Chapter 3: The First Nations No one who has a single atom of imagination can travel through these forest roads without being strongly impressed and excited. The seemingly interminable line of trees before you; the boundless wilderness around; the mysterious depths amid the multitudinous foliage where foot of man hath never penetrated and which partial gleams of the noontide sun, now seen, now lost, lit up with a changeful, magical beauty the wondrous splendour and novelty of the flowers the silence, unbroken but by the low cry of a bird, or hum of an insect, or the splash and croak of some huge bull-frog the solitude in which we proceeded mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within sight are all either exciting to the fancy, or oppressive to the spirits, according to the mood one may be in. Anna Brownell Jameson: Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (1837), Vol. 1 ( p. 295). Hunters of the Paleo-Indian period Peoples of the Archaic period Campsite of the Initial Woodland period Ontario Iroquoian village of the Late Woodland period Artwork by Ivan Kocsis courtesy of the Ontario Archaieological Society Chapter 3: The First Nations No one who has a single atom of imagination can travel 3.1 Pre-contact habitation of the Etobicoke and through these forest roads… without being strongly impressed and excited. The seemingly interminable line Mimico Creek watersheds of trees before you; the boundless wilderness around; the mysterious depths amid the multitudinous foliage where Current thinking by most anthropologists and foot of man hath never penetrated — and which partial archaeologists is that the ancestors of the First gleams of the noontide sun, now seen, now lost, lit up with a changeful, magical beauty — the wondrous Nations peoples arrived in the Americas from Asia splendour and novelty of the flowers — the silence, via a land bridge that was exposed along the Bering unbroken but by the low cry of a bird, or hum of an Strait. Based on archaeological, genetic, linguistic, insect, or the splash and croak of some huge bull-frog — and biological evidence, it appears most likely that the solitude in which we proceeded mile after mile, no human being, no human dwelling within sight — are all they came in a series of migrations between 35,000 either exciting to the fancy, or oppressive to the spirits, and12,500 years ago. The Inuit may have come as according to the mood one may be in. recently as 5,000 years ago. Anna Brownell Jameson: Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (1837), Vol. 1 ( p. 295). Among some First Nations peoples, modern scientific theories of their origins outside of the Mrs. Jameson was one of the last observers to Americas remains contentious and even offensive, describe the ancient hardwood forest that covered since their own creation stories and oral traditions much of southern Ontario for thousands of years, describe them as the original peoples of this land, although by 1837 it had already disappeared from not simply the first immigrants in a nation of most of the Etobicoke and Mimico Creek immigrants. As the sole occupants of the land for watersheds. Her description, however evocative, thousands of years, they are truly the First Nations contains one significant error: the foot of man had of Canada. penetrated the forest between ten and 12 thousand years before her rambles. It had been traversed by, The history of human occupation in the Toronto and home to, hundreds of generations of First region dates back to the period immediately Nations peoples ever since the melting of the glacier following the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet that left in its wake the Great Lakes basin with its between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago. This was rich and complex ecosystem. In 1837, after about 40 before the Great Lakes basin and existing lake levels years of Euroamerican settlement, this ecosystem had been reached, and before the forest region had was on the brink of systematic destruction. stabilized. There may have been no more than a few dozen families living in small nomadic bands in This chapter looks at the history of the people southern Ontario. Not until after about A.D. 500, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal who have when rudimentary horticulture was adopted and inhabited the Etobicoke and Mimico Creek people started to become more sedentary, did the watersheds. It is important to remember that population begin to increase significantly. But it environments change even in the absence of human remained so low compared to today that negative activity, so changes to the land and the ecosystem effects of human habitation on the ecosystem of the are not all attributable to the activities of humans. watersheds were temporary and localized. But it is equally important to note the vast differences between the way in which the First The story of the Aboriginal habitation of southern Nations peoples interacted