Champlain’s Curse: So-called Petun nation almost destroyed within 34 years

by Christopher Dodd 

One of the largest collections of fluted projectile points ever found in North America – created by human hands 10,000 years ago – was found on Fairgrounds Road between Creemore and Stayner back in the 1970s. The thousands of artifacts unearthed at the Fisher Site indicated a sizable settlement. Mammoth remains from the period have also been recovered in our area. The evidence speaks for itself: Clearview Township was once home for some of the First Peoples ever to make footprints in North America.

Five thousand years ago, in England, Stonehenge had just been constructed. In Egypt, sand was still waiting for the Great Pyramid. In Ontario, the number of people was substantial. They had learned how to work and shape copper. Metal projectile points, knives, fishhooks, eyed needles, bracelets, and pendants were traded with other groups. The people became experts with the atlatl – a tool for achieving a higher velocity when throwing a spear by artificially extending the throwing arm.

Several thousand more years passed. Innumerable Indigenous nations, groups, tribes, and clans existed – each with their own territory, each with their own unique language and dialects, spiritual beliefs, and rich cultural traditions. In the area of North America that would become Canada, population estimates range between 350,000 and 2,000,000 Indigenous Peoples. Some estimates are even higher.

Then the French arrived in the 1500s looking for the short route to China. After establishing a trading relationship with the Wendat nation (pronounced when-dat), the French would learn how to make cedar tea to keep scurvy at bay, how to fashion snowshoes, and how to build canoes to use the rivers and lakes for transportation. The French called the Wendat “Huron”, meaning “boar’s head” from the hairstyle of the Indigenous men, or “lout” and “ruffian” in old French – all derogatory.

The territory occupied by the Wendat Confederacy was called Wendake, and translated, it meant: “the land surrounded by water” and was situated in the north part of Simcoe County and ranged between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe and west into Clearview Township. Their hunting territory extended all the way to Lake Ontario and as far east as Kingston. The Wendat told French explorer Samuel de Champlain that their population was 30,000.

Searching for profit-making enterprises, the French zeroed in on the beaver, the fur of which could be transformed into a highly prized, waterproof felt. In Europe, the best and most expensive hats were made of this beaver felt and suddenly, everyone wanted one. In North America the Fur Trade exploded and the French kept coming. 

In January of 1616, Champlain embarked on his last wilderness trek into Wendake before retiring from explorations. Archaeologist Charles Garrad, who made his home in Collingwood, suspected that Champlain was fulfilling his obligation to continue searching for the route to China, but was also seeking to extend the fur trade. That winter, Champlain encountered an Indigenous group living where Creemore would be founded more than two hundred years later.

They were the Tionontati – a group connected to the larger Wendat Confederacy. Champlain probably had difficulty pronouncing their name, so he referred to them simply as Petun (pee-tun) in his writings – a word that meant “tobacco” – even though this nation’s dominant crop was corn. Tionontati (tee-oh-non-tah-tee) is the more accurate name.

The Tionontati population at the time of Champlain’s visit has been estimated to be 10,000 spread across numerous villages and camps in Clearview Township. Their settlements followed a migration northwest from Creemore following the Niagara Escarpment to Blue Mountain and the Scenic Caves. The Tionontati left many ossuaries (burial sites) behind containing the remains of their family members and loved ones.

This meeting with Champlain – on Tionontati territory – has become a much-celebrated event in our area; articles and chapters in books have been written, plaques and markers exist to commemorate this conjunction of two cultures. In most of them, Champlain is depicted as a historical celebrity who once visited our area.

But there is a somber, darker aspect to this event. Like a curse, Champlain’s visit to Tionontati territory would lead directly to their decimation. All he did was put the name “Petun” on a map… so others could find them. 

Father Charles Garnier, a Jesuit, having learned of the existence of the Tionontati and knowing how to find them thanks to Champlain’s maps, travelled into their territory in April of 1637. He visited all their villages and established the first of many missions that would cling to the Tionontati over the years like a parasite.

The French Jesuits were unwaveringly obedient to the Papacy, and they had one goal: to bring lost souls to Christianity and to teach the way to Heaven. In other words, their aim was the conversion, assimilation, and dismantling of Indigenous culture. And not unlike today’s religious extremists, they were prepared to die for their mission.

The Jesuits inserted themselves into Tionontati life, learned their language and customs, and then went to work imposing their Catholic religion. Any Tionontati who chose baptism and converted to Christianity were rewarded with more favourable gifts in exchange for furs and they were given highly prized firearms. The converts were ordered by the missionaries to abandon their beliefs, their songs, and their traditions. They were forbidden to participate in ceremonies and had to physically separate themselves from the rest of their people. Families were torn apart. Clans were fractured. Internal conflicts erupted. Tionontati culture began to crack and crumble. This methodology would reappear 200 years later in the Canadian Residential School System.

