“ While I was teaching on the Reserve, I taught a Shane LaBine. I told him that we were related, as LaBine is a uniquely Acadian name. He was sceptical. He felt it was impossible, because I was "white" and he was "Indian" I asked him if he had looked in the mirror lately -- his eyes were blue, and his hair and skin no darker than mine. Up here in Canada "Indian" is quickly becoming a political designation as opposed to an ethnic one. I suspect he is from the Manitoba branch of the family (This comes from Darryl LaBine), who would have come west with the Cree/Ojibwa people and established a colony at Whitefish Lake. This later became an Indian Reservation. “8173

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“ I've heard a story that an older brother from the St Boniface Manitoba area who settled at Whitefish Lake as a trader captain. At the time of the Riel Rebellion, Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont sent runners --messengers-- to this trader captain, trying to enlist him and his band in the Rebellion. He refused. They finally sent this man's younger brother who tried to convince the older brother to join the cause. The older brother refused and sent the younger one back to Riel with the message to stay away -- and that any other runners would be killed. I have a feeling that this story is about our family. You have written that we are descended from "Les Capitaines". Part of it is mentioned in a history of the Rebellion, however no names are used. “8173

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“ Elizabeth, my sister Jocelyn's daughter, met a young man named LaBine (they prounounce it to rhyme with wine). They have since had a baby. I told Elizabeth that we are probably related. She said it was doubtful because his family had "changed their name." According to his family history, an ancestor had gone fishing one day and decided to change his name to LaBine from...Guédry. I told her that we were genetically far enough apart that it wouldn't matter. “8173

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Douglas McQueen
Doug McQueen