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We would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which we stand. It has been the site of human activity for thousands of years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Haudenosaunee and most recently, the Anishinaabe peoples. Toronto is in the ‘Dish with One Spoon Territory’. The Dish with One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect.
An approximately 1.8 km walk on a mostly paved route from St. Paul's Basilica to the Don River via Corktown Commons.
This walk was developed by Rivers Rising Ambassadors Sarena Johnson, Darlene King and Leah Lem, Helen Mills of Lost Rivers, Rhonda Teitel-Payne of Toronto Urban Growers, and Nolan Scharper, volunteer.
Take a walk on the land where Crookshank Creek and Sumac Creek once flowed into the Don River delta. Along the way learn about the connection between the potato famine, Corktown and the Choctaw Nation; visit the site of the Blackburn’s home and hear a riveting tale of escape from slavery; discover how activists have worked for 20 years to Bring Back the Don; discover art and people in the new Corktown Neighbourhood, and find out why Corktown Common Park is much more than just a park.
This web map has been developed as a pilot project for Geohistory/Géohistoire, the Canadian Historical GIS Partnership Development Project geohist.ca.on behalf of the Lost Rivers of Toronto Project lostrivers.ca.
The historical map overlay used here for reference is the 1882 McMurrich “Plan of the City of Toronto”. This map is neither as precise topographically as the later Department of Military and Defence series, nor as detailed as Goad’s “Atlas of the City of Toronto” series, nor as old as Tremaine’s “Map of the County of York, Canada West” (1860) or the Miles & Company “Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of York” (1878). McMurrich’s map is a compromise between these poles.