Nipissing First Nation ( oj, Niipsing, meaning place of the elms) is a long-standing community of Nishnaabeg peoples located along the shorelines of

Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (; french: lac Nipissing, oj, Gichi-nibiinsing-zaaga’igan) is a lake in the Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under ...

in northern

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 ...

. They are referred to by many names in European historical records, since the colonists often adopted names given to them by other nations. The Nipissing are part 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, ...

peoples, a grouping of people speaking

Algonquin language Algonquin (also spelled Algonkin; in Algonquin: or ) is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alongside French and to some extent English, by th ...

s, which includes the

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

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 ...

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

, and

Algonquins The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

. This broad heritage is likely the result of the Nipissings' living at a geographical crossroads, a watershed divide.

Geography

drains via the French River into

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

and, to the east of Lake Nipissing, Trout Lake drains via the

Mattawa River The Mattawa River is a river in central Ontario, Canada. It flows east from Trout Lake east of North Bay and enters the Ottawa River at the town of Mattawa. Counting from the head of Trout Lake, it is 76 km in length. The river's name come ...

into the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

. Living at the crossroads between two watersheds, the Nipissing were key to trade to the east, west, north and south of Lake Nipissing. The French

portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

d the watershed divide extensively to reach the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

by canoe from their settlements around

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

. To the west the Nipissing trade routes extended as far as

Lake Nipigon Lake Nipigon (; french: lac Nipigon; oj, Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan) is part of the Great Lakes drainage basin. It is the largest lake entirely within the boundaries of the Canadian province of Ontario. Etymology In the Jesuit Relations the lake is ...

and their Ojibwa neighbours, and to the north as far as

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

, where they traded with the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

and, later, the English. Their trade network to the east extended as far as present-day

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, also on the Saint Lawrence. The

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian la ...

-speaking

Huron people The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario wi ...

lived nearby to the south. Archaeological evidence shows that the Nipissing integrated some Huron styles and techniques in their pottery. They obtained food primarily through hunting, fishing, and gathering. Their extensive trading likely allowed them to supplement their diets with

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, beans and

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

as well, which were staple crops cultivated by many

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 ...

peoples. The land in the lake valleys would have supported some horticulture. Today Nipissing First Nation lies between the city of North Bay and the municipality of

West Nipissing West Nipissing is a municipality in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, on Lake Nipissing in the Nipissing District. It was formed on January 1, 1999, with the amalgamation of seventeen and a half former town, villages, townships and unorganized communi ...

in northeastern Ontario. Most members of the First Nation reside on the

First Nations reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Monarchy of Canada, Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benef ...

of Nipissing Indian Reserve 10.

History

The Nipissing controlled trade routes that became increasingly desirable during the early French colonial period, as the French proved a large, lucrative market for the inland pelts, exporting many to Europe. The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, based south of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

, conducted military campaigns against the competing Huron and Nipissing in the competition for furs. By 1647, the Nipissing regrouped in the

area. The Nipissing continued to use their historical trade routes but at greater risk.

Claude-Jean Allouez Claude Jean Allouez (June 6, 1622 – August 28, 1689) was a Jesuit missionary and French explorer of North America. He established a number of missions among the indigenous people living near Lake Superior. Biography Allouez was born in Sai ...

visited the Nipissings at Lake Nipigon 1667, but in 1671 he reported that the Nipissing had returned to Lake Nipissing. After returning to Lake Nipissing, some of the Nipissings relocated to the missions at

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

and

Oka Oka or OKA may refer to: Cars * Oka (automobile), a small car designed by AvtoVAZ and produced by ZMA and SeAZ * OKA 4wd, a large 4-wheel-drive vehicle made in Western Australia by OKA Military * 2B1 Oka, Soviet 420 mm self-propelled mor ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The noted 18th-century

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Attakullakulla Attakullakulla (Cherokee language, Cherokee”Tsalagi”, (ᎠᏔᎫᎧᎷ) ''Atagukalu''; also spelled Attacullaculla and often called Little Carpenter by the English) (c. 1715 – c. 1777) was an influential Cherokee leader and the tr ...

(died 1775) was born a Nipissing. He was captured as a child when the Cherokee raided his community and killed his parents; he was adopted by a Cherokee family. By the early 19th century, European colonists and

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

had started trapping in the area in and around Lake Nipissing, rather than relying on pelts brought to trading posts by First Nations peoples. This competition resulted in fewer pelts available to the Nipissing and other First Nations in the area. In 1850 the Nipissing signed the

Robinson Treaty The Robinson Treaties are two treaties signed between the Ojibwa chiefs and The Crown in 1850 in the Province of Canada. The first treaty involved Ojibwa chiefs along the north shore of Lake Superior, and is known as the Robinson Superior Treaty. ...

with the Canadian representatives of the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

. In the face of increasing European encroachment by settlers, they wanted to confirm their claim to the north shores of Lake Nipissing and its main waterways.

