Indigenous heritage in Ontario

The Ontario Heritage Trust is honoured to show respect for the long history of First Nations and Métis peoples in what is now called Ontario. We acknowledge that the land that we steward, the land on which we gather, share and learn together, has been home to many Indigenous nations over thousands of years and is the traditional and ancestral territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Cree and Wendat peoples.

Indigenous peoples have been here for more than 10,000 years, and their ways of life and knowing – from advanced social and economic systems, to structures of law and democracy, and deeply rooted traditional knowledge – existed for millennia before Europeans ever saw the shores of North America.

Today, the Ontario Heritage Trust strives to support Indigenous communities in continuing to preserve their language, traditional ways of life and sacred spaces. We also strive to educate others on the history and heritage of Indigenous peoples in what is now Ontario, expanding the historical narrative and listening and paying respect to the wisdom of Elders and Knowledge Keepers.