The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation are an Anishinaabe nation whose people lived on the north shore of Lake Ontario, including the land where Toronto now stands, and who moved from the Credit River to a reserve near Hagersville, Ontario, in 1847. The First Nation’s own community profile traces their ancestral territory from Long Point on Lake Erie to the headwaters of the Thames, Grand, Humber, and Rouge rivers. Their 1805 treaty with the Crown is covered on the page about the Toronto Purchase. This page deals with the nation itself: where it lived, what it kept, and how it came to be at New Credit.
Name and territory
The community profile links the name to the Anishinaabemowin term Missisakis, which it translates as “many river mouths.” Its account is that the Mississaugas favored camping at the mouth of a river that later became known as the Credit River. Heritage Mississauga describes the Mississaugas as part of the Ojibwa nation and says they established themselves on the north shore of Lake Ontario between 1700 and 1720. The First Nation’s profile frames the Ojibwe presence in southern Ontario slightly differently, stating that Ojibwe peoples occupied most of the region by the mid-eighteenth century and that by 1700 they had taken much of it after defeating the Iroquois. The two accounts differ in emphasis, and neither gives a precise date for any single family or village.
Treaties and the land along the Credit
The Crown’s treaty texts, published by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, give three agreements that bear on the Credit and the north shore. The Toronto Purchase deed (Treaty 13) was made at the River Credit on August 1, 1805, and reserved to the Mississaugas the fishery in the Etobicoke River. The Head of the Lake deed (Treaty 14), dated September 5 and 6, 1806, conveyed about 85,000 acres west of the Toronto Purchase. It reserved to the Mississaugas and their descendants the sole right of the fisheries in the Twelve Mile Creek, the Sixteen Mile Creek, the Credit River, and the Etobicoke River, together with lands on each side of the three creeks and the Credit as marked on an annexed plan. The Credit reserve is described as beginning on Lake Ontario at a post one mile north-east of the centre of the river’s first bend.
Treaty 19, a provisional agreement dated October 28, 1818, and made in the Township of Toronto with five chiefs of the Mississague Nation inhabiting the River Credit and the Twelve and Sixteen Mile Creeks, conveyed the Mississauga Tract of about 648,000 acres, lying north of the 1806 purchase. The Crown agreed to pay £522 10s a year in goods, and the published text says the land was surrendered without reservation or limitation.
Heritage Mississauga gives a different list. It describes a Treaty 13-A of August 2, 1805, under which the Mississaugas kept one mile on either side of the Credit River, a Treaty 19 after which they kept three portions of land, and Treaties 22 and 23 of 1820 that left them 200 acres on the east side of the Credit, which it says was never surrendered and became a land claim in the 1980s. The Crown list read for this page has no Nos. 13A, 22, or 23, and the text of No. 19 does not mention retained portions, so these points are shown as Heritage Mississauga’s account and could not be checked against the treaty texts.
Peter Jones and the Credit Mission
Heritage Mississauga states that Peter Jones, the Mississauga Methodist minister and chief, arrived at the Credit River in 1825 and that the government agreed late that year to build the Mississaugas a village near the river. This became the Credit Mission, an agricultural village organized around a Methodist church. The life of its best-known leader is told on the page about Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby). The sources read for this page give late 1825 for the government’s decision, not a founding date for the village itself, and other accounts date the start of the village to 1826.
Leaving the Credit River
By the 1830s and 1840s the village was surrounded by settlers. The First Nation’s profile says the Mississaugas were outnumbered more than 100 to one by then. On August 6, 1840, Chiefs Joseph Sawyer and John Jones opened a council on relocation, and the profile says the decision to move was not reached until the winter of 1846. In May 1847 about 266 members left the village for the Six Nations lands on the Grand River, and the money from selling the Credit River land paid for improvements at the new settlement. The Six Nations Confederacy offered the Mississaugas 4,800 acres in Tuscarora Township as a gift. An additional 1,200 acres in Oneida Township followed in 1865, and the First Nation bought 6,000 acres for CAD 10,000 on June 15, 1903. The present reserve near Hagersville covers about 6,100 acres, which the profile calls all that remains of the nation’s once-larger holdings.
One inconsistency appears in the profile itself: its history section gives 1847 for the move, while a later section of the same page gives 1854. The Heritage Mississauga account also gives 1847, so that year is used here, and the 1854 date is listed as a discrepancy.
Six Nations and the move to the Grand River
Three sources describe the 1847 arrangement in different words. The community profile of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation says the Six Nations Confederacy in Council remembered what the Mississaugas had done for them, sent a delegation asking the Mississaugas to relocate to Tuscarora Township, and offered 4,800 acres there as a gift. A plaque entry on the Ontario Plaques site, which does not name the body that erected the marker, says the Six Nations Council offered land on its Grand River reserve, that about 266 Mississaugas settled on the New Credit Reserve in 1847, that a Methodist mission followed in 1848, and that the Mississaugas purchased the reserve in 1903. Heritage Toronto says the Haudenosaunee invited the Mississaugas to the Grand River lands, where both groups still live. Gift, offer, and invitation are the three words used.
