The Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation ( ojs, ᐗᒐᐡᑾᓂᒥᐠ ᓴᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ) is an
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 des ...
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 ...
band government
In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...
in
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...
. They reside on the Muskrat Dam Lake
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 ...
, located on Muskrat Dam Lake in the
Kenora District
Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The district seat is the City of Kenora.
It is geographically the largest division in Ontario: at , it covers 38 percent of the province's area, making it large ...
. The community of Muskrat Dam, Ontario, is located on this reserve. In June 2008, their total registered population was 387 people, of which their on-reserve population was around 195.
The reserve's primary transportation link is the
Muskrat Dam Airport.
Muskrat Dam Lake is
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
d 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.
History
The Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation is part of the 1929-30 Adhesion to the James Bay Treaty of 1905 -
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 ...
.
The Muskrat Dam people have historical links to the people of
Bearskin Lake, and several families have relocated from Bearskin Lake to Muskrat Dam Lake. The families that relocated to Muskrat Dam were that of Tommy and Victoria Beardy, who were joined by Jeremiah and Juliet Duncan, Moses and Eunice Fiddler, Jake and Esther Beardy and Roderick and Effie Fiddler. Later, Fiddlers' son Billy and Moses Fiddler's mother Nainee also joined the little settlement.
Due to abundance of natural resources in the area, the small community started living off the land: fishing, hunting, trapping and logging.
Weagamow Lake, Ontario
North Caribou Lake First Nation or Weagamow First Nation ( ojs, ᐗᐎᔦᑲᒪᐠ),Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services Corporation - Annual Report 2013-2014https://nanlegal.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/nalsc-annual-report-2013-14.pdf/ref> sometime ...
helped them start a sawmill operation, as well as to fly in tools, gas and grocery supplies.
Until it officially gained reserve status in 1976, Muskrat Dam was a satellite community of the
Big Trout Lake
Big Trout Lake is a large lake in Northern Ontario. The Fawn River flows into it from the west and drains it from the east. The reserve of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, also known as Big Trout Lake, is located on Post Island on ...
.
Governance
The current elected leadership of the council consists of Chief Gordon Walter Beardy.
Official Name Muskrat Dam Lake
Number 213
Membership Authority
Section 11 Band
*Election Type: Custom Electoral System
*Council Quorum: 3
*First Nation Officials (Term: September 15, 2015 to July 31, 2017)
**Chief Gordon Walter BEARDY
**Deputy Chief Charlie Beardy
**Councillor Douglas Beardy
**Councillor Gabriel Fiddler
**Councillor Vietta Morris
*Note: Election System - The type of system used by a First Nation in the selection of its chief and councillors (can be either under the Indian Act election system, the First Nations Elections Act, a custom system, or under the provisions of a self-governing agreement).
The First Nation is part of the
ndependent First Nations Allianceof the
ishnawbe Aski Nation
On September 11, 2015 that Muskrat Dam Election committee held a nomination meeting, with the majority of the 14 people in attendance voting to bar candidates who had previously resigned from seeking re-election.
Three days later former Ontario regional chief Stan Beardy was declared the new chief by acclamation.
Federal judge nixed Muskrat Dam election results. Federal Court of Canada Justice Cecily Strickland ordered the results quashed with a new election to be held within six months of April 7.
Reserve Recuperates
Stan Beardy, who was later confirmed as the reserve's rightful chief by a federal court, said an internal investigation has found that the fly-in community of 300 Oji-Cree owes about $5 million.
Notable people
*
Gordon Beardy
Gordon Beardy is a retired Anglican bishop.
Beardy was a suffragan bishop of Diocese of Keewatin from 1993 to 1996 and then its diocesan
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction ...
- former
Keewatin Bishop for the
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...
who was the first Native diocesan bishop in Canada; also elected and served as the First Nation's Chief in 2002.
*
Darryn Morris - deadliest man in Muskrat Dam (wish around)
External links
Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation's webpageAANDC profileFirstNation.ca profileNAN profile
References
{{authority control
Oji-Cree reserves in Ontario
First Nations governments in Ontario
Communities in Kenora District
Nishnawbe Aski Nation