Treaty

On September 9, 1850, the Chiefs and Principal Men of the Ojibway Nations "inhabiting and claiming the Eastern and Northern Shores of Lake Huron", and William B. Robinson, on behalf of the Queen of England, entered into a treaty known as the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850.

The third item in the Schedule of Reservations to that Treaty states:

"Kitcheposkissegan (by Papaisance) from Point Grondine westward, six miles inland by two miles in front, so as to include the small Lake Nessinassung - a tract for themselves and their bands". 4.

Thirty-eight Chiefs and principal men signed the Treaty. The Commissioners were fully aware that the Ojibwas were the only occupants of the land, and furthermore they also noted that each band had its own Chief and territory, and that no purchase of any band's land was considered valid without the consent of that bands Chief 5. . This is when the Point Grondine land area was established and the controversy over its actual size or area originated.

The reservation referred to in the third item, the Point Grondine Indian Reservation No. 3, was surveyed in 1851. But even before the surveyors arrived at Point Grondine, a Petition was sent by two Chiefs to the Governor General in Montreal. Chief Wagemake of the French River Ojibways and Papaisance, who signed the treaty on behalf of Chief Kitcheposkissegun, wrote:

"Great Father - in describing our reserves, we did not understand the distance of miles, but we gave certain points and we hoped that in the survey those boundaries will be adhered to and not the imaginary space which a term conveys to us although well known to you. Great Father - we will point out to the surveyor the lake we mentioned and from inquiry of the whites we find would be further than we said". 6.

John Keating had been an agent of the Indian Department at Walpole Island, he had been dismissed for incompetence and corruption, nevertheless, William Robinson enlisted John Keating to help with the making of the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850. Also at this time John Keating was part owner of a sawmill located a short distance up the Beaverstone River, and it was Keating who drew up the schedule to the treaty. His letter to the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs on November 21, 1851, explains that:

". . . I was present at the Treaty, towards the completion of which I can safely say that I was not a little instrumental & wrote down for the Chiefs the very description under which [Surveyor Dennis] acts. . ." 7.

John Keating learned the Ojibway language in southern Ontario, and the Ojibway people around Lake Huron were dealing primarily with the French-Canadian voyageurs. This led to differences of certain terms. For treaty purposes, the most important was the Ojibway word for “a measure”, or a “distance”. In the south the Ojibway word meant the English “mile” to the Ojibway and to John Keating. In the north the same word meant a “league”. It’s possible the Chiefs described the reservations by giving geographic boundaries, and for distances used “leagues”, Keating instead of writing down “leagues,” wrote “miles”. 8. This proved to be a fatal mistake in measurement, and the Point Grondine as a result became much smaller than it should have been. Chief John L’Illinois of Fort William (now Thunder Bay) stated in 1859 that:

"Mr. Keating was secretary, and instead of making it six leagues he made it six miles". 9.

Also, at this time John Stoughton Dennis was following instructions to survey the Lake Huron and Lake Superior Reservations. In September 1851 his survey party met with Chief Kitcheposkissegun near Killarney. They camped where John Keating and his partner Davies, had their sawmill, “a short distance up a small river”, the Beaverstone River. The following day on September 11, 1850.

". . .the chief leading the way arrived in the afternoon in a small bay on North Shore Main Land about 5 miles easterly of west extremity of Point Grondine where the Chief says it was his intention the East limit of his Reserve should be drawn.

[The next morning], after the old man had spoken he laid the first of a pile of stones where the line intersects the main land on the North shore of the said Bay, the rest of the pile being laid by the men under my instructions. . .". 10.

Survey notes and records show that Chief Kitcheposkissegun did not go with Dennis and the survey party to the interior of Point Grondine. He was an Elder, and the country was rough. He had expected that the surveyors would follow his instructions, and do what he had expected in the treaty. He specifically pointed out where the line should go, and how it should take in Lake Nessinassung, (Mahzenazing). Also, Chief Kitcheposkissegun did not see the results of the survey. 11.

John Stoughton Dennis was encountering serious objections to his surveys, when he returned to Toronto, he reported to the Government, asking for someone to be sent with him on the next year’s survey expedition to clarify conflicts between what the Chiefs wanted and the words of the Treaty document. The person appointed to assist him was John Keating. The problems continued well into 1852, when at this time John Keating and John Stoughton Dennis both agreed that, in all cases where the word miles occurs the Indians intended leagues, and in January 1853, an Order in Council of the Provincial Government allowed Keating and Dennis to rectify the errors they had made and make adjustments accordingly to bring them into line with what the Chiefs really wanted, but they did not include Point Grondine.

In 1854 a principal man of the Point Grondine sent a sketch to the provincial government through Indian Agent, George Ironside who wrote that:

"The object of these people is to explain that the tract of land as laid out last summer by Mr. Dennis for their reserve does not take in the quantity of land which it was their intention, at the time of the treaty, to have retained."

The government’s reply was that the band had received more than what was called for in the treaty, ignoring the fact that Chief Kitcheposkissegun’s place of residence was at a small village at the mouth of the Chikanishing River near Killarney, which included log homes and cultivated gardens.. 12.

After their complaint was rejected in 1854, the Chief’s gave up trying to rectify their reserve boundary for awhile. Chief Kitcheposkissegun died in 1858.

Records show that it appears that each white person connected with the treaties had a serious conflict of interest in this matter.

• William Robinson had subscribed for one of the mining locations in 1849, and was superintendent of works for the copper mines at Bruce Mines.

• John Keating was involved in timber operations, and was part owner of a sawmill at the Beaverstone River.

• John Stoughton Dennis, the surveyor, bought the right to cut timber from the Chief of the French River Ojibways in 1851, even as he was surveying that reservation... 13.

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Archaeological and Historical Survey of Point Grondine