![Fort Albany, Ontario, 1886](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Fort_Albany%2C_Ontario%2C_1886.jpg)
Fort Albany First Nation ( cr, ᐲᐦᑖᐯᒄ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ pîhtâpek ililiwak, "lagoon Cree") is a
Cree First Nation
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in
Cochrane District
Cochrane District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming and Thunder Bay districts.
In 2016, the population was 79,682. The land area of th ...
in
Northeastern Ontario
Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior.
Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskami ...
, Canada, within the territory covered by
Treaty 9
''Treaty No. 9'' (also known as ''The James Bay Treaty'') is a numbered treaty first signed in 1905-1906 between Anishinaabe (Algonquin and Ojibway) and Omushkegowuk Cree communities and the Canadian Crown, which includes both the governm ...
. Situated on the southern shore of the
Albany River
Albany, derived from the Gaelic for Scotland, most commonly refers to:
*Albany, New York, the capital of the State of New York and largest city of this name
* Albany, Western Australia, port city in the Great Southern
Albany may also refer to: ...
, Fort Albany First Nation is accessible only by air, water, or by
winter road
A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...
.
The community is policed by the
Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service
The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS), also occasionally known as the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (without a hyphen) is the police agency for Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN). As of July 2020, NAPS has 34 detachments in NAN communities across the ...
, an Aboriginal-based service. It shares the Fort Albany 67
Indian Reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty,
that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band."
In ...
with the
Kashechewan First Nation
The Kashechewan First Nation (, cr, ᑫᔒᒋᐗᓐ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, kêšîciwan ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Alban ...
, which officially separated from Fort Albany First Nation in 1977. Fort Albany First Nation controls the Fort Albany Indian Settlement on the south shore of the Albany River, and the
Kashechewan First Nation
The Kashechewan First Nation (, cr, ᑫᔒᒋᐗᓐ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, kêšîciwan ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Alban ...
controls the
Kashechewan Indian Settlement directly across the river.
Fort Albany was established in 1679 as one of the oldest and most important of Hudson's Bay Company posts. It was also involved in Anglo-French tensions leading to the
Battle of Fort Albany in 1688. The current community is not the site of the old post, which was re-located several times including on Anderson Island, Albany Island
(c.1721) and a location just northeast of the current community. The last trading post was closed up around the 1950s. All the post sites have disappeared and naturalized, leaving no trace of their former use.
History
Hudson's Bay Company Post
The area was explored by
Charles Bayly
Charles Bayly, ( fl. 1630–1680), the first overseas governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, likely spent his early years in the court of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I. He was an English born French Roman Catholic in this Protes ...
, the first overseas governor of the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
, around 1675, and the original Fort Albany was established in 1679. It was one of the original
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
trading posts, the others being
Moose Factory
Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in lands n ...
on the south shore of
James Bay
James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...
, Charles Fort (later
Rupert House) on the east,
York Factory
York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...
in the Port Nelson region, and New Severn (aka
Fort Severn
Fort Severn, in present-day Annapolis, Maryland, was built in 1808 on the same site as an earlier American Revolutionary War fort of 1776. Although intended to guard Annapolis harbor from British attack during the War of 1812, it never saw ac ...
).
In these early days of the company, each fort was run by a governor, who served for a number of years and oversaw the company employees, managing the trade of their fort.
The original fort was built inland from the mouth of the
Albany River
Albany, derived from the Gaelic for Scotland, most commonly refers to:
*Albany, New York, the capital of the State of New York and largest city of this name
* Albany, Western Australia, port city in the Great Southern
Albany may also refer to: ...
, partly for defense, and moved several times. Ships from England had to lay at the river mouth at Albany Roads. In 1683, Governor Henry Sergeant was directed to make it the primary trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company; it was the largest fort on the Bay at that point, with four bastions and forty-three guns.
In 1684 a Monsieur Péré reached the fort from French Canada. He was arrested and his two companions sent to
Charlton Island
Charlton Island (Sivukutaitiarruvik) is an uninhabited island located in James Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located northwest of Rupert Bay, it has an area of .
