The Longlades: Pride in Penetanguishene

Pride, responsibility and connection-building have been deeply woven through generations of the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s Longlade family, engrained among siblings, passed down to their children, and shared with their Métis neighbours. 

Father and son, Charles Longlade Sr. and Charles Longlade Jr, were signatories to the 1840 Penetanguishene “Half Breed” Petition, joining other Métis families like the Vasseurs, Labattes, Beausoliels, and St. Onges, in an act of community solidarity and resilience following their relocation from Drummond Island a generation earlier. 

Each of Charles Longlade Sr.’s children went on to raise large Métis families, with their children growing up deeply interconnected within their Métis community. These community ties only strengthened over subsequent generations, with Charles Sr.’s grandchildren remaining actively connected to the Georgian Bay Métis Community as the family continued to grow. 

In 1867, for example, Charles Sr.’s grandson Charles William Longlade married fellow Métis Elizabeth Dusome, daughter of Red River-born Francois Dusome. As active residents of Penetanguishene, the couple served as witnesses to numerous Métis weddings and baptisms, including the 1896 baptism of Joseph LePage, a longtime Longlade family neighbour and member of the Métis Trudeau family.

In 1885, another grandson, Francis Longlade, married Julie Lamoureaux, after having stood as a witness to the marriage of his sister, Elizabeth Longlade, to Henry Dusome in 1879.

Across generations, the Longlades consistently demonstrated countless acts of community connection and care, shared among friends, cousins, siblings, and grandchildren, with each contributing in their own way to the strength and continuity of their Métis community.

See Our Sources

• Longlade VMFL

• Penetanguishene Halfbreed Petition, 27 January 1840

• Daughter of Red River Native, Toronto Star, May 8, 1942

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