Thomas Gummersall Anderson, a 19th-century Indian Agent responsible for settling Ojibwa tribes at Coldwater and The Narrows, was inducted into the Orillia Hall of Fame in 1993.
With reconciliation in mind, city council recently voted to reconsider his place among Orillia’s famed citizens.
The idea was brought forward by city councillors Jay Fallis and Janet-Lynne Durnford at last week’s council meeting.
“This is an intricate story, and I appreciate that. I think that these potential actions toward reconciliation are challenging, but worth the work,” Durnford said.
“After doing some research, I would agree that the perception of this gentleman was quite different between settlers and Indigenous people, and that some of his writings are incredibly problematic from a modern lens and, I would argue, from any lens," Dunford explained.
The biography included in Anderson’s induction statement describes him as a “shrewd judge of character” who was “devoted to First Nation interests and highly regarded by them.” But a report brought to council by Fallis and Durnford suggests he was a more divisive character than officially described.
Although he wrote about his own relationship with Indigenous people as positive, and married the granddaughter of an Indigenous woman, he played an integral role in settling the reserve at Rama.
Anderson was also responsible for developing policies related to Indigenous peoples around the time Indigenous-settler relations “changed from one of relationship building, to one that was focused on reserve settlement and indoctrination,” the report stated.
Through his decades-long career as an Indian Agent, Anderson oversaw the first British Empire project to settle Indigenous peoples on reserves.
In 1854, Anderson proposed the idea of an ‘industrial school,’ nearly three decades prior to the federal residential school system being developed.
“To promote education among the Indians, no system can promise a more satisfactory result than that of the Industrial School,” he wrote. “Yet, unless means be taken to constrain, parents and children, to conform to the regulations established in such institutions, it is doubtful whether even this mode would accomplish the desired end.”
In consultation with community members, Fallis and Durnford said they have learned there are differing accounts of Anderson’s impact on the area.
“Through informal consultation with a local Indigenous historian, it was identified that Anderson was considered in a different light by many Indigenous residents, contrary to what plaques and historic descriptions have identified,” the report stated.
At last week’s council meeting, Fallis also noted Anderson’s induction took place well after his death, within a modern context.
“What was important for both of us is that … we're sticking to this desire to really develop (and) improve upon our efforts towards reconciliation as a city,” Fallis said. “By failing to do this, I think we kind of fail on that duty.”
“We really felt it important that this, at the very least, be reviewed," said Fallis.
Aside from his work as an Indian Agent, Anderson was an “accomplished trader” and military commander in the War of 1812. He also oversaw the construction of the mill on Coldwater River and a school for the First Nation’s children.
At council’s direction, the city’s commemorative awards committee, in consultation with Indigenous partners, has been instructed to review Anderson’s appointment to the city's hall of fame.
Portraits of members of the Hall of Fame are hung outside council chambers at the Orillia City Centre.