Thomas James, who gave his name to James Bay, wintered here in 1631 an ...
. In 1685, the French built Fort des Français at the juncture of the Albany and
Kenogami River
The Kenogami River is a river in the James Bay drainage basin in Thunder Bay and Cochrane districts in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows north from Long Lake near Longlac to empty into the Albany River. Shows the river course. The river is ...
s to block the indigenous people from coming north to trade with the HBC.
In 1686, all three posts on James Bay (Moose Factory, Rupert House, and Fort Albany) were captured by
an overland expedition from Quebec. Fort Albany was named Fort Saint-Anne by the French. In 1688 the English sent ships to reestablish their posts but were
defeated
Defeated may refer to:
* "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song)
* "Defeated" (Anastacia song)
*"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love''
*Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community
*''The Defeated
''The Defeated'', al ...
by French ships that had come to re-supply the forts. In 1693 the English
retook the fort and held it thereafter.
By the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick
The Peace of Ryswick, or Rijswijk, was a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Rijswijk between 20 September and 30 October 1697. They ended the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Gran ...
, Albany was to be returned to the French, but nothing was done until war resumed in 1702. In 1709 the French
tried and failed to capture the fort. In 1713 the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...
gave Hudson and James Bays (along with the rest of
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...
) to the English.
Following the end of decades of conflict with the French,
sloops
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...
from Albany traded along the east coast until a new post was built on the
Eastmain River
The Eastmain River, formerly written East Main, is a river in west central Quebec. It rises in central Quebec and flows west to James Bay, draining an area of . The First Nations Cree village of Eastmain is located beside the mouth.
Name
East ...
in 1723-24 and Moose Factory was reestablished in 1730. However, even by 1771, one ship serviced Albany, Moose Factory, and the East Main sub-house on the east shore.
![Carte du fond de la baie d'Hudson en 1744](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Carte_du_fond_de_la_baie_d%27Hudson_en_1744.jpg)
Around the mid-1700s, the company's policy was to primarily engage in trade with indigenous people at their forts on the coast. By 1743, Chief Factor Joseph Isbister had found that trade at Albany was being undercut by
coureurs des bois
A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by ...
that had established trading posts upriver from the fort. So, going against company policy, he took a team 160 miles up river to establish the subsidiary
Henley House and re-establish HBC authority.
This policy officially changed in the 1770s, and the company began establishing series of inland posts that fed into the coastal forts and factories, which would function as depots for storage and ports for trade back to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. According to a report by long-time company factor Andrew Graham, by 1771, around the time of the change in policy, Fort Albany was staffed by 30 men in addition to the chief factor and his officers, and oversaw the sub-houses Henley House and East Main, each with eleven men governed by a sloop master.
Another official policy of the company was to not allow any of the indigenous people they traded with into any forts. This policy, relaxed by Chief Factor George Spence (1747-1752), was strictly enforced by Chief Factor Joseph Isbister when he returned to the fort in 1752. This sudden removal of access to Fort Albany and Henley House angered Wappisis, a Cree man influential over the indigenous people of the area, and in December 1754 he and a few others destroyed Henley House, killing the five HBC men there and raiding the stores, threatening death to anyone that told the Company people that they had done it. Wappisis went to Albany in May 1755 to trade and attempted to blame "French Indians" on the destruction of Henley House. Isbister heard in June from another indigenous person that Wappisis had done it, and Isbister hanged Wappisis and his two sons on June 21, 1755. The employees at Moose and Albany were concerned following the destruction of Henley House, since this was the first such incident of indigenous violence in the company's history.
Henley House was re-established under Chief Factor Humphrey Marten by 1768.
In 1777, Gloucester House was built 243 miles upriver from Henley House and in 1786,
Osnaburgh House was built at the outflow of Lake St. Joseph. This westward expansion significantly increased the trade of Fort Albany. In 1793, the Governor of Albany Fort established posts on the Rainy River and Winnipeg River. Posts supplied from the HBC-run Fort Albany competed with
North West Company men from Lake Superior and even HBC posts supplied from
York Factory
York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...
