Lecture 1: The Early History of Toronto

Drumlins
• Drumlins are elongated, teardrop-shaped hills of well sorted and stratified sand and
gravel and glacial till, and typically occur behind well defined morraine formations
• The elongated end is point in the direction of the ice flow
• Formed by the streamlined movement of glacial ice sheets across rock debris, or till
• They can be up to 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) long
Toronto Islands: A Sand Spit
• The islands were originally a 9 kilometres (5.6 mi)-long peninsula or sand spit extending
from the mainland
• A sand spit is a small sandy point of land projecting into a body of water from the shore
• The islands are composed of alluvial deposits from the erosion of the Scarborough
Bluffs, carried by a current flowing from east to west

South-Central Ontario
• Toronto has been the site of human habitation for over 10,000 years
• 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age
• Downtown Toronto was under the water of Lake Iroquois
• Mammoths and mastodons were here!
• You can see the old shoreline today, along Davenport Road and the Scarborough
Bluffs

First Nations Names

• Ontario – Skanadariio -- the “handsome lake” or “sparkling water”
• Tkaronto originally referred to the area around Lake Simcoe, but then came to refer to a
larger region that included the site of present-day Toronto
• What does Toronto mean?
• “Trees are in the water”, Haudenosaunee words, and a long Haudenosaunee
history

Toronto: Another Meaning

• The idea that Toronto means “meeting place” came from Henry Scadding
• Scadding, a 19th-century English historian documented that First Nations peoples
from many nations would meet at the fish weirs to discuss politics and other
matters including hunting, trapping, and fishing
 • Are we on Mississauga Land?

Who are the Mississauga?

• The Mississauga – like all Anishinabek – originated along the eastern coast, something
confirmed by the Anishinabe oral prophecy of the Seven Fires, which recounts a
migration west
• Further back in Haudenosaunee/Iroquoian culture, there are signs indicating that
Iroquoian cultures moved north from the Hopewell mound-building culture
• Given their reliance on the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash), some say that the
Haudenosaunee originated in Central or South America, where corn is the staple crop,
or that they were joined by immigrants from the south

The history of the area we call Toronto

• The history of Canada does not begin with the arrival of Europeans or with land
agreements signed with Europeans
• First nations lived here more than 15000 years ago
• By prioritizing that narrative, we commit the grave error of superimposing a Eurocentric
frame of reference on what is included, not included, and valued in the discussion
• The history of Toronto is much longer than 300 years

Colonists/Indigenous Perspectives
• The colonists spoke of “owning the land”
• Indigenous peoples believe that they are “caretakers of the land”, interconnected with
all of creation
• By prioritizing the Mississauga agreement with the Crown and assuming that the
Mississauga “own” this territory as a result, we reproduce the idea that it is possible
(and desirable) to own creation

Pre-European Societies
• The fact is, prior to European contact, Toronto has played host to:
• At least three distinct peoples (the Huron, the Haudenosaunee, and the
Mississauga)
• Two different cultures (Iroquoian and Algonquian)
• Was the site of many trade gatherings and inter-tribal ceremonies

Ancient Toronto
• After the glacial ice retreated, Lake Iroquois drained out the St. Lawrence, causing the
shoreline of ancient Lake Ontario to be about 20 kilometres south of modern Toronto
• Around 10,500-11,000 years ago, a small number of people moved into the cold sub-
arctic landscape of ancient Ontario from the south to pursue the big game animals that
preceded them
• Many of the campsites of these people are now lost to archaeologists (under the lake)
 • From other sites in Ontario, we know that these early inhabitants fished and gathered
but relied mainly on hunting caribou, as well as mammoths, mastodons, and smaller
animals, in a region consisting of tundra and boreal forest
• During the course of each year, they travelled across large distances in family-sized
bands to sustain themselves

Post-Glacial Climate Change

• By about 8,000 years ago, the climate had warmed to a point comparable to modern
levels, which allowed for a new kind of temperate forest environment to evolve in
southern Ontario
• During this transition, much of the big game became extinct, the caribou drifted north,
but white-tailed deer moved in to take their place
• Between roughly 7,000 and 2,000 years ago, rising water levels in Lake Ontario and soil
erosion from Scarborough Bluffs created the Toronto Islands, the harbour, and a
mainland shoreline similar to the modern one

The Toronto Passage

• Around 7,000 years ago, Indigenous people began using the Toronto Passage, along the
Humber River
• The Humber River and the Rouge River were used as shortcuts between Lake Ontario
and Georgian Bay
• These were vital links in the trade route that ran from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake
Superior

Indigenous Societies Grew in Complexity

• Related families began to congregate in large spring and summer camps near the
mouths of Humber and Rouge Rivers to catch fish, trade, and engage in communal social
and spiritual events around 3,000 years ago
Iroquoian Villages (600 CE to 1600 CE)
• Corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco were introduced from the south
• Increasing reliance on farming helped to shape the horticultural Iroquoian societies that
developed about 1,100 years ago in the lower Great Lakes
• Iroquoian villages were formed, with multi-family longhouses, palisades, and cultivated
fields
• Iroquoian villages typically lasted from 10 to 20 years before their inhabitants relocated
to new sites when the longhouses deteriorated, the fields became sterile, and people
had to walk longer distances for firewood and other necessities that previously had
been found close to home
• Example for long houses, st marie among the hearons

