The Georgian Bay Métis Community is home to many descendants of the Métis families who were forced to relocate from their homes on Drummond Island after the British ceded it to the United States following the War of 1812.
The treacherous voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, across the unpredictable waters of Georgian Bay, holds an important place in the community’s history. Many first-hand accounts and stories are documented in "Migration of Voyageurs from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene in 1828" published by A.C. Osborne in 1901.
Lewis Solomon was one of the Drummond Islanders who later recounted the harrowing relocation that many Métis families faced across the waters of Georgian Bay, just as winter’s fury was setting in.
Of the many stories he recorded, Solomon’s tales of Métis resilience and survival are perhaps best embodied by that of Mrs. Angelique Lepine (nee Cadotte) and her young child during their late November voyage from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene:
“Mrs. Lepine, in the darkness and fury of the storm, wrapped the babe in a blank, and having tied it on her back, lashed herself securely to the mast, and there clung all night long through a furious storm of wind and drenching rain, from eleven o'clock till daylight, or about six o’clock in the morning.”
This was not Lewis Solomons’s only tale of Métis Drummond Islanders’ survival in the face of wintery storms. In his account, Solomon also told the story of the Labatte family’s survival on the wintery waters of Georgian Bay, which ultimately led them to establish a new home at Thunder Beach:
“A storm came on and one of the ropes broke. His nephew took the rope in his mouth and crawled out on the other rope and hitched it again. It broke the second time and the storm drove them into Thunder Bay (Tiny), where they settled.”
These tales are vivid reminders of the resourcefulness and determination that enabled the Georgian Bay Métis Community to establish a new home for themselves after profound colonial disruption and relocation, one that remains the home of many of their descendants today.