“markedly distinct and fiercely proud”

For nearly two centuries, the Georgian Bay Métis Community has proudly asserted its distinct Métis identity, collective political consciousness, and unique way of life grounded in the lands and waters of the Upper Great Lakes. 

This Métis community’s pride and cohesiveness, particularly around Penetanguishene, have been defining aspects of their collective Métis identity, noted by outside observers throughout the almost two centuries since their 1828 relocation from Drummond Island.

In a July 1921 article called, “Strange Old Legends Surround Penetang”, for example, a Toronto Star writer noted that:

“Pinery Point is a wooded peninsula 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. It is the origin of these picturesque metis or halfbreeds … living chiefly in low log houses of a century ago, they are almost all illiterate and speak a broken English patois which is all their own.” 

More than a century later, the landmark Métis National Council Expert Panel observed and affirmed the Georgian Bay Métis Community’s enduring sense of Métis identity and pride, writing in their Final Report that:

“These communities, and the MNO citizens who comprise them, are markedly distinct and fiercely proud of their Halfbreed or Métis roots. This sets them apart from their First Nation relatives and European settlers from whom they may have descended. Finding the commonality of their families and histories so closely intertwined with the rest of the Métis Nation was profound.”

See Our Sources

• “Strange Old Legends Surround Penetang”

• MNC Expert Panel Final Report

• Upper Great Lakes Submission to the MNC Expert Panel

• Threads of the Sash: Georgian Bay Historic Métis Community

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