Chief Wabakinine (before 1780–August 1796), also spelled Wabacoming, Wabicanine, or Waipykanine, was a

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

chief and warrior.

Life

By the mid-1790s, Wabakinine was the head chief of all the Mississaugas along the western coast of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. He was a signatory on many early land surrenders in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, 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 the Province of Queb ...

, including the Niagara Purchase of 1781, another agreement in 1784 for the lands surrounding Lake Ontario, and a 1795 document granting another 3,500 acres to

The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

Death

In 1796 after travelling to

York, Upper Canada York was a town and the second capital of the colony of Upper Canada. It is the predecessor to the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto (1834–1998). It was established in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as a "temporary" location fo ...

, to sell salmon, Wabakinine camped with his band on the peninsula. In the middle of the night, a soldier of the

Queen's York Rangers The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC) is a Canadian Army Primary Reserve regiment of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. Based in Toronto and Aurora, Ontario, the regiment is part of 4th Canadian Division's 32 Canadian Brigade Gro ...

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Charles McEwan, accompanied by two other men, attempted to pull Wabakinine's sister from her bed. Earlier that evening, McEwan had offered her rum and a dollar to sleep with him. Intoxicated, Wabakinine tried to defend his sister before he was viciously beaten with a rock by McEwan. The men proceeded to beat Wabakinine's wife leaving them both with fatal injuries near what is now

St. Lawrence Market St. Lawrence Market is a major market (place), public market in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located along Front Street (Toronto), Front Street East and Jarvis Street in the St. Lawrence, Toronto, St. Lawrence neighbourhood of downtown Toront ...

. Wabakinine died the following day and his wife the day after.

Aftermath

Wabakinine was a peacemaker and leader of a large band of Mississaugas; his death greatly increased the already rising tensions between Crown officials and

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

. After hearing of Wabakinine's death, Mohawk chief

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

sent a

wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western ...

belt to First Nation chiefs on the Upper Lakes, inviting them to the Grand River in the following summer for discussions with Crown officials. Eventually, as the Mississaugas were too weak to act on their own, they gave up thoughts of launching a rebellion to avenge Wabakinine's death. McEwan was detained and was allowed to flee Upper Canada thus evading trial relating to the death of Wabakinine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wabakinine 18th-century births 1796 deaths Year of birth unknown Mississauga people 18th-century Canadian people