GEO 793: The Geography of Toronto - QUIZ #1

• Kantana

• Means Canada (Iroquoian word = settlement/village) used by French colonists in the 16th century

  • Canada was first referred to as Turtle Island → based on the native legend (Wasaki Chak) [Canada is part of it]

• Tkaronto

Mohawk word meaning “where there are trees standing in the water”

• Originally referred to the narrow waterway where Lake Simcoe drains into Lake Couchiching (The Narrows near Orillia), recorded in 1615 by Samuel de Champlain

• 19th-century historian Henry Scadding popularized the alternative interpretation of “meeting place” at fish weirs.

• Skanadariio / Kanadario

• Haudenosaunee (Iroquoian) term translating to “the handsome lake” or “sparkling water”, which forms the root for the name Ontario

• Ishpadinaa

• Anishinabek word meaning “a hill or sudden rise in the land”, which is the origin of Spadina Avenue

• Mississauga

Translates to “River of the North of Many Mouths”

• Refers to a sub-group of the Ojibway (Anishinaabe) Nation originating near the Mississauga River on the north shore of Lake Huron

• Lake Iroquois

• A prehistoric glacial precursor to Lake Ontario (~12,000–15,000 years ago)

  • Its shoreline ran along the steep ridge north of Davenport Road, while downtown Toronto was completely submerged under water

• Ice Age Migration Corridor

• Mammoths and mastodons roamed the area during the late Pleistocene, using the high ridges and beach base of the Lake Iroquois escarpment as a natural travel corridor

• Toronto Carrying Place Trail (Toronto Passage)

• An ancient portage route connecting Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and the upper Great Lakes via the Humber River, Rouge River, and Holland River

  • Used heavily between 7,000 and 2,000 years ago, it shaved hundreds of miles off the journey through Lake Erie and the Niagara Peninsula

• Two Major Cultural Traditions

The region's history is defined by two primary linguistic/cultural traditions:

1. Algonquian (e.g., Anishinaabe, Mississaugas)

2. Iroquoian (e.g., Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Petun, Neutral).

• Huron-Wendat (Ouendat)

• An Iroquoian nation that inhabited southern Ontario and later moved south into the Toronto area for hunting, fishing, and settlements

• Petun (Tionontate)

• Known as the “Tobacco People”, located around the Nottawasaga Highlands and Blue Mountains; specialized in tobacco cultivation and corn horticulture

• Neutral (Atiouandaronk)

• A large confederacy occupying the Niagara Peninsula and Lake Erie's north shore

  • Named "Neutral" by the French for maintaining peace between the Wendat and Haudenosaunee before being dispersed by the Seneca in the 1650s

• Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy)

  • THREE SISTERS

• Linked archaeologically to the Hopewell mound-building tradition (known for burial mounds and geometric earthworks)

  • They cultivated the “Three Sisters”: (1) Corn (2) Squash (3) Bean

  • Controlled the Toronto area by 1650–1660

• Seneca Villages in Toronto

• Two strategic 17th-century Seneca villages controlled trade along the Toronto Passage

(1) Ganatsekwyagon (on the Rouge River)

(2) Teiaiagon (on the Humber River)

• Mississauga Historic Sites in Toronto

1. Council fire at Queen Street West and Shaw (site of the former Queen Street Mental Health Centre)

2. A fish camp at Church and Front near Berczy Park

3. A lookout point on the hill at Casa Loma

• Dish With One Spoon Territory

• A historic treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas, and Haudenosaunee binding them to share the territory and protect the land and resources in peace, friendship, and respect

• Toronto Purchase (1787, 1805, 2010)

• 1787: Initial British payment of £1,700 in traded goods to Mississauga groups across the Bay of Quinte, Credit River, and Lake Simcoe.

• 1788: A defective survey conducted by Alexander Aitkin covering ~250,000 acres.

• 1805: Replaced by a second formal agreement known as Treaty 13.

• 2010: The Toronto Purchase Specific Land Claim was officially settled/resolved.

• Royal Proclamation of 1763

• Established the constitutional principle recognizing inherent Indigenous rights and dictated that only the Crown could purchase Indigenous land

• Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982

• Constitutional provision protecting and enshrining Indigenous rights in Canada for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit

• Indigenous Law

• Canadian government tries to suppress Indigenous law

  • Indian Act (1876) still has not been repealed 

• A resurgence of Indigenous law & a growing demand for recognition of Indigenous rights

• Settler Colonialism

• An ongoing system of power that dispossesses Indigenous peoples of land, transforms land into private property, and enforces erasure through assimilation policies

• Assimilation Policies

• Historical mechanisms designed to control and assimilate Indigenous peoples include the: (1) Indian Act (1876) (2) the pass system (3) reserves (4) residential schools

• Key Intertwined Indigenous Issues (rooted in the Indian Act and colonialism)

1. Poorer health

2. Lower levels of education

3. Inadequate housing and crowded living conditions

4. Lower income levels

5. Higher rates of unemployment

6. Higher levels of incarceration

7. Higher rates of unintentional injuries and early deaths among children/youth

8. Higher rates of suicide

• Impact of Colonization

• Loss of land (have to live on reserves)

• Unequal access to resources

• Poor health

• Canadian Constitution - Indigenous Peoples/Aboriginals

Recognizes three groups as original inhabitants of Canada

1. First Nations: over 530 distinct communities representing 50 languages (referred to as “Indians” but prefer first nations)

2. Metis:  Indigenous people of the Arctic regions (Unit Nunanguat)

3. Inuit Peoples (Nunavut)

• Three Constitutionally Recognized Groups

1. First Nations (>630 communities, >50 languages)

2. Inuit (originating from Inuit Nunangat in the Arctic)

3. Métis (distinct French-Indigenous heritage)

• Population Figures (2021 Census)

• Toronto: Estimated ~70,000 Indigenous residents.

• Canada: 1,807,250 Indigenous people (5% of the total Canadian population)

  • 1,048,405 First Nations

  • 624,220 Métis

  • 70,545 Inuit

• Indigenous population grew 9.4% (2016–2021), almost twice the rate of non-Indigenous growth

• Mississaugas of the Credit Reserve

• Known as New Credit, occupying ~6,000 acres (24 km²) adjacent to the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Brant and Haldimand Counties