Reserve

Nipissing 10, as it was formerly known, is an

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Ind ...

in northeastern Ontario located on the north shores of

in the

Nipissing District Nipissing District is a district in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1858. The district seat is North Bay. In 2016, the population was 83,150. The land area is ; the population density was , making it o ...

, serving as the land base for the Nipissing First Nation. The reserve is located west of North Bay and east of

. The reserve comprises the communities of Beaucage, Jocko Point, Yellek, Duchesnay, and Garden Village, as well as many smaller sub-divisions. Garden Village is accessible by municipal streets in Sturgeon Falls. The other communities all have direct access off of Highway 17 West.

Society

Traditionally, the Nipissing nation is structured around families and clans (or

doodem The Anishinaabe, like most Algonquian-speaking groups in North America, base their system of kinship on patrilineal clans or totems. The Ojibwe word for clan () was borrowed into English as totem. The clans, based mainly on animals, were in ...

s). The five doodems are: Blood (''Miskwaa'aa'', recorded as "Miskouaha"), Birchbark (''Wiigwaas''), Heron (''Ashagi'', recorded as "Outchougai"), Beaver ( ''Amikwaa'', recorded as "Amicois" or as "Nez Percés"), and Squirrel (''Asanagoo''). During the period of the clans' early contact with the Europeans, the Blood, Birchbark, and Squirrel clans were located on and about Lake Nipissing, the Heron clan resided primarily on Lake Nipissing but also on lands extending southward to the eastern coast of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

's Georgian Bay, and the Beaver clan was located on the northern coast of

, adjacent to Heron territory. Each clan is subdivided along family lines. They govern independently but at the same time cooperatively, as part of Nipissing Nation as a whole. They respect a person's right to decide individual paths..

Demographics

As of February 2009, Nipissing First Nation had a total registered population of 2,201 people, of which 886 lived on their own reserve. The 2001 Canadian Census recorded 1,378 people lived on Nipissing 10 Indian Reserve. According to the 2011 Canadian Census: *Population: 1,450 *% Change (2006-2011): 2.6 *Dwellings: 674 *Area (km²): 61.22 *Density (persons per km²): 23.7

Governance

The current governance of the Nipissing First Nation is elected under the custom electoral system, consisting of a chief, deputy chief and six councillors. The current council consists of Chief Scott McLeod and Deputy Chief Muriel Sawyer, along with Councillors June Commanda, Brian Couchie, Corey Goulais, Jane B Commanda, Michael Sawyer and Eric "Ric" Stevens. Their three-year term ends July 31, 2018. The Nipissing First Nation's council is a member of

Waabnoong Bemjiwang Association of First Nations The Waabnoong Bemjiwang Association of First Nations is a tribal council of First Nations in the Georgian Bay region of Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the Dokis, Henvey Inlet, Magnetawan and Wasauksing First Nations in the Parry Sound ...

, which is a regional chiefs' council. The First Nation is also a member of the

Union of Ontario Indians The Anishinabek Nation, also known as the Union of Ontario Indians, is a First Nations political organization representing 39 member Anishinabek Nation First Nations in Canada in the province of Ontario, Canada. The organization's roots predate Eu ...

, a tribal political organization representing many of the Anishinaabe First Nations in central and southern Ontario. In January 2014, the Nipissing adopted what is believed to be the first constitution for First Nations in Ontario. It is supposed to replace the ''

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

'' as the supreme law which regulates the governance of the First Nation, but has not been tested in court.

Notable Nipissing

Dan Frawley (ice hockey) William Daniel Frawley (born June 2, 1962) is a Canadians, Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. During his junior hockey years, Frawley played for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey Association, OHA and the Cornwall Royals of the ...

, b. 1962, NHL hockey player, captain of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

1987 *Ian Campeau of A Tribe Called Red *

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the ...

tribe was adopted into the

Cherokee Tribe The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

and later served as a chief

References

External links

*
Nipissing First Nation profile
on the

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

website
First Nation Detail
{{authority control First Nations in Ontario Algonquian ethnonyms Anishinabek Nation Anishinaabe reserves in Ontario Communities in Nipissing District Lake Nipissing