Rabble.ca article on High Park Indian mounds (very detailed)

Much progress has been achieved during the summer of 2011 in the work to preserve the Snake Mound, one of 57 remaining ancient Iroquoian burial mounds in Toronto's High Park in danger of destruction from BMX bike activity. In April, a meeting was set up between the Taiaiako'on Historical Preservation Society [2](THPS) and Toronto City Councillor Sarah Doucette where she was presented with information about the Snake Mound, and that the City of Toronto's main archeologist Ron Williamson, who is working under a suspended license [3]. (This situation appears to have arisen because the license was not renewed, something that practicing archeologists are compelled to keep up with. The documentation of his license situation has been sent out to city officials by the THPS but the question has never been clarified as to the current state of his credentials, and it has not been denied. The Taiaiako'n Historic Preservation Society has a file which they claim shows that Williamson doesn't have a license, but most of this information does not exist online.)

Doucette said she would research the issue and then respond, however, there was no subsequent contact.

(Blog note: read full article for her efforts to find another area in the park for the BMX bikes)

In May, a group of residents local to High Park was formed called the Friends Of Snake Mound (FOSM) [4] to support the work done by the THPS. In the late spring, the two groups hosted an information event at Tinto's coffee house that garnered a flurry of media attention both good and bad. The mainstream media perpetuated the lack of scientific rigor and ethical handling of the situation by the city and Toronto Parks Board by parroting the position that there is no archeological site at Snake Mound [5].

Fortunately there was one point of agreement: that the BMX activity was destroying the natural environment. While many members of the BMX community have acknowledged the special environmental and historical value of the site, many others remain intransigent. Despite concerns within the Snake Mound-support community as to whether further changes in the landscape might adversely affect the site, it became evident that taking down the ramps was the only way to stop the greater danger of cycling. In order to see the site repaired, the Parks Board agreed that THPS could direct the dismantling of the bike ramps and reconstruction of the mound.


Complete article here