The modern paths and streets of Mississauga are etched with history.
As you drive or walk through city neighbourhoods, you can pause and think about how you are travelling in the footsteps of thousands of people who, for thousands of years, walked and lived on this land.
That is what the evidence tells us from the over 41,000 artifacts collected from the Antrex archeological site, a two-acre site located in the Britannia neighbourhood near the intersection of Bristol Road and Hurontario Street.
It is one of over 300 archaeological sites within Mississauga.
Here, in this modern residential neighbourhood with its two-storey houses, barbeques and playgrounds, archaeologists uncovered evidence of fire pits, tools, and bone and vegetable remains that date back almost 800 years.
Archeologists call this pre-contact, the period before Europeans arrived.
There were nine longhouses here, the typical communal homes, that sheltered families, usually related through the female or matrilineal line; two middens, or dumpsites; sweat lodges and a burial site.
Between 400 and 500 people are thought to have lived here, walking its streets and gathering in its public areas, ancestors of present-day Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Wyandot Nations.
It was surrounded by a palisade, or wall, to protect its residents, and outside the walls lay extensive fields for growing food.
Indigenous people during this era likely lived here for one generation, about a decade, and would have known it was time to move when the soil began to lose its capacity to bear crops. When that happened, the community would have closed down the village and moved to a new site, likely still within the Credit River watershed.
A historic village underneath a modern neighbourhood.
Elder Carolyn King. (Photo credit: Mississauga’s Legend’s Row)
Elder Carolyn King thinks a lot about how to connect today’s generations with our Indigenous past.
King is the former chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit and has long advocated for developing strong relationships between the Mississaugas and the city that bears their name.
One of her many projects is the Moccasin Identifier Project. Working with Indigenous artist Philip Cote, four moccasin-designed stencils – representing the Anishinaabe, the Huron Wendat, the Seneca and the Cree – have been created.
Since 2021, the Moccasin Identifier Project has installed stencilled images at culturally significant sites across the GTA, including along Lakeshore Road in Mississauga, at centre ice at the Iceland Arena, Billy Bishop Airport, the William G. Davis Trail at Trillium Park, and the entrance to the Credit Valley Conservation offices.
The purpose is to help promote the region’s diverse Indigenous cultures and the strong ties Indigenous communities have to the land.
To date, the project has visited over 1,000 schools, universities, workshops, major events, opening ceremonies, and celebrations.
The vision is to cover Canada in moccasins, so no matter where we travel, be it along straight roads or those that curve along the river’s edge, we may all be reminded of those who have walked the land for thousands of years and gave this city and the road that runs through it, its name.
For her efforts to show Canadians how to walk this land together, King was inducted into Mississauga’s Legend’s Row in 2019 and in 2021 was appointed a member of the Order of Canada.
You can hear more stories about the people and events that helped shape Mississauga via our podcast, We Built This City: Tales of Mississauga, available on your favourite podcast platform or from our website.