lakes and throughout the Métis Homeland. Many of these bonds were rooted during their shared experience of relocation from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, in the aftermath of the War of 1812. Lewis Solomon is one example of a Georgian Bay Métis Community member whose family kinship extends

The Labattes were among the Métis families who were relocated to Penetanguishene from Drummond Island following the British ceding the island to the United States after the War of 1812. Antoine Labatte, son of Métis War of 1812 veteran Louis George Labatte and his Métis wife Julia Frances Grouette, later recounted details of their family’s 1828 journey to Penetanguishene: “We left Drummond Island in August, in a bateau, towed by the schooner Alice… We came by the outer c

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