Indigenous Peoples Day: Honoring Indigenous History in Huron County
- Sage Milne
- Jun 23
- 4 min read
By: Julie Wein, Research Assistant
June 21st, 2025 is National Indigenous Peoples' Day is a day to recognize, celebrate, and honour the history and culture of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples across Canada. Show your support by listening to Indigenous voices and learning their stories.
The History
Indigenous presence in Huron County stretches back at least 13,000 years, to the end of the last Ice Age. Huron County served as a bridge point between northern and southern Indigenous Peoples. Access to Lake Huron enabled travel, trade, and connection. Huron County is the home of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples and sits in the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi nations). Check out this map to see the territories in our community.
The Three Fires Confederacy created a powerful political, cultural, and defense alliance that prioritized the collective wellbeing of both the people and the earth. The “Dish with One Spoon” wampum is a law created between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples that reflects peace, shared territory, and mutual responsibility to care for the land and each other. Indigenous communities in Huron County lived in harmony with their environment, practicing stewardship that ensured equilibrium between people, land, and animals.
European Contact
This balance was disrupted after contact with European explorers and missionaries in the 1600s. In 1827, the Huron Tract treaty led to the surrender of 2.2 million acres to the Crown, opening the area to European settlement. Colonization brought disease, warfare, displacement, and forced assimilation. Indigenous peoples were removed from the land they relied on for hunting, fishing, and gathering, and relocated to reserves. Widespread agriculture, deforestation, and overhunting by settlers quickly destroyed the Indigenous way of life to prioritize the Europeans.
The Indian Act of 1876, the residential school system, and the reserve system were tools of cultural destruction, designed to control and assimilate Indigenous Peoples. The “Indian Problem” was a concept created to justify the erasure of Indigenous identity. Indigenous Peoples were seen as uncivil and a barrier to national progress. Indigenous Peoples were a problem that needed to be solved. Children were taken from their families, punished for speaking their languages, and taught to feel shame about their heritage. Indigenous culture was demonized, an idea that still persists today. Policies such as the Indian Act of 1876 have created cycles of intergenerational trauma and severed ties to traditional knowledge, cultural practices, and food systems.
Current Canadian Landscape
Gateway CERH recognizes the ways that colonialism impact Indigenous health and wellbeing. Among adults living on the reserve, 41.4% are obese and 14.6% report Type 2 diabetes (First Nations Regional Health Survey, 2015-16). These rates are three to five times higher than the non-Indigenous population and is a result of the erosion of traditional diets. Higher rates of poverty and inadequate access to a balanced food selection create barriers to a healthy diet.
Mental health outcomes are similarly impacted. First Nation suicide rates are nearly six times the national average for youth and eleven times higher for Inuit youth (Indigenous Services, 2018), and rates of daily smoking and binge drinking are significantly elevated (Sikorski, Leatherdale, & Cooke, 2019). What may appear as personal struggles are, in reality, a manifestation of a system that has neglected Indigenous wellbeing and failed to address the deep wounds on intergenerational trauma.
This trauma is catalyzed by a lack of support and barriers to accessing care. 20.3% of First Nations and 56.5% of Inuit adults do not have a regular healthcare provider. Much higher than the 14.5% among non-Indigenous Canadians (Statistics Canada, 2023). In rural or remote communities, Indigenous Peoples are more likely to rely on emergency departments or walk-in clinics for their care. Even when Indigenous People receive care around 1-in-5 report experiencing unfair treatment by a healthcare professional (Statistics Canada, 2024). Indigenous People face unique health challenges and face barriers to culturally safe care.
As we continue to seek reconciliation for the millions of Indigenous Canadians more services for Indigenous people have been created. Check out this resource from the Government of Canada with services, careers, and information on Indigenous health. The Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre is a place where Indigenous people can seek wholistic health and wellness with traditional methods. As well, check out this list of Health Centres and Programs for Indigenous Peoples from the Southwest Healthline.
Indigenous people continue to fight the oppression that has plagued generations to reclaim and revitalize their identity. Today, and each day moving forward, seek out Indigenous voices for understanding about the systemic barriers they face, and commit to building a Canada where every person has the opportunity to live well, with dignity, equity, and belonging.
Check out these resources!
ReconciliACTION: Online workshop with Brenda MacIntyre – Medicine Song Woman
June 21st 1-2:30. Register to participate for free https://www.huroncounty.ca/cultural-services/reconciliaction/
10,000 Years in 20 Minutes: A Brief History of Indigenous People in Huron County Prior to European Settlement - Research paper by R. Jordan George and Ralph Blasting https://www.bayfieldhistorical.ca/indigenous-history
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground: Essay Collection by Alicia Elliot - At the Huron County Library https://huron.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S192C4117436
Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/
Indigenous Connections: Learn about the cultures, traditions, and experiences of Indigenous people caring for the land - Parks Canada YouTube Page
Works Cited
Bayfield Historical Society. (n.d.). History of Indigenous people in Huron County. Bayfield Historical Society. Retrieved June 14, 2025, from https://www.bayfieldhistorical.ca/indigenous-history
First Nations Information Governance Centre. (2018). National Report of the First Nations Regional Health Survey Phase 3: Volume One. https://fnigc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/fnigc_rhs_phase_3_volume_1_en_final_sm.pdf
Statistics Canada. (2019, June 28). Suicide among First Nations people, Métis and Inuit (2011–2016): Findings from the 2011 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2019006/article/00001-eng.htm
Statistics Canada. (2021, September 29). Cigarette smoking, 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210929/dq210929b-eng.htm
Statistics Canada. (2023, March 31). Access to a regular health care provider, 2017 to 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230331/dq230331c-eng.htm
Statistics Canada. (2024, February 20). Experiences of discrimination in health care settings among Indigenous Peoples in Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240220/dq240220b-eng.htm
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