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Ignace Tonené (1840/1841 – 1916), also known as Nias and Maiagizis, was a
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...
employee, a fur trader, a gold prospector, and the chief of the
Teme-Augama Anishnabai The Teme-Augama Anishnabai (from the Anishinaabe ''Dimii'aagamaa Anishinaabe'', "the deep water people") is the Indigenous Anishinaabe community of the Temagami First Nation. The Teme-Augama Anishnabai have trapped and hunted animals in the Temag ...
community. Tonené was the elected deputy chief before being the lead chief and later the life chief of his community. In his role as deputy, he negotiated with the federal and provincial governments for his community to receive annual financial support from them. His attempts to secure land reserves for his community were thwarted by Ontario premier
Oliver Mowat Sir Oliver Mowat (July 22, 1820 – April 19, 1903) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and Ontario Liberal Party leader. He served for nearly 24 years as the third premier of Ontario. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Ontario and one of ...
. Tonené's gold prospecting triggered a 1906 staking rush and his own stake led to the creation of the Kerr Addison gold mine, although his stake was stolen from him by European settlers.


Early life

Tonené was born in 1840 or 1841 near
Lake Temagami Lake Temagami, formerly spelled as Lake Timagami, is a lake in Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada, situated approximately 80 km north of North Bay. The lake's name comes from ''dimii-agamiing'' "tih-MEE-uh-guh-MEENG", which me ...
in the
Teme-Augama Anishnabai The Teme-Augama Anishnabai (from the Anishinaabe ''Dimii'aagamaa Anishinaabe'', "the deep water people") is the Indigenous Anishinaabe community of the Temagami First Nation. The Teme-Augama Anishnabai have trapped and hunted animals in the Temag ...
community of the
Temagami First Nation The Temagami First Nation is located on Bear Island in the heart of Lake Temagami. The island is the second largest in Lake Temagami, after Temagami Island. Its community is known as Bear Island 1. Temagami First Nation (TFN) members are status ...
in what British settlers knew as
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of t ...
. He was the eldest son of François Kabimigwune and Marian.


Career and community leadership

Tonené worked for the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...
, delivering mail between its trading posts at
Lake Timiskaming Lake Timiskaming or Lake Temiskaming (french: Lac Témiscamingue) is a large freshwater lake on the provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The lake, which forms part of the Ottawa River, is in length and covers an area of a ...
and
Lake Temagami Lake Temagami, formerly spelled as Lake Timagami, is a lake in Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada, situated approximately 80 km north of North Bay. The lake's name comes from ''dimii-agamiing'' "tih-MEE-uh-guh-MEENG", which me ...
. He also worked at Fort Témiscamingue where he likely learned French.


