99 Gallons of Rum examines the Toronto Purchase other wise known as Treaty No. 13 in Ontario to highlight the corrupt colonial and capital practice of land theft and occupation. The video illustrates animated Google Map images of the boundaries of the Toronto Purchase map from 1787 and overlays the animations with hand drawn images of the Toronto Purchase map and Barrels. The soundtrack of the video includes a text to speech automation reading the articles within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with the song 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall and distorted sounds of Lake Ontario. The barrels and the song offer direct critique of what Canada calls a “negotiation” process, whereas, they paid the Mississaugas for land in 1787 and provided them with gifts, which included 2,000 gun flints, 24 brass kettles, 120 mirrors, 24 laced hats, and 96 gallons of rum[1]. In 1998, the Mississaugas of the Credit filed a claim against the Government of Canada relative to the 1805 Toronto Purchase Treaty, citing unlawfulness and other damages[2]. This history is imperative to bring into the mainstream Canadian Consciousness as Toronto remains an epicenter of Canada, and it is imperative to know that the land was wrongfully and unlawfully “purchased”.
