The Whitesand First Nation ( ojs, ᐗᐱᓀᑲ)Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services Corporation - Annual Report 2013-2014
https://nanlegal.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/nalsc-annual-report-2013-14.pdf
/ref> is an

Ojibway 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Canada. They have reserved for themselves the Whitesand

. The community of Armstrong Settlement is their main community, located coterminously with

Armstrong, Thunder Bay District, Ontario Armstrong is a compact rural community, unincorporated place, and divisional point on the Canadian National Railway transcontinental railway main line in the unorganized portion of Thunder Bay District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The White ...

. In June 2008, their total registered population was 1086 people, of which their on-reserve population was 311. Originally located along the northwest shore of

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 ...

near Mount St. John, and near the Whitesand River which gives name to the group, Whitesand First Nation was without a home from 1942 when high water levels began eroding the shoreline and flooding out their buildings and burial grounds. Due to the economic influence of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

, many Whitesand First Nation members settled along the CNR rail line. Largest of these settlements took place in Armstrong. Consequently, when a new Reserve was negotiated, it was located immediately north of that community. Whitesand is policed by the OPP an agreement made between chief and council and OPP (OPP: Ontario Provincial Police)

Governance

The current electoral leadership of the council consists of Chief Allan Gustufson and six councillors: Barbara Doblej, Jim Doblej, Raymond Kwandibens, Yvette Kwandibens-Toset, Wayne Matchiendagos and James Nayanookeesic. Their term began on October 27, 2007. There will be an election held this year on the 28th and 29 October 2011. The First Nation is part of the

Independent First Nations Alliance Independent First Nations Alliance (IFNA) is a non-profit Regional Chiefs' Council representing Ojibway and Oji-Cree First Nations in northern Ontario, Canada. The Council provides advisory services and program delivery to its five member-Nations. ...

of the

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Nishnawbe Aski Nation (ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓈᐯ ᐊᔅᑭ ᐃᔥᑯᓂᑲᓇᓐ ᐅᑭᒫᐎᓐ (''Anishinaabe-aski Ishkoniganan Ogimaawin''), unpointed: ᐊᓂᔑᓇᐯ ᐊᔅᑭ ᐃᔥᑯᓂᐊᓇᓐ ᐅᑭᒪᐎᓐ; NAN for short) is a political orga ...

, though Whitesand First Nation is located within the

Robinson Superior 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. ...

area. The First Nation is also a member of

Waaskiinaysay Ziibi Inc. Waaskiinaysay Ziibi Inc. Development Corporation is a First Nations economic development corporation in northern Ontario. It includes the First Nations of: * Animbiigoo Zaagi'igan Anishinaabek First Nation * Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First N ...

, an

economic development corporation An economic development corporation ("EDC") is an organization common in the United States, usually a 501(c)(3) non-profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area. These organizations are complementary ...

made up of five Lake Nipigon First Nations.

References

External links

The Whitesand First Nations Community Website - whitesandfirstnation.comAANDC profile
{{Authority control Oji-Cree First Nations governments in Ontario Nishnawbe Aski Nation