The Sagkeeng First Nation (also known as Sagkeeng Anicinabe)
is a
Treaty-1 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 the
Eastman Region
Eastern Manitoba, or the Eastman Region (french: Région de Eastman), is an informal geographic List of regions of Manitoba, region of the Canada, Canadian Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Manitoba. It is bounded on the north by th ...
of
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
,
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 ...
, that is composed of the
Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...
people indigenous to the area at or near the Fort Alexander Indian Reserve #3 (or Fort Alexander)
located along 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 ...
and
Traverse Bay.
Today, Sagkeeng holds territory in the southern part of
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...
, north of the city of
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 749,6 ...
, and on the mainland.
As of June 2021, the Sagkeeng
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 ...
has a total
registered population of 8,208
band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
*Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
* Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
members, with over 3,600 members living on the reserve and over 4,500 living off of the reserve.
As the reserve is located on both North and South shores at the outlet, or 'mouth', of the Winnipeg River, the name ''Sagkeeng'' is derived from 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 ...
term ''Zaagiing'', meaning 'Mouth of the river'.
It is adjacent to the northern border of the
Rural Municipality of Alexander
The Rural Municipality of Alexander (french: Municipalité rurale d'Alexander) is a rural municipality in the Eastman Region of Manitoba, Canada. The town of Powerview-Pine Falls lies adjacent to the municipality, as does the Sagkeeng First Nation ...
, which also borders the town of
Pine Falls.
Sagkeeng’s traditional territory includes land within
Treaty 1
''Treaty 1'' (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree nations. The first of a series of treaties called the ...
and lands north and east of the Winnipeg River. The territory of Sagkeeng originally was to have commenced one mile upstream from the Fort Alexander
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
formerly occupied by 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 div ...
. Files of the federal
Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs department indicate that the Chief and Council requested the boundaries to be moved to its present location.
History
Sagkeeng Anicinabe people
The gathering and trading area of what became Fort Alexander were, along with its peoples, a component of the copper culture, as evident by copper points and artifacts that were found in what became the Fort Alexander area. The source of the copper was the
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
copper mines that are thousands of years old.
Some of the Sagkeeng Ojibway people are direct descendants of the
Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...
tribes that migrated from a very ancient settlement in the present-day
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay.
The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of ...
area. Some of the forefathers of Sagkeeng were a component of the ancient copper culture; they brought the copper points and artifacts that have been found around the Fort Alexander fishing, hunting, trading, and meeting grounds.
According to the current Sagkeeng government, Sagkeeng Anishinaabe have lived "at or near the mouth of the Winnipeg river (which became Fort Alexander Reserve #3" and
Traverse Bay, since
time immemorial
Time immemorial ( la, Ab immemorabili) is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record". The phrase is used in legally significant contexts as well as ...
." This means that some Sagkeeng forefathers were always from this area and they mixed, married, and traded daughters with Anishinaabe and other native tribes. The Anishinaabe peoples began trading with the first French immigrants just a few hundred years ago in this Fort Alexander area now known as Sagkeeng territory.
Fort Alexander
In 1734,
La Vérendrye
La Vérendrye, La Verendrye or Verendrye may refer to:
People
*Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (1685–1749), French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer, often called simply "La Vérendrye". His sons were:
**Jean ...
built a
fur trading
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...
post,
Fort Maurepas
Fort Maurepas, later known as Old Biloxi,
"Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville" (biography),
''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1907, webpage:
gives dates: 13 Feb. 1699, went to the mainland Biloxi,
with fort completion May 1, 1699; sailed f ...
, on the north side of 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 ...
, north of present-day
Selkirk, Manitoba
Selkirk is a city in the western Canadian province of Manitoba, located on the Red River about northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg. It has a population of 10,504 as of the 2021 census.
The mainstays of the local economy are tourism, ...
; which was abandoned at the end of the colonial period. Later Toussaint Lesieur, a
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
(NWC) clerk, built a post on the south side of the mouth of
Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...