with their environment, Ontario and of our watersheds in both the pre- and and those chosen by the newcomers from across post-contact periods is extraordinarily complex. It is the Atlantic who arrived in the 17th century. The also incomplete, and remains in places so sketchy in geologically fleeting period of the last two centuries detail and controversial in interpretation that it raises has seen the cultural practices of the human as many questions as it answers. What we do know community completely transform the landscape and comes from four main sources: the flora and fauna communities of the Etobicoke and Mimico Creek watersheds. The archaeological record of their material culture, which includes artifacts, human remains, and traces of their campsites, villages, and homes A note about terminology (represented by stains in the soil left by fires and rotting wooden posts), and storage pits; note that First Nations is used in preference to Native, the systematic, scientifically- based archaeological Indian, Aboriginal, or Amerindian. investigation of Ontario is only a little over 50 years old, which means that much of the material Pre-contact and post-contact is used rather in the Etobicoke and Mimico Creek watersheds than prehistoric and historic. 25 had already been destroyed; Chapter 3: The First Nations Material culture in the form of artifacts passed down through the generations (e.g., wampum Getting some names straight belts, pipes, pottery shards), and are distinct from Iroquoian: One of the two large language families the archaeological record; found in the Northeast Culture Area, in which the Great The oral traditions of the First Nations peoples; Lakes are located. It included the Ontario Iroquoians far from being static, these traditions have (the Hurons, Petuns, Neutrals, and Eries), the League evolved over time in response to changing Iroquois (also known as the Haudenosaunee or, in circumstances and conditions; and Seneca, people of the longhouse), and some groups The historical record that starts in the early who lived along the Atlantic coast as far south as the Carolinas. At the time of contact, all of the Iroquoians 1600s, and includes documents, maps, and were horticulturalists and lived south of the Canadian drawings made by missionaries, European Shield. explorers, and traders. Ontario Iroquoians: The Iroquoian-speaking peoples The information from all four of these main sources who lived north of Lake Ontario and did not belong to the Iroquois League. The Haudenosaunee and the has been undergoing a major re-examination since Ontario Iroquoians were bitter enemies. The four the 1960s in light of ongoing archaeological Ontario Iroquoian confederacies were: findings; new approaches to historiography; the added insights of other academic disciplines such as Hurons: the people whose ancestors occupied south- geography, paleobotany, geology, linguistics, and central Ontario in the Toronto region until they moved genetics; and growing respect for and appreciation of north to Huronia between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. The name Huron was derogatory. It derived the First Nations peoples oral traditions. from the French word for boar in reference to the central band of hair that ran from front to back of the Unfortunately, information regarding the Etobicoke shaven heads of the men. It was also an insult, implying and Mimico Creek watersheds specifically is the Hurons were like country people, or rude bumpkins. especially sketchy. The last First Nations inhabitants, The Hurons name for themselves was Wendats, and for the Mississaugas, left over 150 years ago, and given Huronia, Wendake. the high degree of urbanization along Etobicoke Petuns: lived in the Collingwood area and seem to have Creek and Mimico Creek, ploughs and later had close ties with their neighbours, the Wendats. The bulldozers have long since eliminated many sites. Wendats name for them was Tionontaté, and the Our watersheds have also slipped between the cracks Europeans referred to them as the Tobaccos. of the attention paid by archaeologists to Toronto Neutrals: lived on the north shore of Lake Erie, and between the Humber and Rouge Rivers, and to were called Attiwandaron by the Wendats. Mississauga, Oakville, and Burlington to the west, where interest is centred on the Credit River, Eries: lived on the south shore of Lake Erie; they are Burlington Bay, and Cootes Paradise. known almost entirely from the archaeological record and are not known by any other name. The part of the story of the Aboriginal habitation of Iroquois: The name applied to the Iroquoian-speaking our watersheds that has been pieced together appears Five Nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga in this chapter in a highly truncated form. and Seneca) who lived south of Lake Ontario in Upper New York State in what was known as Iroquoia. They Slipping between the cracks began to form a confederacy or league some time around 1450.