1830 Penetanguishene Land Grants Across the Bay
- Ontario Métis Facts
- Jun 9
- 2 min read
In the aftermath of the War of 1812, the British surrendered Drummond Island—a strategic outpost and home to a thriving Métis community—to the United States. Having fought alongside the British and Anishinaabe as allies during the war, Métis families on Drummond Island were forced to relocate upon the island’s American takeover.
In recognition of their allyship and as compensation for their losses during the relocation, the British offered several Métis veterans land grants after the war across the bay from the small British naval outpost established at Penetanguishene. These land grants mirrored similar compensation arrangements with other Indigenous wartime allies of the British.
Unlike other grants given to settler populations to the south, that were designed to encourage European settlement, the Métis understood their land grants as free, unconditional, and in recognition for their losses stemming from their allyship with the British during the war.
Upon the Métis community’s arrival in 1829, “Penetanguishene was then mostly a cedar swamp” with few permanent structures or residents. Several Métis families landed at Gordon’s Point—named after the forebear of a Métis family—to take up their land grants across the bay from the naval establishment.
Many of Penetanguishene’s founding Métis families and their land grants are documented in a June 8, 1830 survey of Penetanguishene Harbour by General William Chewett.
Together, at Penetanguishene, Drummond Island’s Métis reestablished their vibrant community and greatly contributed to the town’s development over the coming decades—welcoming in other Métis from across the Homeland in the process and leaving an indelible mark on the local landscape for generations to come.
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