The Wendat (Wyandot) or Ouendat (Ouendat) were one of the Haudenosaunee Peoples. At some distant point in time, the Wendat and the people the Europeans called Iroquois were one people. This fact is not disputed; and supported in part that their languages were very similar. The name Wendat is derived from the word Ouendat and means " The One Language " . The name Huron came from the French exclamation " Quelle hure ". The French words used when they tried to describe the Huron hair style. This name is offensive to the Wendat.

The Wendat had a close relationship with the Tionontati or Petuns ( The Tobacco People) and the Neutral Peoples. They too were part of the Haudenosaunee stock. The combined population of these peoples once occupied southern Ontario from Lake Simcoe, Georgian Bay to Niagra Falls. They too had a Confederacy made up of 4 Nations. The confederacy was made up of the Attignoustan ( Bear Clan ), the Attingneeongnahac ( Cord Clan ), the Arendahronon ( Rock Clan ) and the Tohonaenaenrats ( Deer Clan ). Their capital or seat of government, was the Ossossane Village. Sainte Marie Among the Hurons is probably the most well known contact with these people. Father Saint Jean de Brebeuf; a Jesuit Missionary and Linguist stationed at Ste. Marie Among the Hurons; wrote the words for The Huron Carol , Canada's first ever Christmas Carol.

They were an agricultural people, planting corn, squash, and beans to supplement their diets of fish, game, fruit and nuts. The Haudenosaunee never had a problem with food shortages because of their agricultural skills. The Petuns or Tionontati also grew tobacco, giving them the source for their name. ( Petun means tobacco ) They lived in the Long house, which could be surrounded by palisade. Most of the remains of villages found in the Toronto/Pickering area are Wendat, Petun, or Neutral.

17 Late Woodland Village Sites are known to exist on the Duffins Creek Watershed. One is the village that will be covered over by the runways of the Pickering Airport if it ever gets built. It was a 1500's Wendat Village that housed upwards of 2500 people and covered 13 acres. It was called the Draper Village after the land owner. It was excavated in the 1970's.( Source Duffins Creek State of the Watershed Report June 2002) ... Archived TRCA Duffins Creek Watershed Report PDF 2.6 Meg

The Wendat and Petuns were victims of the Fur Trade Wars and even more so; white man's disease; Small Pox. They were attacked on a regular basis by the Seneca, until in 1650's, when the majority of the survivors made their way to Quebec for a new beginning. Others moved south west. The Neutrals tried to remain neutral in the war between the Hurons and the Seneca, ( that is how the Neutrals got their name ) but eventually; they too; felt the wrath of the Seneca.