“Penetanguishene was… a cedar swamp”

Members of the Georgian Bay Métis Community were among the Penetanguishene area’s earliest permanent residents following their Métis community’s relocation from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene after the War of 1812.

Many of the Georgian Bay Métis Community members who became Penetanguishene’s founding residents held memories of the town’s earliest days, including the day of their Métis families’ arrivals to the area in the late 1820’s, when even the British military establishment was scarcely more than a few crude buildings. 

In the early 1900’s, for example, a then-elderly Lewis Solomon, recounted his family’s 1829 arrival and first impressions of Penetanguishene to reporter A.C. Osborne:

“We camped there in huts made of poles covered in cedar bark. There were only three houses there… The town site of Penetanguishene was then mostly a cedar swamp, with a few Indian wigwams and fishing shanties.”

While the Town of Penetanguishene and surrounding region would eventually grow around its founding Métis residents, like Solomon—with French, English and other settlers, and imposed government regulations impacting their Métis way of life—the Georgian Bay Métis Community resiliently maintained its distinct Métis identity, culture, and memories that continue to bind them to this day.

See Our Sources

• The Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828

• Upper Great Lakes Submission to the MNC Expert Panel

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