“the ‘Bois brulé’” of Lake Huron

Georgian Bay’s eastern shore, once regarded as “the nearest point of Western Canada… you first see the half-breed”—or Métis— has been home as a distinct and identifiable Métis community since the early 1800s.

In addition to being recorded in the writings of travellers, like Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle, Georgian Bay’s distinct Métis population was also recorded in official government records. 

For example, in the 1847 Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, an Indian agent in southern Ontario, writing of several Anishinaabe First Nations, draws clear distinctions between First Nations, mixed ancestry individuals, and the distinct Métis people, of which he notes there are none present in the region under his superintendency, saying:

“Among the Indians under my superintendence I am not aware of the existence of any regular half-breeds, that is to say, of our persons combining French or English habits with those of the Indians. That there may be a mixture of the races I have no doubt…”

The Indian agent goes on to note that this is not the case to the north, in the Upper Great Lakes, remarking on the presence of a distinct Métis population, “on Lake Huron and other places where I have had the opportunity of meeting the ‘Bois brulé’ and full bred Indian, a marked difference is to be seen between the two.” 

“Bois brulé” is among the many names applied to—and used by—the Métis to differentiate themselves from their First Nations relatives and settler populations from the Upper Great Lakes westward. For example, just as Bois brulé was used to describe the Métis in the Upper Great Lakes in the 1840s, in Pierre Falcon’s ballad, “Chanson de la Grenouillére”, commemorating the Métis’ victory in the 1816 Battle of Seven Oaks (i.e., the Victory at Frog Plain), Falcon refers to himself and his fellow Métis as the “Bois Brulé.” 

While going by many names throughout their history, Métis communities like the Georgian Bay Métis Community continue to proudly assert their distinct Métis identity and way of life to this day.

See Our Sources

• Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, 1847

• Canada and the Canadians, 1849

• MNC Expert Panel Final Report

• Upper Great Lakes Submission to the MNC Expert Panel

• Threads of the Sash: Georgian Bay Historic Métis Community

• La chanson de la Grenouillère

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