"Sale of Toronto Was Probably 'Deal of the Century'"

It probably was the deal of the century - at least for Britain.

The Mississaugas of the Credit sold Toronto for a "ludicrious" price in The Toronto Purchase of 1787, Donald B. Smith, author of Sacred Feathers; The Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby) and the Mississauga Indians, said Wednesday.

He told about 60 people at the Woodland Indian Cultural Educational Centre that the land was 22 1/2 kilometres along the waterfront, from Etobicoke Creek in the west to just east of the Don River, and north about 45 kilometres to what is now Aurora.

The price was a shipment of arms, ammunition, tobacco and, 18 years later, 18 shillings (equal to about $1).

The band didn't understand Britain's value on land or its system of owning land, said Mr. Smith, a professor of Canadian history at the University of Calgary, who was promoting his book.

The band believed that land belongs to the whole community and individuals only use it, he said. Britain would be only a "tenant," it thought, and could use the land only if it "behaved."

The band also was interested in what Britain wanted to trade for use of the land. It had become accustomed to the country's goods and wanted more, Mr. Smith said.

And with only 1,000 people, compared with 5,000 Loyalists, it figured it was too weak to resist, he added.

So the band signed.

There still is debate about whether or not the Toronto Islands were included in the original agreement.

Britain told the band in 1805 that the transfer had not been properly executed and should be done again. Now the band says there is evidence it signed a blank agreement, assuming the land and the terms would remain the same. But the amount of land increased and the terms changed, it says.

Whatever happened, it didn't bother Britain, Mr. Smith said. "Indians were regarded as inferiors. They weren't white and they weren't Christian. Therefore they didn't have the same rights."

The band's population was devastated by disease and war and Britain thought, "What's the point? They're going to be extinct anyway," said Mr. Smith.

Now the band can't officially claim the Toronto Islands because the federal government refuses to recognize claims resulting from events before Confederation.

That's wrong, Mr. Smith said. This government inherits responsibility for the action of the previous government. "It's a continuation. You can't just shut off at 1867."

That dubious deal is one of the reasons Mr. Jones, the subject of the biography, fought so hard to gain legal title for the band to 4,000 acres in Mississauga, Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Jones presented a petition to Queen Victoria in 1838 urging her to grant the band title. Twenty-five band members signed the petition.

The band's current claim to 54 acres in Mississauga is part of that land. It also claims another 146 acres from the same tract, but the claim results from events before Confederation.

Mr. Jones was the Joseph Brant of the Mississaugas because he was a prominent but controversial leader, Mr. Smith said.

The bilingual, bicultural son of a native woman from the Mississaguas and the surveyor Augustus Jones, Mr. Jones converted to Christianity and started the "cultural revolution" that converted the rest of the band to both Christianity and farming.

Mr. Smith called him the bridge over the gap between native and European societies. Band members who felt all they could do was adjust to the inevitable changes followed him. Those who wanted to maintain traditional culture opposed him.

Lloyd King, a 71-year-old retired teacher from the New Credit Reserve, likes him. Mr. King is a fifth generation descendant of Augustus Jones.

"I was told right from the start that my ancestor was Augustus Jones," Mr. King said. "I always knew who he was and who I was."

Mr. Smith spent 18 years researching and writing the book and is currently working on Mississagua Portraits, a collection of biographies about other people in the band's history. He expects it will be published in 1990.