Temagami leadership

Around 1868, Tonené was elected to succeed his father as the ''anike ogima'' (
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...
: deputy-chief) and he became the head chief in 1878. As the ''anike ogima,'' Tonené raised the issue of his community's exclusion from the 1850 Robinson Treaty between European settlers and
Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
nations around
Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Straits of Ma ...
. Tonené, with two associates, met Charles Skene, a federal Indian agent to explain their concerns about arriving lumberjacks and that they sought an
annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, m ...
and a reserve, since their people's land had not been ceded to the Canadian government. During a January 1st, 1879 speech, Tonené warned his community: “the white men were coming closer and closer every year and the deer and furs were becoming scarcer and scarcer...so that in a few years more Indians could not live by hunting alone.” He continued to press for federal financial support and the creation of a reserve through a series of meetings and letters written both in English and
Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawato ...
, which resulted in an acknowledgement from Lawrence Vankoughnet in 1880 that approximately 2,700 square miles of Temagami land was indeed unceded. Canadian Prime Minister
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
deferred the matter to the Ontario Premier as land claims were provincial government, rather than a federal issue, although in 1883 the
Department of Indian Affairs Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
agreed to an annual payment to the nation comparable to the amount other
first nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: ** First Nat ...
included in the
Robinson-Huron Treaty The Robinson Treaties are two treaties signed between the Ojibwa chiefs and The Crown in 1850 in the Province of Canada. The first treaty involved Ojibwa chiefs along the north shore of Lake Superior, and is known as the Robinson Superior Tre ...
were receiving. In 1884, Tonené convened a tribal council on Bear Island to discuss the potential location for the reserve, which he proposed to be about 100 square miles around
Cross Lake Cross Lake is a lake on the border of Cayuga and Onondaga Counties in New York, United States. The lake lies within the boundaries of the traditional Onondaga Indian Nation, and is reputed in local tradition to be the boyhood home of Hiawatha, t ...
and the south end of
Lake Temagami Lake Temagami, formerly spelled as Lake Timagami, is a lake in Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada, situated approximately 80 km north of North Bay. The lake's name comes from ''dimii-agamiing'' "tih-MEE-uh-guh-MEENG", which me ...
. The community agreed. The federal government agreed to the proposal, but the Ontario premier
Oliver Mowat Sir Oliver Mowat (July 22, 1820 – April 19, 1903) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and Ontario Liberal Party leader. He served for nearly 24 years as the third premier of Ontario. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Ontario and one of ...
, who was known to be hostile to Indigenous
treaty rights In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States the term treaty rights specifically refers to rights for indigenous peoples enumerated in treaties with settler societies that arose from European colonization. Exactly who is indigen ...
, blocked the land transfer. In 1888, after
Oliver Mowat Sir Oliver Mowat (July 22, 1820 – April 19, 1903) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and Ontario Liberal Party leader. He served for nearly 24 years as the third premier of Ontario. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Ontario and one of ...
's refusal to create the reserve, Tonené moved his family to land between Lake Opasatica and Lake Dasserat near Abitibi,
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
. In 1889, he travelled to Bear Island to ask the
Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of ...
for agricultural supplies for his community. During the journey, Tonené fed his family by hunting and trapping and, motivated by the discovery of silver at
Cobalt, Ontario Cobalt is a town in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 1,118 at the 2016 Census. In the early 1900s, the area was heavily mined for silver; the silver ore also contained cobalt. By 1910, the community was the fourth ...
,
prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...
. Tonené's prospecting became so good that the ''Canadian Mining Journal'' credited him with instigating the
Larder Lake Larder Lake is a freshwater lake in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The lake straddles the incorporated (municipal) townships of Larder Lake and McGarry and geographic McFadden Township. It is part of the Saint Lawrence Riv ...
gold rush of 1906. He discovered the ore body that became the Kerr Addison gold mine at
McGarry McGarry is a surname of Irish origin meaning "the son of Fearadhach." It is the 422nd most common surname in Ireland, and 722nd in Scotland. List of people surnamed McGarry *Andrew McGarry (born 1981), English cricketer *Anna McGarry (1894–1978) ...
, but his claim was stolen from him.
Charlie Angus Charles Joseph Angus (born November 14, 1962) is a Canadian author, journalist, broadcaster, musician and politician. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Angus has been the federal Member of Parliament for the riding of Timmins—Jam ...
(2022). ''Cobalt: The Making of a Mining Superpower. Canada'': House of Anansi Press Incorporated.
The '' Indian Act of 1876'' prevented Tonené from hiring a lawyer''.'' Tonené was succeeded as head chief by John Paul, though Tonené continued to hunt and trap in Abitibi country. When John Paul died in 1893, Tonené reverted back into the head chief role, and from 1910 he was the honorary or life chief and the primary advisor to the new head chief, his younger brother Frank White Bear.


Personal life

In the 1870s, Tonené married Angèle, the daughter of former Temagami band chief Nebenegwune. They had two sons and two daughters and she died giving birth to their youngest child in 1869. In 1871, Tonené married Elisabeth Pikossekat of Timiskaming band and they had three daughters. All of Tonené's sons died before adulthood, although his five daughters all lived into adulthood, married and had children.


Death and legacy

Tonené died in 1916 and was buried close to Mount Kanasuta on the Quebec-Ontario border. The location of his burial was later turned into a gravel pit and then a community dump. The lake south of Bear Lake is now known as Chief Tonené Lake.


References


Further reading


''The Bear Island Day School, Anishnaabeg Seasonal Migrations, and Nomadic Colonialism,'' 1903-1950 Robert Olajos, Nipissing University
{{Authority Control 1916 deaths Canadian gold prospectors Indigenous leaders in Ontario People from Temagami Anishinaabe people History of mining in Canada 1840s births Hudson's Bay Company people History of Temagami Mining in Temagami