; it was called
Fort Bas de la Rivière
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
and functioned as the capital of the NWC Lake Winnipeg district. It became an important provisioning post for both the Native and immigrant canoe brigades. Bags of
pemmican
Pemmican (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigenous ...
, brought from NWC posts on the upper Assiniboine River, were stored here among other goods.
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 div ...
operated here between 1795 and 1801. In 1807,
Alexander MacKay
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants li ...
rebuilt the post on a nearby site. Beginning in 1808, the new post was known as Fort Alexander (). Since
big game of the area had been over exploited by immigrants in the late 1700s, fish, grains, and
garden vegetables were the
staple foods
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...
of the area. By 1812, the Bas de la Rivière gardens were selling vegetables to the incoming Red River immigrants. After the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies merged in 1821, Fort Alexander continued to be operated as a trading post for the natives and immigrants in the region.
In 1871, ''Kakakepenaise'' (''Gekeki-Binesi'', 'Hawk-bird', a.k.a. William Mann I) signed
Treaty 1
''Treaty 1'' (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree nations. The first of a series of treaties called the ...
on behalf of the ancestors of the Sagkeeng people.
The Fort Alexander Indian Reserve of approximately was surveyed in 1874.
Treaty
Treaty 1
''Treaty 1'' (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree nations. The first of a series of treaties called the ...
was signed on behalf of the ancestors of the Sagkeeng people in 1871.
While considered a Treaty 1 nation, Sagkeeng is also a member of
3 and
Treaty 5
''Treaty Five'' is a treaty that was first established in September, 1875, between Queen Victoria and Saulteaux and Swampy Cree non-treaty band governments and peoples around Lake Winnipeg in the District of Keewatin.
A written text is include ...
, as all three treaty boundaries merge at Sagkeeng. (This also means that it is a member of the
Grand Council of Treaty 3
Grand Council of Treaty 3 (GCT3) is a political organization representing 24 First Nation communities across ''Treaty 3'' areas of northern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba, Canada, and four additional First Nations, specifically in regard to thei ...
, or GCT3.) More specifically, converging at the Sagkeeng Territory are the territory treaty boundaries of the Northern Territory of Turtle Island, the
Southern Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, step ...
territory, and the Eastern Turtle Island, together encompassing a geographical area of .
Sagkeeng holds its annual Treaty Days in the last week of July of every year. The five to six days of events are open to everyone and include a community parade, various children's events, a three-day
pow wow
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...
, and, lastly, fireworks.
The French
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary Congregation of Papal Right, religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a France, French priest born in Aix-en-Provence ...
nuns ran the
Fort Alexander Indian Residential School for Indigenous children. As was typical of the
Canadian 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 sys ...
at the time, the institution practised
cultural genocide
Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines ...
by forcing the students to speak English and prohibiting them from practicing their own culture in their own land, thereby creating an ongoing legacy of trauma among the Sagkeeng and other Anishinabe peoples. In 2005, 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 ...
formally acknowledged and apologized for the abuses of the residential schools. In 2007, it authorized payment of a $1.9-billion compensation package to surviving children who had been forced to attend the schools.
The Sagkeeng and other Indigenous peoples have criticized the government's Child and Family Services (CFS) for breaking up families, rather than working to hold them together by providing support to parents and children.
Contemporary life
The Sagkeeng Anicinabe Government’s current leadership, elected in April 2019, is composed of five elected members : Chief Derrick Henderson; and Councillors Lin Dorie, John Courchene, Dylan Courchene, Erin Courchene, Henry Swampy and Tania Twoheart.
The nation has a dance group
Sagkeeng's Finest, who, in 2012, won the first and only season of ''
Canada's Got Talent
''Canada's Got Talent'' is a Canadian television reality talent show, which debuted on the Citytv network on March 4, 2012. It is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise.
As with other series in the franchise, the show is a competition i ...
'' against a total of 244 other acts. The group included Vincent O’Laney (17), and brothers Dallas (16) and Brandon Courchene (18). The trio started with traditional jigging, a First Nations tradition, then fused more modern dance styles, such as
tap dancing
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...