Garnier was not just spreading Christianity; he was spreading disease. Within weeks of his appearance, the Tionontati caught smallpox. It began with fever and vomiting. Ulcers formed in their mouths. Angry skin rashes manifested and developed into blisters which eventually burst and spread the virus to new victims. Survivors were left with horrific, permanent scars, especially on their faces. Some victims were left blind. As the Tionontati populations crashed, the Wendat suffered the same fate.

Around 1640, the Haudenosaunee (hoe-de-no-show-nee) whose home territory was south of Lake Ontario, began pushing north to make war against their weakened enemy – the Wendat. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois is the French colonial name) hated the French, but they despised the Wendat more.

The Haudenosaunee launched a series of devastating attacks in 1649. This was the time of the martyrdom of Jesuit missionaries Jean de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemant, and the burning of Saint-Marie. On December 7 of that year, the Haudenosaunee attacked the Tionontati village called Etharita (located at present-day Duntroon) where Father Garnier was embedded. He was cut down just outside his chapel from Haudenosaunee musket fire and finished off with a hatchet. The 600 Tionontati families there were killed, captured, and tortured.

In the wake of the Haudenosaunee onslaught, the Wendat fled from their territory. They gained assistance from the Anishinaabeg Confederacy (ah-ni-shi-na-beg) in the northern Great Lakes region.

The few surviving Tionontati, starving, sick, and with the surety of war with the now-occupying Haudenosaunee, packed up and left their territory – what is now Clearview Township – in 1650. This resilient group consisted largely of Tionontati with some Wendat who had refused to flee or to be captured by the Haudenosaunee. Thirty-four years after meeting Champlain, the Tionontati were gone.

The Haudenosaunee became the dominant Indigenous inhabitants of southern Ontario. They captured and absorbed their enemies to replenish their numbers as they too had been ravaged by European diseases. Several villages were established on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Their territory ranged into the land that would become Clearview Township. Their presence here – only 50 years – had a lasting impact. “Nottawasaga” – the familiar name of a river, a bay, a school, a former township, a name used by numerous local businesses and associations – is an Anishinaabeg phrase meaning “place where Haudenosaunee come out”.

By the early 1700s, the Haudenosaunee had made peace with the French. Their homeland south of Lake Ontario was under threat by the Thirteen Colonies (which would become the United States). The Haudenosaunee retreated. At the same time, they were pushed out by the Anishinaabeg (Chippewa) who migrated into the now vacant territory and established settlements on the lands north of Lake Ontario – specifically Simcoe County and Clearview Township. 

On October 17, 1818, Chippewa Chiefs Musquakie, Kaqueticum, Maskigonce and Manitonobie, surrendered their territory – 1.592 million acres – to the British Crown under Treaty No. 18 in exchange for a yearly sum of 12,000 pounds of goods (clothing and tools) to be paid in perpetuity. This method of small annual payments saved the government money. After the land had been exchanged for the first small amount, it was then surveyed, parcelled, and sold to settlers. Interest payments on their purchases were used to cover the annuity.

By 1832, Nottawasaga Township had its name and was open for settlers. After the land was cleared and ploughed, many of the sacred Tionontati ossuaries were discovered, looted, destroyed, or damaged by those early pioneers.

The Indian Department controlled the annuity money and used it to construct farming communities for the Anishinaabeg – as a means of assimilating them into Euro-Canadian society – and created the first reserves far away from White settlements near Coldwater. In 1836, the government, under Lieutenant-Governor Francis Bond Head, coerced the Chiefs into surrendering those reserve lands so they too could be sold off to settlers. Today, the Anishinaabeg descendants reside at Beausoleil Island, Georgina Island, and at Chippewas of Rama First Nation.

One piece of the story remains. What happened to the Tionontati/Wendat group who fled the area in 1650 – the survivors of Champlain’s Curse – the victims of attempted assimilation, disease, war, and displacement? Their migration south to safer lands lasted many years. The descendants of the Tionontati are now known as the Wyandotte Nation and make their home today in Oklahoma, Kansas, and the Detroit Valley. It is their ancestors’ remains that are buried in the ossuaries in Clearview Township – their homeland and traditional territory.

Christopher Dodd is a teacher and screenwriter, with a mind for social justice. He was raised in Creemore and resides in the area.