Elder William Commanda, up until his death, was the keeper of the three figure welcoming wampum belt from the 16th century. This belt inscribes the understanding of Indigenous Peoples about the sharing of their native land and their values with the newcomers: the English and the French.

For 8,000 years this land we now call Canada was home to First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures who lived in treaty relationship with each other, the land and the more-than-human life. When European settlers came to this area now known as the Ottawa Valley starting some 500 years ago to explore and trade with Indigenous Peoples and then eventually to settle here, Algonquin Anishinaabe welcomed and befriended them and indeed assisted them to survive in difficult conditions.

 The Royal Proclamation of 1763  and the Treaty of Niagara in 1764 between First Nations and the Crown required agreement on both parts for any of the land on Turtle Island to be sold to settlers.  Ignoring this agreement, local settlers gradually took over the land, pushing Algonquin people aside with no regard for their cultural, material or spiritual needs or for the land and water that sustained them.  Algonquins were forced to move upriver and inland to find hunting grounds in order to survive.  When the government established the Pikwakanagan reserve in 1873, many refused to leave the homes that they had established.

The Indian Act, which first came into law in 1876 consolidated a number of earlier colonial laws that sought to control and assimilate First Nations Peoples into Euro-Canadian culture. This act led to the classification of First Nations People as “status” or “non-status” and restrictive and oppressive laws, including the residential school system. To learn more about the ongoing history of the Indian Act, click here.

Today, there are nine Algonquin First Nations Communities that are not reserves in this area of Ontario: Shabot Obaadjiwan, Snimikobi (Ardoch), Bonnechere, Mattawa/North Bay, Greater Golden Lake, Antoine, Bancroft, Whitney and Ottawa.

Use this map and the text links beside it to explore the history of the relationship between settlers and Algonquins of Ontario.

  1. Algonquins of Pikwakanagan
  2. Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation
  3. Ardoch Algonquin First Nation
  4. Bonnechere Algonquin First Nation
  5. Mattawa North Bay Algonquin First Nation
  6. Algonquins of Greater Golden Lake First Nation
  7. Antoine Nation
  8. Kijicho Manito Madaouskarini Algonquin First Nation
  9. Whitney Area Algonquins
  10. Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition

Currently non-status Algonquin people of Ontario are tracing their lineage to establish Indigenous heritage. The Algonquin Anishinaabe continue to work with the Provincial and Federal government on a Land Claim Agreement. There is now a proposal on the table but some Algonquin people are not yet satisfied with the terms. The Crown continues to refuse to recognize Indigenous Sovereignty – a key call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

In our area – presently known as Lanark County – there are no reserves. In the south-western corner are the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and the Ardoch First Nation Communities; to the north of us in Renfrew County, is thePikwakanagan reserve. According to the 2021 Census, there are approximately 4,400 First Nations, Metis and Inuit People living in Lanark County.

Here in Mississippi Mills, there is evidence that Indigenous people traveled the Mississippi from the interior of Lanark county to the Ottawa River.

Resources