The Formation of Large Confederacies

• During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, bands formed tribes, then large confederacies
• The Iroquoians of the Toronto and neighbouring areas slowly moved north to the Georgian
Bay and Lake Simcoe region to join the developing Huron (or Wendat) Confederacy – which
was also an Iroquoian culture
• Some moved northwest and west to help form the Petun society around the Nottawasaga
highlands and the Neutral society around the Niagara peninsula
• Why did First Nations come together and form large confederacy? - To secure greater
access to waterways, and for defence especially in light of European colonizers
• You can negotiate passage all the way up thru the Toronto passage all the way up to Lake
Simcoe

First Peoples, 9000 BCE to 1600 CE (11,000 to 400 years ago)

The Wendat Confederacy and Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Northern Side of Lake Ontario: Wyandot (Huron)

- People of the Cord
- People of the Rock
- People of the Deer
- People of the Bear

Southern Side of Lake Ontario: Haudenosaunne (Iroquois)

- People of the Flint (Mohawk)
- People of the Standing Stone (Oneida)
- People of the Hills (Onondaga)
- People of the Swamps (Cayuga)
- People of the Mountains (Seneka) – over time, moved to southern Ontario

South of Lake Erie (now an American side):

- Long Tails People (Erie)

The Expansion, then Defeat, of the Huron-Wendat Confederacy

• With people concentrating their settlements to the north and elsewhere, the new
Huron-Wendat Confederacy used the now-uninhabited area around Toronto as a
hinterland for hunting and fishing, while the Toronto Passage itself continued to serve as
a convenient north-south route
• The Huron-Wendat Confederacy was defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy (who came
from what is now New York State) in 1648-1650
• By 1650-1660, the area around Toronto – and as far away as Pennsylvania, the Ohio
Valley, and the lower Michigan peninsula – became Haudenosaunee territory
• The character of the Toronto area shifted again, from being a hinterland for the now-
dispersed Hurons of Georgian Bay, as it had been since the end of the 1500s, to a
colonized area for the Iroquois from New York
Strategic Sites of the Late 17th Century (1600s)
• Archaeologists have excavated two of the seven Seneca villages in Toronto:
• Ganatsekwyagon, near the mouth of the Rouge River
• Teiaiagon, on the Humber River near the Baby Point neighbourhood
• These were strategic sites that allowed the Seneca, one of the original five nations of
the Iroquois Confederacy, to control the Toronto Passage, negotiating with the
Anishinabek and other Algonquian-speaking societies from northern Ontario for hunting
and trading
• It was during this time that Toronto began to appear on maps created by French traders

Haudenosaunee Moved Away

• Both Ganatsekwyagon and Teiaiagon were also vulnerable to attack by the French
during the “Beaver Wars”
• The Beaver Wars (1640 - 1701), also called the French and Iroquois Wars, were terrifying
and brutal wars fought by tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy against the French and the
First Nations tribes who were their allies, including the Huron and Algonquins
• The Haudenosaunee left Toronto and relocated back to their original homeland in New
York State after only 20 years in the Toronto area

The Mississauga in Toronto

Toward the end of the 1600s and early 1700s:
• Algonquian speakers from central and northern Ontario moved south and replaced the
Senecas in the Toronto area
• Some of these Anishinabek came to be known as the Mississaugas, because they came
from the area of the Mississagi River on the north shore of Lake Huron

Fort Rouille
• The last French post built in present-day Southern Ontario to help strengthen French
control of the Great Lakes
• Hostilities between the French and British increased in the mid-1750s, and Fort Rouillé
was destroyed by its garrison in July 1759
• After the destruction of Fort Rouille no attempt was made to re-establish a settlement in
the vicinity until more than thirty years later, when British Governor Simcoe laid down
the foundations of York in 1793

Some Mississauga Sites in Toronto

• In order to trade with the French, the Mississauga camped along the shore of Lake
Ontario and on the Toronto Islands (which was then a peninsula)
• They also had a camp and council fire at today’s Queen Street West and Shaw Street
(the site of today’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), as well as a fish camp at
Church Street and Front Street East, near today’s Berczy Park (a creek used to flow along
Church)
• To check on any activity on or near the lake, the Mississauga scanned the territory to the
south using the hill where Casa Loma is now situated (at Dupont and Spadina)
 • The name for today’s Spadina Avenue comes from the word “ishpadinaa” in the
Anishinabe language: it means “hill or sudden rise in the land”

Ishpadinaa
• From 2012 to 2015, new street signs were put up by a pair of aboriginal scholars and
activists who have been pasting Ojibwe words across the city in an attempt to bring the
city’s indigenous heritage to public attention
• The project was run by Hayden King, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance
at Ryerson, and Susan Blight, Student Life Co-ordinator at the University of Toronto’s
First Nations House
• Inspired by the Idle No More movement in December 2012, they set out to remind the
city that it stood on aboriginal land, and that it still has a vibrant aboriginal community,
often overlooked in discussions of Toronto’s past and modern identity

