Spirit, Strength and a Proud Collective Identity

The Upper Great Lakes Métis have been consistently recognized as a proud and distinct collectivity across generations, leaving a clear and repeated impression on those who travelled through the region.

In the 1830s, for example, British writer Anna Jameson documented her journey through Georgian Bay, describing the Métis men in her party as, “picked men… young, well-looking, full of glee and good-nature, with untiring arms and more untiring lungs and spirits.”

Jameson’s account emphasized not only physical endurance, but her Métis companions’ energy, sociability, and cohesion.

More than fifty years later, James Cleland Hamilton travelled similar routes to record the region and its inhabitants. Despite the passage of time, his observations of the Upper Great Lakes Métis closely mirrored Jameson’s, writing:

“It is from the residents along these shores, of pure and mixed blood, that many of the hardy voyageurs, raftsmen and axemen…are gathered. They are a jovial and hardy race…among the bravest hunters and fishermen.”

Similar to Jameson’s observations, Hamilton was compelled to remark upon the resilience, skill, and a deep familiarity the Upper Great Lakes Métis had with land and water. 

The distinct presence of the Métis in Georgian Bay continued to be documented decades into the early twentieth century, including in a 1921 Toronto Star article entitled Strange Old Legends Surround Penetang, in which the author observed:

“Pinery Point is a wooded peninsula almost directly across the bay from Penetanguishene… Along its shores dwells a group of people half French and half Indian, isolated in location, distinct in habits and privileges, and fiercely resentful of intrusion on either.”

Across nearly a century, these accounts by independent observers repeatedly recognize the same core traits that have not only made the Upper Great Lakes Métis visible, but consistently and unmistakably distinct for generations: spirit, strength, adaptability, independence, and a proud collective identity.

See Our Sources

• Anna Jameson, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, Volume III (London: Saunders and Otley, 1838),

• Upper Great Lakes Submissions to the Expert Panel

• The Georgian Bay: An Account of its Position, Inhabitants, Mineral Interests, Fish, Timber and Other Resources: Papers Read Before the Canadian Institute

• “Strange Old Legends Surround Penetang”

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