Joseph La France, (c. 1707 – c. 1745), was a Métis fur trader in Canada, and an explorer of the inland route from Montreal to Hudson Bay.
In 1739, having been refused a license to trade on the grounds that he had been selling brandy to the Indians, he decided to align himself with the English traders at Hudson Bay.
[2] Because the Hudson's Bay Company could not shelter French or Canadien traders, La France was sent to England later in 1742.
In London he met Arthur Dobbs who was crusading against the HBC monopoly of the fur trade and their apparent reluctance to open up the northwest with interior forts.
He recommended that the HBC meet growing French competition in the west as it was rapidly developing through the efforts of the La Vérendryes.