Last week we provided a brief history and information regarding the origination of the Townships in Bruce County from the perspective of a land surveyor, and was not meant to diminish the history of the First Nations, primarily the Ojibway, who predated the Township settlers.
For those unfamiliar with the history of Bruce County, it has been home to the Saugeen Ojibway First Nation prior to the first surveyors wandering through the County in the mid 1850’s. When the Townships were first created, no less than five (5) were created indicating that the Townships comprised “Indian Lands”. These Townships included St. Edmunds, Lindsay, Eastnor, Albermarle and Amabel.
The lands of Bruce County have always been and continue to be situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabek Nation, specifically the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), comprising the Chippewas of Saugeen and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. This territory, spanning over 2 million acres, is largely covered by historical treaties. These 2 million acres included a point presently known as the town of Arthur extending west to Lake Huron and north to Georgian Bay. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was created to protect First Nations land in North America and was meant to halt or at least slow down European settlement. However, the encroachment continued and in 1854 the SON signed Treaty 72 that surrendered the majority of the Saugeen Peninsula to the British Crown, a deal that the SON has long argued was unfair and broke promises to protect their land. The SON has been involved in long-standing, major legal battles against the Federal and Provincial governments for breach of treaty obligations regarding the 1854 surrender. These and other subsequent legal documents did little to protect native lands and sadly, our government has failed to honour treaties.
In summary, and for those who commented on last week’s story, we meant no disrespect to the Saugeen Ojibway Nation on whose ancestral lands some of the Townships discussed earlier were created.
In co-operation with our First Nation history, we look forward to highlighting more Indigenous content in the future. More information can be found at https://www.saugeenojibwaynation.ca or https://www.facebook.com/…/Saugeen-Ojibway-Nation…/