Visions of longhouses amid the gardens
Jane’s Walk highlights early aboriginal life in Kitchener
KITCHENER — Between the manicured flower beds of Victoria Park, close to the park pavilion and the memorial to workers killed on the job, lies a discreet bronze plaque that tells an astonishing story.
The plaque tells the story of Tuhbenahneequay, the daughter of an Anishinaabe chief, who camped in the area with her children and extended family at the turn of the 19th century.
On Saturday, a group of more than a dozen people stood in the rain beside the plaque, hearing the details of her story and the story of her people, who wintered in the area near the park for millennia.
They were taking part in a Jane’s Walk, one of dozens of free, volunteer-run walks that took place throughout Waterloo Region this past weekend. The walks, named in honour of urbanist Jane Jacobs, encourage people to get out and explore and share stories about their community. Walks were organized this weekend around the world in nearly 200 cities across six continents.
Although the steady rain on Saturday caused a few cancellations, most walks in the region went ahead.
Retired schoolteacher Anne Cameron led the Victoria Park walk, entitled “Aboriginal Life Until 1840 in Victoria Park.” The chance discovery of the plaque led her on a quest to find out more about the first peoples who lived in what is now Kitchener, she said. She had hoped to find an aboriginal partner to help her run the walk, but wasn’t able to find a volunteer in time, she said.
The manicured parkland was once the land of the Anishinaabe, also known as the Mississauga Ojibwa or the Neutral Indians, since they chose not to align themselves with either the British or the Americans in their disputes, Cameron told the group. “They kept the peace,” she said.
Their territory, now centred around the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, once extended nearly 10 kilometres on either side of the Grand River, from Lake Erie all the way to what is now Mount Forest.
Victoria Park was a regular winter campground, because its marshes were a source of both water and fish, and deer were also attracted to the cedars that grew in the area. The Anishinaabe used pronged spears and weirs to catch the fish, Cameron said.
They still camped here regularly when Joseph Schneider built his home, the oldest surviving building in Kitchener, near what became the park. Louise Schneider, who was born in 1847, remembered the Mississauga bringing gifts of baskets and beads every New Year’s Day.
The city’s oldest road, Mill Street, was the trail beside Schneider Creek used for centuries by the Anishinaabe as they moved from their camps, Cameron said.
A large village, of long houses, once stood where Highland Courts Park, near Highland and Spadina roads, is today.
Sharon Sommerville said the walk’s theme appealed to her interest in history. “We always hear about the colonial history, the arrival of the Europeans. I thought it would be really interesting to hear what happened before that.”