, into their act. Along with the grand prize of $100,000, they also won a $105,000
Nissan GT-R
The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alth ...
sports car, an opportunity to perform during
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
's New Year's Eve special, and the possibility of performing at a venue in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.
Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation scandal
On October 18, 2000, the
Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
reported that Perry Fontaine, the director of the Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation, a Native addictions treatment centre located on Sagkeeng First Nation—and 74 other foundation staff (including CEO
Ken Courchene) attended a cruise to the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
that was termed a "staff retreat," which required the then-addictions center be closed.
The cost of this trip was reported later to be over $135,000.
Health Canada
Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...
eventually investigated the financial books of the Centre and found massive
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
and
kickback schemes which was oversaw by former Health Canada assistant deputy minister Paul Cochrane and Patrick Nottingham, the ex-regional director of Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit health programs in Manitoba. Cochrane and Nottingham pleaded guilty in the fall of 2005. Cochrane was formally accused by the RCMP, after more than two years of financial mismanagement at the center was eventually charged with one count of breach of trust and seven counts of fraud against the government. Nottingham, was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day and ordered to pay $1.14 million in
restitution
The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court o ...
.
According to the
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
, Perry Fontaine along with his wife and daughter offered bribes to Cochrane, who accepted a $50,000 payment on 11 December 1996; four
season tickets for
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
hockey games in Ottawa in 1998, 1999, and 2000; a blue 1997
Jeep Cherokee
The Jeep Cherokee is a line of SUVs manufactured and marketed by Jeep over five generations. Originally marketed as a variant of the Jeep Wagoneer, the Cherokee has evolved from a full-size SUV to one of the first compact SUVs and into its curr ...
sport-utility vehicle in April 1998; a red 1997
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a range of mid-size SUVs produced by the American manufacturer Jeep. At its introduction, while most SUVs were still manufactured with body-on-frame construction, the Grand Cherokee has used a unibody chassis from the ...
in July 1999; a green 2000
Nissan Xterra
The Nissan Xterra is a truck-based compact SUV manufactured and marketed by Nissan from 1999–2015 across two generations; the first (1999–2004) sharing a platform as well as front bumper, hood, A-pillar, windshield and front doors with the ...
sport-utility vehicle for his son Lucas Cochrane in May 2000; free trips for Cochrane and his family between July 1999 and October 2000; and two
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
receipts for fake donations of $5,000 each for the years 1997 and 1998. Cochrane's sons were also given cushy, well-paying jobs at the Centre at his insistence.
Fontaine was eventually charged with fraud over $5,000 and sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Sagkeeng First Nation now hosts a family treatment centre, the Sagkeeng Mino Pimatiziwin Family Treatment Centre. The program has been successfully running for a few years. They work with entire families to learn how to work through problems and keep families together.
Notable citizens
*
Jerry Fontaine, politician, Chief 1989–1998
*
Phil Fontaine
Larry Phillip Fontaine, (born September 20, 1944) is an Indigenous Canadian leader. He completed his third and final term as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2009.
Early life
Fontaine, an Ojibwe, was born at the Sagkeeng Firs ...
, politician, Chief 1973–1977
*
Jaimie Isaac
Jaimie Isaac is a Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe artist and curator.
Early life and education
Isaac is of Anishinaabe and British descent and is a member of Sagkeeng First Nation. She holds a master's degree from the University of British Columbia ...
, artist and curator
*
Sagkeeng's Finest winners of ''
Canada's Got Talent
''Canada's Got Talent'' is a Canadian television reality talent show, which debuted on the Citytv network on March 4, 2012. It is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise.
As with other series in the franchise, the show is a competition i ...
'' season 1
See also
*
Murder of Serena McKay
References
External links
Sagkeeng First Nation*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140429045227/http://pse5-esd5.ainc-inac.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/FNMain.aspx?BAND_NUMBER=262&lang=eng AANDC profileMap of Fort Alexander 3 at Stat can{{coord, 50, 36, 23, N, 96, 17, 38, W, scale:100000, display=title
First Nations governments in Manitoba
Indian reserves in Manitoba
Eastman Region, Manitoba