TORONTO – Under the gaze of a tree rooted in the Étienne Brûlé Park overlooking the Humber River, Don Jabokwoam recounts the narratives that bind First Nations to the city of Toronto.
At 67 years old, Jabokwoam, an Ojibway from Manitoulin Island, in northern Ontario is spirited and full of ambition. He plans to write a book chronicling the history of First Nations in Toronto and documenting their role in the War of 1812.
It will be added to the modest collection of Aboriginal history books at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, a cultural organisation, which operates bus tours of the city from an indigenous perspective.
Jabokwoam leads the Native Canadian Bus Tour, drawing on verified oral histories passed down from his grandparents and accounts from other elders to tell Toronto’s tale.
On a sizzling summer day, Jabokwoam will often park his tour group in the shade and discuss the Humber River’s significance to Native Canadians.
From the mouth of the Humber to Lake Simcoe, this stretch was once a major highway for trade known as the “Carrying Place.” The park, now a site for picnics and discovery walks, also immortalizes the trade route used by First Nations linking Lake Ontario and the Upper Great Lakes to the north.
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This is but one stop in a journey through Toronto’s past.
The field trip passes through and makes pit stops at the city’s historic landmarks. Among the highlights are High Park, Spadina, Davenport Road, Baby Point and Fort York.
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The name Toronto, like its many people, was also a product of migration; it traveled from The Narrows, a site where Lake Simcoe feeds into Lake Couchiching in Orilla, Ont.
Its linguistic origin, tkaronto in Mohawk means, “Where there are trees standing in the water.” The city’s namesake described The Narrows, where Hurons and other First Nations gathered to create weirs to trap fish. Later translations of the word evolved to “a place of meetings,” or simply, “The Meeting Place.”
The word fits the city’s profile today as a cosmopolitan centre, but it was also true of the past. Archaeological digs discovered artifacts from Ohio Valley, the Gulf of Mexico, the north shore of Lake Superior, and the Plains area, revealing the expansive trade links established by First Nations.
The tour is an elaborate illustration of the merging of worlds — a collection of oral histories from the different indigenous nations that flocked to Toronto, brought to the new faces of Toronto.
The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto is located at 16 Spadina Road.
For more information on the Great Native Canadian tours, contact Bonnie Matthews at bonnie.matthews@ncct.ca or 416-964-9087 X343.
Don Jabokwoam will be leading a free tour sponsored by Harbourfront Centre on July 22.
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