Otonabee

The Otonabee River flows south through the Kawartha lake country to Rice Lake, forming part of a network of waterways in southern Ontario. Indigenous peoples travelled and sustained communities along these rivers and lakes long before European agricultural settlement. The area is part of the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg, including the communities now known as Curve Lake and Hiawatha.

In 1818 representatives of Anishinaabe peoples and the Crown signed Treaty 20, also called the Rice Lake Purchase, covering a region that includes the Otonabee country. It was part of a series of agreements made as colonial authorities sought land for growing settler populations. The treaty changed the political framework surrounding Indigenous lands and waters; communities continued to maintain their relationships with them.