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c economist suntribune thursday aug 29 2002 3 natives find their history in york region our youth and our people are starting to learn who we are once again bymikeadler staff writer on walls of a school near hagersville ont the entire history of a first nation is taking shape from the seven fires of creation to prophecies of a rebirth to come when it is fully painted this fall kiinwi dabaadjmowin our story may help the mississaugas of the new credit reclaim their history in toronto and york region they and fellow bands of mississaugas conquered the golden horseshoe in 1787 these people of algonquin stock- who had no con cept of land ownership accepted trade goods for what british author ities later said was the sale of 10 square miles in toronto and two to four miles on each side of the carrying place trail along the humber river and holland river to lake simcoe it was part of a great native trade route that stretched to the gulf of mexico before europeans arrived here pressed to confirm this dubi ous sale in 1805 the mississaugas surrendered much more west ern toronto and most of present- day vaughan and richmond hill up to the heights of the oak ridges moraine as the white settlers moved in the mississaugas were forced to leave our people couldnt under stand why when they agreed to share they were being shot at for trying to walk across the land kim sault a teacher said as she showed sketches for the 24part hagersville mural to visitors one shows a buffalo spiritual guardian of ojibwa people and their traditional teachings watch ing over students at a residential school they say he sacrificed his legs and that hes doing his best to stand on one leg today but the last sketch shows the mississaugas hopes for the future hopes shared by many aboriginal groups that have called york region home our youth and our people are starting to learn who we are once again ms sault said aboriginal people came into the region as the glaciers of the last ice age melted they were still here when william berczys settlers start ed clearing yonge street by 1200 the longhouse culture was firmly established here said rebekah tanner a woman of the huron wendat first nation from schenectady ny we lived here and we farmed here ms tanner said this month in staff photosteve somerville seneca native indian davis redwolf right embraces david grey eagle sanford director of the wapiti alliance and official liaison of the grand chief of the huron wendat nation at a recent gathering of protesters in southeast markham this embrace is symbolic of the two nations coming together to oppose the toronto catholic dioceses proposal to build a cemetery on land at steeles avenue and reesor road that natives consider sacred ground markham she was there to help descendants of the wendat called hurons by the french join mem bers of the six nations confederacy to stand against the creation of a cemetery around an ancient huron village site the regions present population is lucky to live in the northernmost place in north america with a 1 10- day growing season here the wendat lived with a sound econo my and a democratic government ms tanner said it was a society in which you could thrive we achieved that right here and we lived that way for a longtime but as the europeans made con tact with other first nation peoples in north america they introduced devastating diseases that found their way to huronia ms tanner said even before the wendat first saw europeans our greatest story tellers teachers arrowmakers hunters the people that would teach the next generations were gone and in 1649 the british incited the six nations peoples then known as the five nations and liv ing in new york state to drive the wendat out of southern ontario touching off a 50year war huronia was destroyed the seneca one of the five nations founded fortified villages to control the area including ganatsek- wyagon on the rouge river and teiaigon on the humber but the french who called the five nations the iroquois saw the settlements as a threat we stood in their way thats why they did everything in their power to burn our villages said david redwolf a seneca who traces his descent from teiaigon despite the war mr redwolf calls the wendat who had shared a common language and culture our brothers and our cousins people need to respect first nations who lived here and not eradicate the existence of their ancestors he added they need to come to us for answers it was the ojibwa allied mississauga and chippewa bands that swept down from the north destroyed the seneca villages and finally drove the five nations back to new york state though many of them later resettled near brantford as united empire loyalists when the mississaugas of the new credit had no land left they were invited to live beside the six nations last month federal minister of indian affairs robert nault wrote to chief bryan laforme admitting canada owes an outstanding lawful obligation to the first nation over a breach of the 1805 surrender mr nault said the federal government is prepared to settle the claim the chippewa around lake simcoe have fared little better briefly prospering through the fur trade and fishing they were forced to give up their nomadic way of life and pressured by missionaries to assimilate local chiefs signed away 250000 acres of land at kempenfelt bay in 1836 though land ownership was foreign to them it was like the air you breathe everybody owns it georgina island resident wanda big canoe said this week georgina island first nation established as a farming communi ty 119 years ago remains in chippewa hands but farming ceased after the opening of the trent severn waterway raised the shallow lake level by several feet drowning chippewa wild rice crops a jour ney to reach the mainland now takes 20 minutes by ferry next native people reclaim their sacred sites in york region i lost 1 54 lbs of body fat and have energy to spare gel startej today i lose wright keep t 0 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