Mikisew Cree First Nation ( cr, ᒥᑭᓯᐤ, mikisiw, ''meaning: "golden eagle"'') is an Indigenous

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 ...

government of

Woodland Cree The ''Saāwithiniwak'' or Woodland Cree, are a Cree people, calling themselves Nîhithaw in their own dialect of the language. They are the largest indigenous group in northern Alberta and are an Algonquian people. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

people in northeastern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and in Northwest Territories, Canada. Most Mikisew Cree First Nation members live in

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, and

Fort Chipewyan Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, app ...

in Alberta and in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. According to former chief Lawrence Courtoreille, starting in 1944 many Dene people were induced by the government of to transfer their registration to the Mikisew band, including Courtoreille's own mother, leading to "a little over fifty percent" of the Mikisew Cree band members having some Dene heritage . Dene people were denied access to hunting, fishing, and gathering within the boundaries of

Wood Buffalo National Park Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park in the world. The park w ...

unless they switched their registration, and were threatened with eviction from the Birch River settlement. In the end, Cree access to the park was restricted as well. The Mikisew Cree First Nation is one of the five

Athabasca Tribal Council The Athabasca Tribal Council is a tribal council representing five First Nation band governments in the province of Alberta. The organization is based in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Demographics As of August 2016, there were 6,807 registered members ...

Nations. The group signed a treaty in 1986 with Canada establishing several reserves. The Mikisew Cree won a case in the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005 over title interests to areas of the

References

External links

Mikisew Cree First Nation website
First Nations governments in Alberta Cree governments Dene communities Forced migration Cultural assimilation {{alberta-stub