The Champlain Society

Champlain in Huronia

In early 17th century New France the area between what are now known as Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe was inhabited by Hurons. They collected furs from distant tribes for transport to French settlements on the St. Lawrence River and thence to Europe. The Iroquois to the south of Lake Ontario usually traded with the English and Dutch. The rivalry between Huron and Iroquois increased in frequency and ferocity after the founder of New France, Samuel de Champlain, attacked the Iroquois near Lake Champlain. The painting shows a party of Hurons with Champlain and his interpreter Étienne Brûlé, the first Frenchman to live among the Natives, on an arm of Lake Simcoe near Orillia on September 8, 1615. Taking different routes, the two Frenchmen parted in order to circle Lake Ontario, but on October 10, before Brûlé could rendezvous with native allies for an attack from the west, Champlain was defeated by the Iroquois in their homeland south of the lake. Severely wounded, Champlain recuperated in Huronia during the winter before returning to Québec in May, 1616, to continue planning for his dream of a French colonial empire on the St. Lawrence.

Sir Byron Edmund Walker

Early Life

Byron Edmund Walker was born on a farm in Seneca Township, Haldimand County, Ontario, on October 14, 1848. He died in Toronto on March 27, 1924. He was the second oldest of nine children. His parents were Alfred Edmund Walker and Fanny Murton, both of whom were born in England but came to Canada with their parents in the early 1830s.

Since the founding of The Champlain Society in 1905 by Sir Edmund Walker, the Society has published over 100 of the most important volumes in Canadian history. These volumes include a broad variety of journals, diaries, letters, documents, and translations. From major players and significant events to lesser-known but fascinating characters and happenings, Canada's development is chronicled in the pages of Champlain Society volumes.