From French to British Colonists, 1760s

• After the French surrendered to the British at Montreal in 1760, Britain negotiated a
peaceful relationship with both the Haudenosaunee and the Mississauga
• The Mississauga continued to hunt, fish, gather, and trade throughout the Toronto
region

The American Revolution, 1775 – 1783

• Both Mississauga and Haudenosaunee warriors fought alongside their British allies
during the American Revolution
• After the United States became independent, Loyalist refugees fled across the border to
British territory, joined by many Haudenosaunee, who, as British allies, were no longer
welcome in the United States
• These Haudenosaunee returned to the north side of the lake, settling in communities
such as Grand River and Tyendinaga

“Purchasing” First Nations Lands

• In the 18th century the colonists realized that Toronto was a well-protected site, perfect
for Loyalists and other settlers
• It also provided passage north to more abundant hunting grounds that would ensure
the survival of the fur trade
• So the colonists entered into approximately 20 different agreements with various
Mississauga groups

The Toronto Purchase, 1787

• The British arranged the Toronto Purchase, paying three groups of Mississauga £1700 in
cash and goods, which they later claimed gave them the rights to over 1,000 square
kilometres of Toronto, including York Region, Vaughan, and King Township

Revision to the Toronto Purchase, 1805

 • In 1787, the deed for the original purchase was left blank, the exact size of land was
unclear, and the names of Mississauga chiefs were attached to it by separate pieces of
paper
• A new deed was drawn up dramatically expanding the area claimed by the Crown and a
scant 10 shillings was paid for 250,880 acres of land
• The new boundaries stretched from the mouth of Etobicoke Creek to Ashbridges Bay
and 40 kilometers north to what now is approximately Highway 9

2010 Settlement for the Toronto Purchase

• It took another 205 years for the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation to reach a
settlement with the government of Canada on their obvious claim that proper
compensation was not paid for the land
• In 2010 the federal government paid $144-million to settle the land claim of the Toronto
Purchase
• That amount was based on what was considered a fair price for the land in 1805
extrapolated to 2010 dollars

Williams Treaties First Nations vote to approve $1.1-billion settlement proposal (July 1, 2018)
• Seven First Nations outside Toronto have voted to accept a $1.1-billion settlement deal
with the federal and provincial governments to resolve a long-standing treaty dispute
• The Williams Treaties of 1923 are different than others in Ontario because they were
signed in the 20th century and pertained to land that Chippewas and Mississaugas had
never agreed to relinquish, but was already occupied by settler homes, mines and
lumber mills

The Rouge Tract Claim (submitted in 2015)

• The ancestors of the Mississaugas of the Credit, as well as the ancestors of other
Mississauga nations located in Central Ontario, purportedly “surrendered” parts of their
lands in the Gunshot Treaty of 1788
• A significant portion of the Gunshot Treaty lands included the southern part of the
Rouge River Valley - the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit
• The Mississaugas of the Credit did not surrender their interest in the lands of the
Gunshot Treaty, nor did they surrender title to any of their territory located within the
Rouge River Valley Tract
• The Mississaugas of the Credit claim unextinguished aboriginal title to the Rouge River
Valley Tract and submitted a claim, in 2015, to the governments of Ontario and Canada
seeking the return of those lands
• http://mncfn.ca/about-mncfn/land-and-water-claims/rouge-claim/

Respecting First Nations Culture

• “Reconciliation is about forging and maintaining respectful relationships. There are no
shortcuts." - Justice Murray Sinclair

First Nations Junior and Senior School of Toronto

 • “First Nations School of Toronto (FNST) teaches the Ontario Curriculum while centering
Indigenous knowledge, perspectives and cultures.
Our approach to education is based on Indigenous ways of being, knowing, teaching and
learning.” (TDSB website)
• The school originally served students in Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8
• In the 2017–18 school year, it expanded into the secondary school grades, welcoming
the first class of Grade 9 students in September 2017, and now Grade 10 students in
September 2018, Grade 11 students in September 2019, and Grade 12 students in
September 2020
• Originally called Wandering Spirit Survival School, it was founded by Elders Pauline Shirt
and Vern Harper in the 1976, and adopted by the TDSB in 1977
• In 2017, the school moved to a new location on 16 Phin Avenue, Toronto
• Many of the school's 200 students are of Anishinaabe ancestry, although the school is
open to children of all backgrounds. On its website, the school says Indigenous values,
spirituality, culture and Ojibwa language are integrated into its curriculum.
• Morning smudging ceremonies and daily 40-minute language and culture classes with
an elder are part of their routine

Toronto's First Nations School

• Jonathan Kakegamic, principal of the First Nations Junior and Senior School of Toronto
explains why indigenous students benefit when curriculum embraces their culture.
• The Agenda with Steve Paikin – originally aired: February 02, 2017