Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation [Toronto Purchase claim]

The Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation has approximately 1,548 members, about one-third of whom live on the 2,392 hectares of reserve land located adjacent to Hagersville, Ontario, about 32 kilometres southeast of Brantford.

This claim pertains to the Crown’s purchase in 1805 of 250,880 acres of land from the River Credit Mississaugas. Through the purchase, the Mississaugas surrendered much of what is now Metropolitan Toronto, including the Toronto Islands.

Submitted in 1986, the claim was rejected by Canada in 1993. In February 1998, the ICC was asked to conduct an inquiry into Canada’s decision to reject the claim. During the course of the inquiry, the First Nation revised its allegations and submitted additional research. In response to this development, Canada conducted a legal review of the revised submission and new evidence and determined that the claim disclosed an outstanding lawful obligation. In July 2002, Canada accepted the claim for negotiation.

A federal negotiator was appointed to lead Canada’s negotiating team later that year, and in May 2003, the ICC began providing facilitation services to the parties at their request. As of March 2006, the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and Canada agreed to postpone further negotiations pending the outcome of elections both federally and at the band level.

To view the summary of ICC's concluded inquiry into this claim