, until the union of the two companies in 1821.
Fort Albany was the headquarters of the Albany District of the Hudson's Bay Company, which, as of 1830, bordered
Severn District to its northwest,
Moose District to its southeast, the far western reaches of
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
to its south,
Lac La Pluie District to its southwest, and
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
District to its west. The east-flowing Albany River drew furs from as far west as
Lake St. Joseph. From there a portage ran west to
Lac Seul
Lac Seul is a large, crescent shaped reservoir in Kenora District, northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately long. It has a maximum (regulated) depth of 47.2 m, with a surface elevation of 357 m above sea level. Its level is raised in ...
, the
English River, the
Winnipeg River
The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is ...
and beyond. A north-flowing branch, the
Kenogami River
The Kenogami River is a river in the James Bay drainage basin in Thunder Bay and Cochrane districts in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows north from Long Lake near Longlac to empty into the Albany River. Shows the river course. The river is ...
led upstream toward Lake Superior at
Wawa, Ontario
Wawa is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario in the Algoma District. Formerly known as the Township of Michipicoten, named after a nearby river of that name, the township was officially renamed in 2007 for its largest and best-known com ...
and another branch, the
Ogoki River
The Ogoki River is a river in the Thunder Bay and Cochrane Districts of Ontario. It springs from the wilderness just east of Savant Lake, flowing north of Lake Nipigon to Ogoki, where it joins the Albany River which empties into James Bay. The ri ...
led toward Lake Nipigon.
Following the 1821 merger of HBC with the North West Company, Albany District thrived, recovering from the decline in trade caused by competition while the supply of fur-bearing animals dwindled. In order to curb the extinction of fur-bearing animals, the Governor of Rupert's Land George Simpson established beaver preserves throughout the district.
As of 1856, the Hudson's Bay Company estimated that there were 1,100 Indians living in the Albany District, which at the time included the trading posts of Fort Albany,
Marten Falls, Osnaburg, and
Lac Seul
Lac Seul is a large, crescent shaped reservoir in Kenora District, northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately long. It has a maximum (regulated) depth of 47.2 m, with a surface elevation of 357 m above sea level. Its level is raised in ...
.
Surrender of Rupert's Land
In 1868, the Hudson's Bay Company surrendered their North American territory known as Rupert's Land to
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
, which then gave it to the newly-formed
Dominion of Canada with an 1869 "deed of surrender". Following this transfer to the Dominion, the province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
engaged in litigation, arbitration, and negotiation to define its northern and western borders. In 1878, arbitrators granted Ontario territory north to the English and Albany rivers, causing Fort Albany to become part of the province. The
''Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889'' officially expanded the province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
north to Albany River and west to
Lake of the Woods. At the suggestion of magistrate E. B. Borron, Ontario initially allowed the old HBC regime to manage the territory, until the province was able to more substantially take on its management, which began by appointing HBC officers as justices of the peace.
Moose Cree leaders, the
Government of Ontario
The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor ...
, and the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
signed
''The James Bay Treaty - Treaty No. 9'' at Moose Factory on August 9, 1905.
In 1906,
Fort Albany Residential School (also known as St. Anne's) opened at the Fort Albany Mission site on Albany Island, under the direction of the
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...
and the
Grey Nuns of the Cross as part of the
Canadian Indian residential school system
In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school s ...
. According to the
Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
The Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada () is an English and French educational resource created by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, published by Canadian Geographic, and funded by the Government of Canada. It was created to address calls t ...
, St. Anne's "was home to some of the most harrowing examples of abuse against Indigenous children in Canada." Students at the school came from First Nations around the James Bay region, including Fort Albany,
Attawapiskat,
Weenusk,
Constance Lake,
Moose Fort, and
Fort Severn
Fort Severn, in present-day Annapolis, Maryland, was built in 1808 on the same site as an earlier American Revolutionary War fort of 1776. Although intended to guard Annapolis harbor from British attack during the War of 1812, it never saw ac ...
