The totems of the Mississauga chiefs and warriors signing the ratification of the surrender of "Toronto", August 1, 1805.
(that section of the lake front extending from the Etobicoke Creek to the commencement of the peninsula, now Toronto Island)
Every Ojibwa, upon birth, inherited his clan or totem from his father. Even when she was a member of a distant band a man could not marry a woman in his own clan. Each clan, with only one or two rare exceptions, bore the name of a bird, fish, or animal. When visiting a strange Ojibwa community, the Ojibwa first sought out the members of his own clan as he knew that his fellow clansmen were his relatives and would welcome him and supply him with assistance. On the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario the dominant totem was that of the eagle, to which Wabenose (Peter Jones's grandfather), Chechalk and Okemapenesse (Chiefs at the Credit River) all belonged. In contrast Quenepenon, who led a band at the Bronte Creek, was a member of the Otter totem.
Courtesy: Peter Jones, History of the Ojibway Indians (London: A.W. Bennett, 1861), opposite page 131
