Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation ( oj, Neyaashiinigmiing Anishinaabek) is an Anishinaabek

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 ...

from the

Bruce Peninsula The Bruce Peninsula is a peninsula in Ontario, Canada, that divides Georgian Bay of Lake Huron from the lake's main basin. The peninsula extends roughly northwestwards from the rest of Southwestern Ontario, pointing towards Manitoulin Island, ...

region in

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 Ca ...

, Canada. Along with the

Saugeen First Nation Saugeen First Nation ( oj, Saukiing) is an Ojibway First Nation band located along the Saugeen River and Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. The band states that their legal name is the "Chippewas of Saugeen". Organized in the mid-1970s, Sauge ...

, they form the

Saugeen Ojibway Nation The Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territory ( oj, Saukiing Anishnaabekiing), also known as ''Saugeen Ojibway Nation'', ''SON'' and the ''Chippewas of Saugeen Ojibway Territory'', is the name applied to Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Saugeen ...

. The Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation currently has a registered membership of 2758 individuals, as of December, 2020. Approximately 700 members live on the main reserve, Neyaashiinigmiing 27 (formerly known as Cape Croker). The First Nation has 3 reserves,

Neyaashiinigmiing 27 Neyaashiinigmiing 27 is a reserve within Bruce County, Ontario. It is one of the parcels of land administered by the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. The name ''Neyaashiinigmiing'' in the Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibw ...

Cape Croker Hunting Ground 60B Cape Croker Hunting Ground 60B is a reserve located on the Bruce Peninsula bordering the Bruce Peninsula National Park. It is one of the reserves of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation ( oj, Ne ...

and

Saugeen and Cape Croker Fishing Islands 1 Saugeen and Cape Croker Fishing Islands 1 is a First Nations reserve consisting of 89 islands in Lake Huron off the western coast of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. They extend north of Chief's Point 28 for up to Pike Bay. These islands are shar ...

. The size of all reserves is 8083.70 hectares (31.21 sq. mi.).

Government

Current Band Council

Leaders of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation are elected every two years by the population registered on the band list. The next election date has not yet been set however it will be held around the same time in 2021. The current Chief and Council are: * Chief Veronica Smith * Carolynn Wright * Bernard Keeshig * Anthony Chegahno * Arlene Chegahno * Martha Pedoniquotte * Sydney Nadjiwon * Geewadin Elliott * Nick Saunders * Solomon King

History

Neyaashiinigmiing has always been the home of the Chippewas of Nawash. Their traditional lands included the entire

and roughly 2 million acres south of it. In 1993, the First Nation won a court battle giving them the right to fish for trade and commerce in their traditional waters surrounding the Bruce Peninsula.

Points of interest

Cape Croker lighthouse

Cape Croker lighthouse is located on the south-east corner of Neyaashiinigmiing. It was first built in 1898, but was replaced in 1902 with the current lighthouse. The lighthouse was the first of its type and was the first to have an electrically ran light and foghorn. The lighthouse is an octagonal lighthouse, with a height of 18 meters/53 feet. The original lighthouse was a wooden lighthouse. The lighthouse has a

fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Newton's corpuscular the ...

light and its range is 24 km.

Cape Croker park

Cape Croker park is a 520-acre park located in Neyaashiinigmiing. Surrounding Sydney Bay. It offers camping and host the Cape Croker tradition pow-wow every year.

The Bruce Trail

The

Bruce Trail The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern Ontario, Canada, from the Niagara River to the tip of Tobermory, Ontario. The main trail is more than long and there are over of associated side trails. The trail mostly follows the edge of the Nia ...

goes through Neyaashiinigmiing and on some of the bluffs on Neyaashiinigmiing.

Others

The reserve Neyaashiinigmiing is also home to two bluffs the Jones Bluff and the Sydney Bay Bluff, the Bruce trail goes on both of the bluffs.

Name

The name Chippewas of Nawash is from Chief Nawash who fought with

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

during

the war of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

The name Neyaashiinigmiing loosely translated from

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 ...

as point of land surrounded on 3 sides by water. Which describes the location of Neyaashiinigmiing 27.

Reserves

Chippewas of Nawash have three reserves in perpetuity, amassing to 71.83 km² (27.73 sq. mi.). Of these three, the 63.81 km² (24.64 sq. mi.) Neyaashiinigmiing 27 is considered the main reserve and Saugeen & Cape Croker Fishing Island 1 is shared with

Neyaashiinigmiing 27

Formerly known as Cape Croker 27, this reserve is located within

Bruce County Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada comprising eight lower-tier municipalities and with a 2016 population of 66,491. It is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the ...

, Ontario. It is 63.81 km2 (24.64 sq mi) big. It is the largest reserve of the three.

