By Danielle Astrug

Ask any Torontonian who John Graves Simcoe is, and the majority will know of his role as Lieutenant-Governor who established the city of York. But if you mention Étienne Brûlé, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Jean Baptiste Rousseaux or Jacques Bâby, you may get a puzzled look. The facts that Rousseaux was the first European to settle permanently on these shores, known today as Toronto, is largely forgotten and overshadowed by the glory surrounding Simcoe.

It is little known today that Toronto was once - under the French Regime - primarily French-speaking and inhabited by thriving First Nations people before it became the metropolis as we know it today. Twenty-five years ago, la Société d'histoire de Toronto undertook the task to research and complete the story of Toronto's founders and its French history.