Zurawik Law Firm

A Map Of The Toronto Purchase Notable Is The British Surveyor's Insistence On Using A Grid Instead Of Using The Natural Features To Demarcate Boundaries Such As Etobicoke Creek Under The Treaty Of Paris Which Ended The Conflict Between Great Britain And Its Former Colonies The Boundary Of British North America Was Set In The Middle Of The Great Lakes This Made The Land North Of The Border More Important Strategically And As The Place For Loyalists To Settle After The War In 1781 The Mississaugas Surrendered A Strip Of Land Along The Niagara River And In 1783 Land On The Bay Of Quinte For The Mohawks Who Had Been Loyal To The British To Settle (today's Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory) Between 1783 And 1785 10,000 Loyalists Arrived And Were Settling On Land The Crown Had Recognized As Indian Land In 1784 The Mississaugas Surrendered More Land In The Niagara Peninsula Including Land On The Grand River For The Iroquois In 1786 Lord Dorchester Arrived In Quebec City As Governor-in-Chief Of British North America His Mission Was To Solve The Problems Of The Newly Landed Loyalists At First Dorchester Suggested Opening The New Canada West As Districts Under The Quebec Government But The British Government Made Known Its Intention To Split Canada Into Upper And Lower Canada Dorchester Began Organizing For The New Province Of Upper Canada Including A Capital Dorchester's First Choice Was Kingston But Was Aware Of The Number Of Loyalists In The Bay Of Quinte And Niagara Areas And Chose Instead The Location North Of The Bay Of Toronto Midway Between The Settlements And 30 Miles (48 Km) From The US Under The Policy Of The Time The British Recognized Aboriginal Title To The Land And Dorchester Arranged To Purchase The Lands From The Mississaugas The 1787 Purchase According To British Records Was Conducted On September 23 1787 At The "Carrying-Place" Of Bay Of Quinte The British Crown And The Mississaugas Of New Credit Met To Arrange For The Surrender Of Lands Along Lake Ontario In The Case Of The Toronto Area The Mississaugas Of New Credit Exchanged 250,808 Acres (101,498 Ha) Of Land In What Became York County (most Of Current Toronto And The Regional Municipality Of York Bounded By Lake Ontario To The South Approximately Etobicoke Creek/Highway 27 To The West Approximately Ashbridge's Bay/Woodbine Avenue-Highway 404 To The East And Approximately South Of Sideroad 15-Bloomington Road To The North) For Some Money 2,000 Gun Flints 24 Brass Kettles 120 Mirrors 24 Laced Hats A Bale Of Flowered Flannel And 96 Gallons Of Rum At The Time The Mississaugas Believed That The Agreement Was Not A Purchase Extinguishing Their Rights To The Land But A Rental Of The Lands For British Use In Exchange For Gifts And Presents In Perpetuity In 1788 Surveyor Alexander Aitken Was Assigned To Conduct A Survey Of The Toronto Site The Mississaugas Blocked Him For Surveying West Of The Humber Saying The Lands To The West Had Not Been Ceded Aitken Was Only Allowed To Survey The Land After British Authorities Interceded With The Mississaugas Aitken Surveyed West To Etobicoke Creek But Did Not Survey More Than A Few Miles From The Lake Before Stopping To Avoid Further Confrontation 1805 Indenture