Welcome to my new Blog

Hi Everyone,

My name is Russell Monsurate and I run Avatar Canada Immigration (www.russcanada.com) where I help people make Canada their new home.

I will be using this blog to post links to news stories and articles that potential future immigrants to Canada may find useful in helping them to decide if Canada is the right country for them.

If you have requests as to what you'd like to see on this blog, please post a comment below.

Ancient Canadian History!

Life in Ancient Canada
By Russell Monsurate


It all started a few nights ago when I went to the Ron Andrew's Recreation Center in North Vancouver for a dip in the pool and my usual visit to the Sauna.

There my friend Jane asked me, "Where do you come from Russ?"

I replied, "Jane, aren't Men from Mars and Women from Venus?"

"No," she said, rather taken aback, "I thought you were Latin American extraction."

"Where do you come from Jane?", I countered.

"Oh, I come from Ontario. I was born in Oakville."

That led us to discussing where her grandparents migrated from and I was shocked when I learnt they migrated to Canada from Italy. As we went backwards in time I was surprised to learn that there were no Canadians of European descent until very recently in Canada's long history. Our country was inhabited by Indians! Wow! That came as a surprise to both Jane and myself.

Allow me to explain: I told Jane what Canada was in its early formation.

Between 7000 to 11,000 years ago this period was referred to as the Palaeo-Indian Period. Southern Ontario was inhabited by the Plano Culture and the Clovis Culture while the Northern part of Ontario was occupied by the Plano Culture. The earlier culture is called the Clovis Culture but both these cultures shared a basically similar way of life. It is likely that these early hunters favoured hunting Caribou. There is a possibility that they could have also hunted the Mammoth and the Mastodon.

The early Ancestors of the Clovis culture would have been of Asian decent and would have entered North America from Asia at a time when the two continents were connected by a broad plain. Its likely they travelled very quickly and occupied most of North America without realizing that they had possibly entered a new continent alltogether. Untill recent years most Archeologist held the belief that the Clovis people were the first immigrants to Canada and that their rapid spread was solely due to the abundance of game and the lack or absence of competition.


They did not trade much. I suppose they was'nt any need to. The New York Stock Exchange was'nt really functioning and Donald Trump was'nt buying any real estate at that time. Besides, who would he buy from even if he was around. What is significant, however, is that for burial purposes they buried their dead with objects generally beleived to acompany the spirit of the dead to the after life.


What is remarkable is the fact that they covered some of the objects and parts of the grave with 'red ochre' which is smiliar to what the Hindus in India use to adorn the forheads of the deities in Temples and on their own foreheads. Could there be some ancient connection that we have overlooked?


Current day Hindus from India belonging to the Hindu Religion use the Sindhura or the Tika. It is applied as a 'U' by worshippers of Lord Vishnu and is red, yellow or saffron in colour. It is made up of red ochre powder (Sindhura) and sandalwood paste (Gandha).

Worshippers of Lord Shiva on the other hand apply it as three horizontal lines and it consists of ash (Bhasma). Soot (Abhira) is also used as a pigment for applying a Tilaka.

"Now this may come as a further surprise to most people Jane," I explained, "Aboriginal people often anoint sacred relics with red ochre for use in rituals". This was common place among the Clovis Indians in Canada.

"Well, arent we all connected, Jane?" I asked.

"Russ, were there cultures that might have existed even earlier than the Clovis culture?" Jane asked.

"Yes," I replied. "There is evidence in the Yukon Territory that now strongly suggests that man was present some 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. It is quite possible Jane, that these peoples travelled further south to colonize large tracts of land."

"There were other distinct cultures during our Ancient History." I added.

There were many cultures that followed the Clovis Culture in Ancient Canada in Southern Parts of Ontario.

