The Indigenous Fellowship of Hamilton Road and the Mushkeeki Gitigan is located in Southwestern Ontario. While Southwestern Ontario is a vast territory. London is surrounded by three First Nations communities: Oneida Nation of the Thames, Chippewa of the Thames and Muncey-Delaware Nation. The Metis peoples of Ontario also reside in the Southwestern Ontario region.
Muncey-Delaware First Nation Reserve No. 1
Munsee-Delaware also call themselves Lenni Lenape and are one of several subgroups of Delaware, the Unalachtigo, the Unami, and the Minisink; later known as the Munsee. The Munsee-Delaware settled along the Thames River in the late 1700’s at the close of the American Revolution. Today they are creating employment for their youth by tapping into the emerging green energy industry within the region. The Nation operates a tree farm, Munsee Tree Corporation, which provides carbon credits for the market place. Other projects on the horizon include a mixed waste facility which will generate 15 MW of electricity, a solar farm, and associated training programs.
Membership is 547
http://www.sfns.on.ca/munsee-delaware-nation.html
Chippewa of the Thames First Nation Reserve No 42
We are the Anishinaabeg of the territory of Deshkan Ziibiing, also known as Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. We call ourselves Anishinabek which means the original people. Known as the Ojibway, who are a band of the Algonquin language family who originally migrated to the Great Lakes area from the north-eastern region of North America. Our political alliances are with the Odawa (Ottawa) and Bodaywadami (Pottawatomi) who together form the Three Fires Confederacy.
Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation Reserve No 41
Oneida Nation of the Thames holds a unique position among the First Nation communities in Canada, in that we purchased our lands and arrived as settlers form New York State. Our original homelands are in the Madison County area of New York and well beyond. However, following the American Revolution, the Governor of NY, saw fit to reward returning American soldiers with parcels of Oneida lands. Documented from living memory of stories handed down (orature), money was thrown at the feet of Oneidas by the NY officials, telling them that this was payment for their lands and they should leave the state. Arrangements were quickly made between Oneida Castle and the Land Commission of Upper Canada to purchase the land in Delaware township along the banks of the Thames where we now reside in collective ownership. Two hundred forty men women and children arrived to the settlement in 1840 and each paid $42 to settle here. The settlement later became Reserve No. 41, after the Oneidas were unable to pay the huge debt of backtaxes most of which had been accumulated by the previous owners. Todays population is about 5700.
Membership is 6270
“We, the Métis are a people of the lands which gave rise to our history and tradition and culture. We call these lands the Métis Homelands. The Homelands stretch from the lakes and rivers of Ontario; cross the wide prairies; traverse the mountains into British Columbia and into the far reaches of the Northwest Territories. They include the hills and valleys of the north-central American States. These are our lands. They are Métis lands. They are the lands of our past which nurture us today and which we value as the precious foundation of our future.”