The Six Nations of the Grand River describes itself as the only First Nation community that includes all six Haudenosaunee nations and says its present territory is only a fraction of the land promised under the “Treaty of Haldimand”. In the pages read for this article, the Six Nations site does not mention the Mississaugas, and a Six Nations account of the 1847 arrangement was not found. The 2024 City of Toronto report on the Baby Point heritage district records that the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Six Nations of the Grand River, along with the Huron-Wendat Nation, each engaged with the City and continue to value the Humber promontory for its link to their ancestors.
Naming work with the City of Toronto
A City of Toronto report dated June 29, 2026, describes a naming process for the Lower Don parklands led with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. City staff attended the First Nation’s Annual Historical Gathering in Hagersville in April 2026 and then hosted a sharing circle with current and former chiefs, Elders, councillors, Knowledge Keepers, and staff. The First Nation advised that the decision should follow a land-based process, including a site visit in summer 2026, to decide whether a historical name can be reclaimed or a new name gifted. The report also cites research by Dr. Alan Corbiere of M’Chigeeng First Nation, a historian at York University, suggesting that earlier spellings and translations of the name Wonscotonach may not be accurate. The details are on the page about Indigenous place names in Toronto.
Government and name today
The profile reports documented elections for the council as early as 1871 and says an elected system began in 1924. Under the Indian Act, elections take place every two years, and voters elect one chief and seven councillors. Members who live off the reserve may nominate and vote by mail. The community was known as New Credit after the 1847 move, and the council dropped “New” by motion in December 2018. The profile gives a membership of roughly 2,570 people, with nearly two-thirds living off the reserve. It adds that the 1985 amendments to the Indian Act increased the population by 25 percent.
Timeline of the Mississaugas of the Credit
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1700 to 1720 | Mississaugas established on the north shore of Lake Ontario (Heritage Mississauga) |
| August 1, 1805 | Treaty 13 deed made at the River Credit; Etobicoke fishery reserved (Crown text) |
| August 2, 1805 | Treaty 13-A: one mile each side of the Credit River kept (Heritage Mississauga; text not found) |
| September 5 and 6, 1806 | Treaty 14: about 85,000 acres conveyed; fisheries and reserves kept on the Credit, Twelve Mile, Sixteen Mile, and Etobicoke (Crown text) |
| October 28, 1818 | Treaty 19: Mississauga Tract of about 648,000 acres conveyed (Crown text) |
| 1820 | Treaties 22 and 23: 200 acres on the Credit’s east side retained (Heritage Mississauga; text not found) |
| 1825 | Peter Jones at the Credit; village agreed late in the year |
| August 6, 1840 | Council on relocation opens |
| May 1847 | About 266 members move to the Grand River lands |
| 1865 | 1,200 acres added in Oneida Township |
| June 15, 1903 | 6,000 acres bought for CAD 10,000 |
| 2010 | Canada and the First Nation settle the Toronto Purchase and Brant Tract claims |
| December 2018 | “New” dropped from the name by council motion |
Where do the Mississaugas of the Credit live now?
The First Nation’s reserve lies near Hagersville, Ontario, next to the Six Nations of the Grand River. The community profile says nearly two-thirds of members live off the reserve.
Why are they called the Credit?
The name comes from the Credit River. The community profile says the Mississaugas favored camping at its mouth, and the river later took the name Credit River.
Did the Mississaugas sell the land under Toronto?
The 1805 deed published by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada records a conveyance for ten shillings and refers back to a 1787 agreement. The First Nation says the surviving 1787 deed was blank, and in 2010 Canada and the First Nation settled the Toronto Purchase and Brant Tract claims for $145 million (CAD) with no land transfer. The page on the Toronto Purchase shows both versions.
Is the Credit Mission still standing?
The sources read for this page do not say. The First Nation and local heritage bodies are the places to ask.
Related reading
- An overview of Toronto’s history
- Toronto’s Indigenous history
- The origin of the name Toronto
- John Graves Simcoe
- Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby)
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation: Community Profile: mncfn.ca
- Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation: New Credit history page: mncfn.ca
- Heritage Mississauga: “The Mississaugas”: heritagemississauga.com
- Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, Treaty Texts, Upper Canada Land Surrenders (Nos. 13, 14, and 19): rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca
- Six Nations of the Grand River, Who We Are: sixnations.ca
- Ontario’s Historical Plaques, entry for the New Credit Indian Reserve and Mission (issuer not stated): ontarioplaques.com
- Heritage Toronto, Indigenous History of Toronto tour, Anishinaabeg, Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and wampum: heritagetoronto.org
- City of Toronto, Report for Action, Designation of the Teiaiagon-Baby Point Heritage Conservation District, November 15, 2024: toronto.ca
- City of Toronto, Report for Action, Lower Don Parkland Indigenous Naming, Progress Update, June 29, 2026: toronto.ca
- The Canadian Encyclopedia: Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (referenced; the article body could not be retrieved for this page)
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 23). Mississaugas of the Credit: From the Credit River to New Credit. http://localhost:8210/blog/mississaugas-of-the-credit-toronto
MLA: “Mississaugas of the Credit: From the Credit River to New Credit.” History of Toronto, 23 Oct. 2026, http://localhost:8210/blog/mississaugas-of-the-credit-toronto. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Mississaugas of the Credit: From the Credit River to New Credit.” Last modified October 23, 2026. http://localhost:8210/blog/mississaugas-of-the-credit-toronto.
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