Indigenous and Settler Perspectives of Risks and Rewards on Toronto Island

Abstract

<p><em>Indigenous and Settler Perspectives of Risks and Rewards on Toronto Island </em>is a study of land and water relationships in the places we now know as Toronto and Toronto Island. The study draws on the true understanding of treaties and treaty rights from an Indigenous perspective. It shows how some consultation practices that colonial governance frameworks use today have incorporated Indigenous Knowledges but they still have a far way to go before truly recognizing Indigenous self-determination and the need for Indigenous Peoples to be seen as inherent rightsholders, especially in land management and Great Lakes water governance. The study focuses on the understanding of land and water from Indigenous perspectives and suggests modes of incorporating these understandings to address major issues that affect Toronto Island and Toronto Harbour, including water quality, contamination, and flooding due to over-development in the Great Lakes Basin. This thesis takes a two-eyed seeing approach wherein fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with Indigenous knowledge-keepers and Toronto Island residents or water quality experts. The questions addressed the social construction of environmental risks and rewards by asking about the Toronto Purchase, Great Lakes water quality, and land use on Toronto Island. The knowledge learned from the qualitative interviews is contextualized in a historical analysis to help frame treaty rights, water governance and relationships with lands and waters from a story-telling perspective to amplify Indigenous voices in the sciences and explain the importance of Indigenous self-determination to enhance land and water management processes.</p>