. The school was relocated to the north shore of the Albany River in 1932. It burned down in 1939 and was rebuilt.
The Government of Canada took over the management of the school at St. Anne's in 1965, and took over the residence in 1970. In 1976, the residence stopped operating, and the school was transferred to the Fort Albany band council.
Split with Kashechewan
Old Fort Albany, which was on an island between the modern day communities of Fort Albany and
Kashechewan
The Kashechewan First Nation (, cr, ᑫᔒᒋᐗᓐ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, kêšîciwan ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Alban ...
First Nations, became separated into Anglican and Roman Catholic sections. Subsequently, the Roman Catholic mission and the Roman Catholic portion of the community moved to the current site of modern-day Fort Albany, on the southern shore of the river. The Anglican portion of the community some years later moved to the current site of Kashechewan, on the north shore. Up until the 1970s Fort Albany and Kashechewan shared the same chief and council. In the 1977 they came to have separate Band Councils. Fort Albany and Kashechewan are treated as separate bands, and function as separate bands today. New Fort Albany is mostly a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
community, while
Kashechewan
The Kashechewan First Nation (, cr, ᑫᔒᒋᐗᓐ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, kêšîciwan ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Alban ...
is mainly
Anglican.
Geography
Fort Albany has a
subarctic climate (
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Dfc'') with mild summers and severely cold winters.
This is characterised by a yearly mean temperature below the freezing point at . There are very short transitional periods. Fort Albany's climate becomes colder after the bay freezes over. During summer, temperatures reach an average high of . However, October temperatures are relatively mild, on average six degrees milder than April. The annual precipitation rate averages , which is noticeably higher in summer than at other times of the year.
Demographics
Language
The majority of the population speaks
Mushkegowuk Cree. Many men and women, younger and to the age of fifty, are bilingual in
Cree and English. Children are taught in Cree and English at an early age. The community consists of quite a mixture of linguistics, with
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
French,
Cree,
Ojibway
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
, and
Oji-Cree
The Oji-Cree are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a narrow band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west.
The Oji-Cree people are d ...
spoken.
Religion
The two main forms of spirituality practised in Fort Albany are Christianity (
Roman Catholicism) and
Cree spirituality.
Economy
The basic economy of the area is a subsistence allowance. There are seasonal jobs that involve construction work for the major capital projects like the dyke, the new school, and the Mid Canada Line. There are the traditional economic activities like trapping, fishing and hunting. There are a small number of employment opportunities including the Fort Albany First Nation Administration office, Mundo Peetabeck Education authority, Peetabeck Health Services. Fort Albany Power Authority, James Bay General Hospital, Northern Store, Air Creebec, and other small private owned businesses.
The new
De Beers Diamond mine in James Bay may also provide many new opportunities.
Government
Fort Albany First Nation is governed by a band council, consisting of a chief, deputy chief, and seven councillors, all of whom are elected by members of the community. Since 2022, the government has followed a custom election code, after having used the method laid out in the Indian Act since 1909. The current chiefs and councillors are:
* Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit
* Deputy Chief Terry Metatawabin
* First Councillor Brenda Scott
* Councillor Pascal Spence
* Councillor Joseph Scott
* Councillor Ruby Edward-Wheesk
* Councillor Madeline Scott
* Councillor Christopher Metatawabin
* Councillor Madeline Nakogee
Government history
When it was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, Fort Albany was overseen by a Chief Factor. Since 1909, an elected
band government has been in charge of the reserve. Following the split with Kashechewan in 1977, each community has had its own band council. Fort Albany's electoral system followed the Indian Act until 2022, when a custom election code was put in place.
Military
The
Canadian Armed Forces have a presence in the First Nation through the Fort Albany
Canadian Ranger Patrol, part of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. The Fort Albany Patrol launched in January 1995 with 20 Cree Rangers.