The Plano Culture 7000 to 9000 BC
The Laurentian Culture 3000 to 7000 BC
The Princess Point Culture 1000 to 3000 BC
The Saugeen-Point Culture 1000 to 3000 BC
The Meadowood Culture 1000 to 3000 BC
The Iriquois Culture 250 to 1000 BC


The Northern Parts of Ontario had the Plano, the Shield, the Laurel and the Algonkian Cultures.





















Courtesy: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada.
Late Laurentian Archaic Grave Goods ( 1500BC to 1000 BC ) from cemeteries in the Picton Area, Lake Ontario.





With few exceptions prehistoric trade was closely associated with religious beliefs and the trade objects are generally recovered from graves as objects intended to accompany the spirit of the dead to the afterlife.

Powdered red ochre and a specially prepared green clay are also common occurrences in graves of this period. As can be seen in the illustration, the red ochre still adheres to a number of the artifacts which were recovered from cemeteries in the Picton area, eastern Lake Ontario.

The shell pendants and beads are manufactured from conch shell which would have originally come from the Gulf of Mexico nearly 1,000 miles to the south.

The three small shell beads in the centre were made from shells from the Atlantic coast. The large pendant to the left had been broken and subsequently repaired by drilling a series of lashing holes. The native copper celts and awls are made from Lake Superior copper. For reasons that will never be known the celts generally occur in pairs. The object with a label is a short, cylindrical copper bead.


Trade in these objects almost certainly involved many hand-to-hand transactions rather than actual trading parties traversing the enormous areas involved.


An Iroquois Dwelling Place
















Archeological information suggests that between 900 A.D. and 1300 A.D. Southern Ontario was inhabited by two related populations practising corn agriculture supplemented by hunting and fishing.


The first direct contact of the Ontario Iroquois with Europeans came in 1615 A. D. when the Recolletts and the then later (1625) Jesuits began missionary activities among the Huron and to a lesser degree, the Petun.

Also Samuel de Champlain became actively involved in the wars of the Algonkians and the various Irquois tribes. A close relationship between the French and the Huron-Petun was maintained until 1649 A. D.

As a result the culture history of these peoples terminates with their dispersal and absorption by the Iroquios League of Five Nations ( Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Senecca and Cayuga ) between 1649 and 1654.

Iroquois Indian



















The Iroquois language is still spoken in many homes although little of their traditional lifestyle remains. They are employed in a wide range of occupations with great variation in income. Most Iroquois are Christian, although a large number in New York belong to the Handsome Lake religion, a 19th-century development that incorporates much of the traditional religion.


The Iroquois League was formed and led by Hiawatha and Dekanawida as a defence against invasion and to prevent intertribal conflict. It was composed of a council of about 50 clan and village chiefs known as ‘sachems’, and each tribe had one vote. Decisions had to be unanimous. The Tuscarora were admitted without voting rights. An analysis of the organization of the Iroquois League by Benjamin Franklin contributed to the formulation of the US confederacy and constitution.


Traditionally, the Iroquois cultivated maize (corn), beans, and squash (pumpkin), supplementing their diet by hunting deer. Farming was organized by the women. Many families lived together in bark-covered longhouses in palisaded villages of several hundred people. Matrilineal kinship ties (passed through the mother's line) formed the basis of social and political life; women owned all property, and a man, upon marriage, would move into his wife's longhouse. Children took their mother's clan. Lineages were formed into three main clans, Turtle, Deer, and Wolf, each headed by a clan mother. Each village was led by a council of adult males who provided the village chief with guidance; leaders were chosen by the clan mothers. Warriors wore their hair in a scalp-lock, removing all other facial and body hair, and tattooing was common among men and women.

The Iroquois were very aggressive and tortured and enslaved their captives. They also practised ritual cannibalism. Honour was acquired by bravery and aggression in warfare.












An Irquois Camp Fire


Okay, well my next article will deal with the era of the first European settlers from France upto the arrival of the British and we will take you back on a journey thru time. Fasten your seat belts....

Russell Monsurate
www.russcanada.com