Ever since their relocation from Drummond Island, Penetanguishene has been the well-documented as the home to Métis in the Upper Great Lakes.
Historical records from as early as the mid-1800s show that many visitors to the area recognized the Métis community at Penetanguishene as distinct from both their First Nations and non-Indigenous neighbours.
In 1849, for example, Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle wrote that Penetanguishene was, “the nearest point of Western Canada” where “you first see the half-breed, the offspring of the white and red, who had all the bad qualities of both with very few of the good either, except in rare instances.”
That same year, William H. Smith described Penetanguishene’s inhabitants as “nearly all half-French, half-Indian.”
An 1857 guidebook, Upper Lakes of North America, noted that Penetanguishene had about 500 residents and a distinct Métis population: “Here may be seen the native Indian, the half-breed, and the Canadian voyageur, with the full-blooded Englishman or Scotchman.”
Penetanguishene remains home to a large and vibrant Métis community today.