Infrastructure
Transportation
The community of Fort Albany is accessible by air, water, and the
winter road
A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...
. The winter road is used only between January and March.
Air Creebec
Air Creebec Inc. is a regional airline based in Val-d'Or, Quebec, Canada. It operates scheduled and charter services to 16 destinations in Quebec and Ontario. Its main base is Val-d'Or Airport, with a hub at Timmins Victor M. Power Airport.
...
provides Fort Albany with daily passenger flights, with connecting flights to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
and/or other points of travel. These arrangements are done in
Timmins
Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...
on Air Creebec,
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled an ...
,
Thunder Airlines, or
Bearskin Airlines
Bearskin Lake Air Service LP, operating as Bearskin Airlines, is a regional airline based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It is a division of Perimeter Aviation and operates services in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Its main base is at Thunde ...
.
Fort Albany is also accessible via the waters of James Bay and the Albany River. Moosonee Transportation Limited provides barge service, carrying supplies at least once or twice each summer by traveling up and down the coast to each community. Freighter canoes can travel from Fort Albany to Calstock and return whenever the water levels are sufficient to make river travel possible.
During the summer months, people use outboard motors and canoes for other activities, such as hunting, trapping, and fishing. During the winter months, skidoos are the main transportation around the community. There are pick-up trucks, vans, and all-terrain vehicles owed by both businesses and individuals.
The winter road was completed in the early spring of 1974. It is also used extensively during the winter months. This road is maintained by contractors. The road links all the surrounding communities, such as
Attawapiskat,
Moosonee,
Moose Factory
Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in lands n ...
, and
Kashechewan
The Kashechewan First Nation (, cr, ᑫᔒᒋᐗᓐ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, kêšîciwan ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Alban ...
. Feasibility studies have recently been undertaken on construction of a permanent all-season road to the communities.
["Ontario's far north one step closer to building all-season road"](_blank)
CBC Sudbury, September 17, 2017. The project, if undertaken, will entail a "coastal road" connecting the four communities with each other, as well as a road to link the coastal road to the provincial highway system at
Fraserdale,
Kapuskasing
Kapuskasing is a town on the Kapuskasing River in the Cochrane District of Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Hearst. The town was known as MacPherson until 1917, when the name was changed so as not to conflict with another rail ...
or
Hearst.
In January 2021, the 311-kilometre James Bay Winter Ice Road was under construction, to connect Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany and Moosonee. It opened some time in winter 2021 and was said to accept loads up to 50,000 kilograms in weight. The road is operated by Kimesskanemenow LP, "a limited partnership between the four communities it connects".
Aviation
Air Creebec transports passengers and provides freight services through
Fort Albany Airport. The present passenger rate is $921.90 for an adult return trip to Timmins. These rates increase on an annual basis. Seat sales are available, which are less expensive than the regular fare price. Air Creebec also provides charter flights when required.
Air Creebec also handles patient transportation up the coastal communities on a daily basis, Mondays to Fridays. These flights are intended only for hospital patients requiring out of the community hospital care.
Other private small airlines, like Thunder Air and Wabusk Air, also provide charter services, which sometimes are cheaper than a regular flight on Air Creebec.
Healthcare
Health care in Fort Albany is provided by a 17-bed
Fort Albany Hospital staff 24/7 by nursing staff with consultation by doctors from
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) is a health-care network operating hospitals and supporting federal nursing stations in remote communities along the James Bay and Hudson Bay coasts in Northern Ontario, Canada.
History
Created in October ...
as well as transfers to Timmins and
Kingston.
Education
The band runs Peetabeck Education, which administers Peetabeck Academy, a
K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grades ...
school that had its grand opening in 2015, at the same time the rectory of the old
St. Anne's Indian Residential School burned.
References
External links
Official Website
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Communities in Cochrane District
Nishnawbe Aski Nation
Hudson's Bay Company forts
Cree reserves in Ontario
1670 establishments in the British Empire
Albany
Road-inaccessible communities of Ontario
First Nations governments in Ontario