In the late 1830s, the Crown began excluding “Halfbreeds” from annual present-giving—a longstanding pre-treaty practice used to maintain diplomatic relationships with First Nation and Métis in the Upper Great Lakes.
This policy change was a significant concern for Métis in the Upper Great Lakes, who by this time had developed distinct communities with their own unique identity, governance, and way of life separate and apart from their First Nations neighbours. As noted by Indian Agent, Samuel Jarvis, both Métis and First Nations opposed this new exclusionary approach:
“Upon every occasion that I have visited the Lake Huron tribes an appeal has been made to me to remove the disability imposed upon the Class of Half-Breeds not only by the elder members of the Indian Communities but also by the Half-Breeds themselves.”
By 1839, discontent among members of the Georgian Bay Métis Community in Penetanguishene was unmistakable. Members of the Métis community surrounded Indian Agent Samuel Jarvis’s residence to confront him about the discriminatory policy change. Of this event, Jarvis wrote that:
“July last when at Penetanguishene a number of [Métis] surrounded the house I was in, for their purpose claiming and insisting upon having that which was their right, as long as the distribution of presents to the Indians was continued by government.”
On January 27, 1840, the “Half breeds residing in the town of Penetanguishene” collectively organized once again. Twenty-two members of the Métis community—including members of the Longlade, Labatte, Lavalle, Trudeau, and St. Onge families—sent a petition to the Crown to restore their inclusion in present-giving. The petition stated:
“[We] do not share in any advantage in presents issued to the Indians as a number of the half breeds, from the Sault St. Marie and other places on the shores of Lake Huron. … Therefore, your Petitioners most humbly beg your Excellency will take their case under your Excellency consideration and that your Excellency would be pleased to allow them to have the same advantages that persons of the same class (living at the Sault St. Marie [sic] and other places on the shores of Lake Huron) derive from the issue of Indian present to them and their families.”
In the Penetanguishene Petition, the Métis in Penetanguishene firmly recognize and situate themselves within a broader Upper Great Lakes Métis Community. Their appeal for justice is grounded in the principle of maintaining equity with their Métis relatives.
The 1840 Penetanguishene Petition is an early example in what would become a long history of Métis communities utilizing petitions as a tool of collective political expression—one that would be later repeated throughout the Métis Homeland, including Sault Ste. Marie, Red River, Batoche, and beyond.
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