Land Acknowledgement

The land now known as Toronto and the surrounding suburbs has been the site of human activity for more than 15,000 years. It has been the traditional territories of many nations, including the Missisaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

The word Toronto comes from the Kanienke’haka (Mohawk) word Tkaronto, which means “the place in the water where the trees stand.” It most likely refers to how the Huron-Wendat fishers posted stakes at the narrows of local river systems.

Historically, Tkaronto was a geographic meeting place, somewhere for people to trade, network, form alliances, and then continue along the many portage routes that connect the Great Lakes.

Land Surrenders Across Ontario

Starting in 1764, the British and Canadian governments negotiated a series of land surrenders that saw Indigenous peoples cede their land to colonizers. Initially, the treaties were formed to provide security along trade routes. Following the War of 1812, however, more and more land was surrendered to make way for European settlement.

Before 1818, Indigenous people who ceded land were compensated with one-time payments of goods or money, or both, to the signatories. The agreements stipulated the full surrender of all rights, including the right to hunt and fish, and did not provide for reserved lands for Indigenous people to live on. After 1818, the British government switched to annual payments to ease their cash flow management.

By the time of confederation in 1876, it was assumed that land constituting the province of Ontario had been legally surrendered. However, this was called into question in 1910 when several Indigenous groups, including the Chippewa of Lake Simcoe and the Mississauga of the north shore of Lake Ontario, complained that the treaties were highly problematic. They argued that the treaties contained faulty descriptions, incomplete documentation, and failed payments.

The Canadian government called for a series of investigations, and by 1923, discovered that the Indigenous complaints were valid and problems were widespread. Since much of the land in question was already being used for settlement and natural resource extraction, the government established a series of new treaties to secure their interests. These new treaties were similar to the pre-1818 land surrenders in that they offered single cash payments, few if any reserved land, and surrender of all rights.

The Toronto Purchase

In the 1780s, fearing invasion from the Americans from the south, the British government sought to secure a communications route from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe. In 1787, the British called for a meeting with the Mississaugas and presented them with “gifts” of blankets, kettles, and gunpowder. The total value of the gifts is estimated to be £1,700.

During the meeting, the British also brought up the potential for land sales along the north shore of Lake Ontario. While no agreement was made, the British subsequently claimed that a sale was made and compensation provided through the £1,700 worth of goods.

The deed that supposedly confirmed the sale was found years later; it was blank with no description of the land in question and the marks of the three Chiefs of the Toronto area were attached separately. This suggests that the marks of the Chiefs were attached after the fact to forge the deed.

In 1788, the British attempted to survey the land they allegedly purchased. The survey was abandoned, incomplete, because of hostilities the surveyors encountered from the Mississaugas. As such, there is no record of the boundaries of the land in question, nor any documentation proving any sale or surrender took place.

In 1805, the British felt the need to formalize their hold on the land through a second purchase agreement–a misnomer since there was never an original purchase agreement.

They approached the Mississaugas with plans for the original 1787 Toronto Purchase. These plans identified land boundaries that were beneficial to the British and were not based on any historical record since no such records existed. Since the Chiefs who were originally involved with the 1787 Toronto Purchase had died by then, the contemporary Indigenous leaders were not in a position to contest the British’s claims.

The British characterized this second agreement as a “confirmation” of the boundaries of the 1787 Toronto Purchase. In exchange for this confirmation and for the ceding of legal title to approximately 250,880 acres of land, the British paid the Mississaugas 10 shillings.

It is important to note that the current-day Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation contest the surrender of the Toronto Islands in any of the above agreements. The Toronto Islands are of great spiritual and religious significance to the Mississaugas (and other First Nations) and it is unlikely that their ancestors would have agreed to surrendering those lands.

According to a 1984 Supreme Court of Canada ruling, the Canadian government has fiduciary duty to ensure Indigenous peoples are fully informed of their rights in any land transaction, and that land is purchased at a reasonable price. Neither of these requirements were met with respect to the Toronto Purchase.

Over the years, the Mississaugas submitted a number of claims to the Canadian government for compensation for stolen land, many of which were rejected. In February 1998, the Mississaugas requested an independent inquiry, which led to several planning conferences and a decade long legal-battle. In 2010, the Government of Canada settled the Toronto Purchase Claim and a related Brant Tract Claim with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation for $145 million.

Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. Today, Toronto is still home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.

Dish With One Spoon Wampum

We Are All Settlers

My family moved to Toronto from Taiwan in the 1980s. While my ancestors were not the original European colonizers, as a settler on this land, I have benefited from the oppression of Indigenous peoples. The trauma suffered by Indigenous peoples are intergenerational and past wrongs are not easily righted.

Reconciliation goes beyond monetary settlements or pretty sounding statements. Reconciliation requires work to understand our role and contribution to past and ongoing harms, and to do what we can to minimize those harms. It requires us to come with humility, with a heart for listening, and to follow the lead of Indigenous people to heal and restore broken relationships.

Sources:
1. Jamaias DaCosta, “Toronto aka Tkaronto Passes New City Council Protocol,” Muskrat Magazine.com.
2. “Upper Canada Land Surrenders and the Williams Treaties (1764-1862/1923),” Government of Canada.
3. Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, “Toronto Purchase Specific Claim: Arriving At An Agreement.”
4. “The Toronto Purchase Treaty No. 13 (1805),” Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation.
5. Victor P. Lytwyn, “A Dish with One Spoon: The Shared Hunting Grounds Agreement in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley Region,” in Papers of the 28th Algonquin Conference, ed. David H. Pentland (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 1997), 210-227.