The Cote First Nation ( oj, Ininiwidooskwaning) is a

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, A ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

band government in

Kamsack Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada is a town in the Assiniboine River Valley, where the Whitesand River joins the Assiniboine River. It is northeast of Yorkton. Highway 8 and Highway 5 intersect in the town. Coté First Nation is located north an ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. This Saulteaux

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

is connected to the

Keeseekoose First Nation The Keeseekoose First Nation ( oj, Giizhigoons Anishinaabeg) is a Saulteaux band government located in Kamsack, Saskatchewan. The band is named for Chief Kiishikouse (''kîšîkôns'', ''Giizhigoons'', "little sky"), who signed an adhesion to Tr ...

and only a couple of miles from the Key First Nation. Their land is situated just south of the

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...

in the

aspen parkland Aspen parkland refers to a very large area of transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest in two sections, namely the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta crossing the border into British Columbia, and a much larger area stretchi ...

ecosystem of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The

Ojibwe 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 ...

of this region of Saskatchewan and

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

were both hunters of the

plains bison The Plains bison (''Bison bison bison'') is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison (''B. b. athabascae''). A natural population of Plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park (the Yellowstone ...

and hunters of the forests which were more abundant during the 19th century. They also fished the endless lakes and other waterways in the land. They seldom went hungry as a result of the large bison herds. However, by the 1870s, commercial hunting had reduced the bison to near extinction and the Ojibwe of Saskatchewan and Manitoba began to suffer from famine.

History

Historically, the people of Cote have lived in Saskatchewan and neighbouring Manitoba, for at least 250 to 300 years. After the Europeans arrived, it forced many Ojibwe people to retreat towards the west as well as to the north. By the late 19th century the Europeans had made their way into the eastern Saskatchewan region and then commenced to negotiate with Cote leaders. Among them was Chief MīMīY (Gabriel Coté, Mee-may, Pigeon), who signed Treaty 4 on September 15, 1874. A reserve was surveyed in 1877. It established the Cote First Nation and then eventually the

which was originally a part of the

Swan River First Nation The Swan River First Nation ( cr, ᐚᐱᓯᐤ ᓰᐱᐩ, wâpisiw-sîpiy) is a First Nations band government in northern Alberta. Located near Kinuso, it controls two Indian reserves, Swan River 150E Swan River 150E is a Cree First Nation ...

of Manitoba, before floods commenced and forced a relocation. It is not known if the Ojibwe people of eastern Saskatchewan participated in the 1885 North-West Rebellion but their land was quite far from the major battle scenes of the conflict. The Cote Ojibweg were probably affiliated with Chief Yellow Quill and also Chief Kinistin during the 19th century.

Reserves

Cote was originally a larger reserve connected to the

. Today the Cote have one reserve of and share Treaty Four Reserve Grounds Indian Reserve No. 77 with 33 other

Treaty 4 Treaty 4 is a treaty established between Queen Victoria and the Cree and Saulteaux First Nation band governments. The area covered by Treaty 4 represents most of current day southern Saskatchewan, plus small portions of what are today western M ...

First Nations. The Cote First Nation is a member of the Yorkton Tribal Council whose offices are located in

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about 450 kilometres north-west of Winnipeg and 300 kilometres south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. As of 2017 the census population of the ...

Membership

As of September, 2013 there were 3,616 registered members with 904 members living on-reserve and 2,712 members living off-reserve. Cote was originally a larger reserve connected to the Keeseekoose First Nation. Today the Cote Reserve covers . Together with the Keeseekoose Reserve the area increases to . The population of the Cote First Nation is 841 on-Reserve and 2,642 off-Reserve. Total population is 3,483. When including the total population of the Keeseekoose, it increases to 5,726.

Chiefs

Antoine "Tony" Cote (1935 - July 31, 2019) was "elected Chief of Cote for a period of 8 years" (1970–78) and was responsible for building an arena on the reserve and the inception of the first Saskatchewan Indian Summer Games in 1974, the first all Indian Junior B Hockey Team, first all Indian Oldtimers Hockey Team and in 1980 is recorded as Treasurer of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians. He is the recipient of the

Saskatchewan Order of Merit The Saskatchewan Order of Merit (french: Ordre du Mérite de la Saskatchewan) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Instituted in 1985 by Lieutenant Governor Frederick Johnson, on the advice of the Cabinet u ...

, was inducted into th
Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame
(2011) and was the winner of the

Tom Longboat Award The Tom Longboat Awards were established in 1951 to recognize Aboriginal athletes "for their outstanding contributions to sport in Canada" and continues "to honour Indigenous athletes across Canada" annually. As a program of the Aboriginal Sport ...

for Saskatchewan in 197

The Saskatchewan First Nations Summer Games were renamed the Tony Cote Summer Games in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cote First Nation First Nations governments in Saskatchewan