Comment 342 – comments and feedback

Peter Trinz

Re: Written submission concerning changes to boundaries and the renaming of the Parkdale-High Park riding

Dear Ms Puddy,

I appreciate the amount and complexity of work that is being done by the Commission, and I would like to thank them for extending the deadline for written submissions. I only learned of the redistribution timelines in a recent newsletter from our local MP, but unfortunately it was received too late to submit a Public Participation Hearing Form. In its stead, the following is my written submission:

With respect to the Parkdale-High Park riding, I have no issue with the minor changes to the riding boundaries, as achieving voter parity throughout the province as much as reasonably possible is an important goal. However, I strongly object to the renaming of the riding to Taiaiako'n-High Park for the following two reasons:

1. The current name of Parkdale-High Park accurately reflects the two main neighbourhoods that comprise the riding, and so it is perfectly precise and practical. Why change it?

2. Taiaiako'n was the name of an 'ancient Mohawk-Seneca town site' ^{note 1} within the boundaries of the riding. Considering the historical background of the Senecas (one of the nations of the Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy) in this area, incorporating this name into the riding astonishingly would celebrate the Senecas' active involvement in a dreadful and ghastly era in the history of this region.

   The lands on the northern shores of Lake Ontario were actually the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa and the Wendat peoples, whereas the Seneca and the rest of the nations within the Haudenosaunee were from what is now upstate New York. The Beaver Wars were a series of conflicts during the 17th century, which pitted the Haudenosaunee against the Hurons and northern Algonquians. During this time, the Haudenosaunee were extremely aggressive and 'effectively destroyed several large tribal confederacies, including the Mohicans, Huron (Wyandot), Neutral, Erie, Susquehannock (Conestoga), and northern Algonquins, with the extreme brutality and exterminatory nature of the mode of warfare practised by the Iroquois causing some historians to label these wars as acts of genocide committed by the Iroquois Confederacy.' ^{note 2 note 3}

   The Senecas were party to these genocidal conflicts, and their brutal conquest of this area from other Indigenous nations does not warrant the glorification of this part of their history that the renaming of this riding after one of their settlements would represent.

I understand that as part of our Truth and Reconciliation efforts, there is a lot that Canada needs to make up for. In our efforts to atone for historical wrongs, some parts of Indigenous history are romanticized, and we are sometimes too hasty to actually fully research the complete story in order to make the right choices.

Upon a fuller understanding of this region's history, I do not believe any reasonable person would think that using the Taiaiako'n name for this riding is appropriate.

Respectfully yours,

Peter Trinz
Resident of Parkdale-High Park

Notes

Back to note 1 Taiaiako'n Historical Preservation Society website as at October 2022

Back to note 2 Wikipedia 'Beaver Wars'

Back to note 3 Blick, Jeremy P. (3 August 2010). "The Iroquois practice of genocidal warfare (1534–1787)". Journal of Genocide Research. 3 (3): 405–429. doi:10.1080/14623520120097215. S2CID 71358963.