The First Nations Peace Monument in DeCew House Heritage Park, Thorold, Ontario, is a memorial designed by world-renowned architect and human rights activist Douglas Cardinal. Located near the site where Laura Secord encountered First Nations warriors who assisted her in conveying a warning to the colonial British forces of an impending American invasion, the monument is intended to generate a deeper understanding of the heritage and ongoing history of First Nations peoples, and to illuminate the founding role they played (and continue to play) in the ever-evolving North American cultural mosaic.
Laura Secord’s uneasy but extremely important interaction with First Nations warriors in her fateful encounter in Decew’s Field is powerfully symbolic of the deep roots and inherent complexity of relationships amongst indigenous peoples and more recent settlers of the North American continent. It is an invitation to understand and reflect upon the divisions that extend back to our earliest days, in a spirit of respect and reconciliation.
Embedded within the walls of the monument will be two graphic wampum belt symbols – the Hiawatha Wampum Belt, which expresses the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace, and the William Claus Pledge of the Crown Wampum Belt, which symbolizes the restoration of peaceful relations among Native allies and the British following the War of 1812.
To clame your smiley send me a picture of you or a personal item on the bench at the memorial.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.