Cape Croker Hunting Ground 60B

The reserve is surrounded by

Bruce Peninsula National Park Bruce Peninsula National Park is a national park on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. Located on a part of the Niagara Escarpment, the park comprises 156 square kilometres and is one of the largest protected areas in southern Ontario, form ...

and

Saugeen Hunting Grounds 60A Saugeen Hunting Grounds 60A is a First Nations reserve in Bruce County, Ontario. It is one of the reserves of the Saugeen First Nation Saugeen First Nation ( oj, Saukiing) is an Ojibway First Nation band located along the Saugeen River and B ...

Saugeen and Cape Croker Fishing Islands

The reserve consist of 89 island shared with

Media

Radio

FM Radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

Station * 100.1 - CHFN - The Chippewas of Nawash operate a low power FM station that plays an eclectic mix of Rock, country, gospel, and pow wow.

Print

Local newspaper: *''Community Newsletter Eziwehbak (what's happening)'' *''Winter Count: Neyaashiinigmiing's History Newsletter'' *''Dibaudjimoh'' (no longer publishing)

Culture

The Chippewas of Nawash hold a Traditional Pow Wow every year. Chippewas of Nawash is also the home of musician Ira Nadjiwon, Marc Merilainen (Nadjiwon), Jacques Pigeon, Kevin (The Hooch) Lavalley, and Bryden "Gwiss" Kiwenzie who grew up on Nawash. They are also home to an award-winning powwow singers group called "Chippewa Travellers".

Land claims

In 1994, the Nawash and the

s filed a lawsuit against the Government of Canada; the claims for land, and payment of rent on lands, discussed in early treaties are significant. "The two First Nations are claiming aboriginal title to the lands under the water covering an area of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay from south of Goderich, west to the international border and north to the mid-point between the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island; then east to the mid-point of Georgian Bay and south to the southernmost point of Nottawasaga Bay." This suit has yet to be resolved. The Official Plan for the Town of

Saugeen Shores Saugeen Shores is a town in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, formed in 1998. In addition to the two main population centres of Southampton and Port Elgin, the town includes a portion of the village of Burgoyne and the North Bruce area, straddling the ...

(2014) includes the following comment about this issue: "The Chippewas of the Saugeen First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation have filed a Native Land Claim for the islands in the Saugeen River, the lands that border the north side of the Saugeen River and the shoreline from the mouth of the Saugeen River northerly around the Bruce Peninsula."

Notable members

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is an Anishinaabe writer of mixed ancestry from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation in Canada. She lives and works at Neyaashiinigmiing, Cape Croker Reserve on the Saugeen Peninsula in southwestern Ontario, and in Ottawa, ...

, poet, founder of Kegedonce Press *

John Borrows John Borrows (or Kegedonce in Anishinaabe) is a Canadian academic and jurist. He is a full professor of law at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law. He is known as a leading author ...

(b. 1963), Professor Borrows, B.A., M.A., J.D., LL.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Osgoode Hall Law School), LL.D. (Hons.)(Dalhousie) F.R.S.C., is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria Law School. * Basil H. Johnston (1929-2015), writer and educator, residential school survivor *

Verna Patronella Johnston Verna Patronella Johnston (1909-1996) was an Ojibway and Potawatomi (Anishinaabe) author, mother, grandmother, mentor, and community activist, known for helping Indigenous youth who had travelled to the city of Toronto for secondary and post-se ...

, author (''Tales of Nokomis'') and community organizer in

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 ancho ...

during the 1960s and 1970s *

Lenore Keeshig-Tobias Lenore Keeshig-Tobias is an Anishinabe storyteller, poet, scholar, and journalist and a major advocate for Indigenous writers in Canada. She is a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. She was one of the central figures in the deba ...

, author (''Emma and the Trees'' and ''Bird Talk)'' and major advocate for Indigenous writers in Canada *

Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie Bryden Gwiss Kiwenzie is a Canadian musician whose debut album ''Round Dance & Beats (Powwow)'' was a shortlisted nominee for both the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2017

, musician *

Michelle LaVallee Michelle LaVallee is a Canadian curator, artist, and educator. She is Ojibway and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Cape Croker, Ontario. She has BFA (2000) and BEd (2004) degrees from York University in Toronto. LaVa ...

, curator, artist, and educator * Naomi Smith, artist *

Clifford Solomon Clifford "King" Solomon (January 17, 1931 – June 21, 2004) was an American jazz and R&B musician. Solomon was born in Los Angeles and learned to play clarinet from an early age and picked up saxophone when he was 13. In the late 1940s he pla ...

, television actor * Mary Spencer (b. 1984), Canadian, World Champion, Pan AM, and Olympic middleweight boxer"Writers-in-Residence Program: Robin Kimmerer."
''HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.'' 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

References

External links

*
"Hope Bay South East Shore Cottager's Group"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chippewas Of Nawash Unceded First Nation First Nations governments in Ontario Communities in Bruce County