The Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation () is an

Oji-Cree The Anisininew or Oji-Cree are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west. The Oji-Cree pe ...

band government In Canada, an Indian band (), First Nation band () or simply band, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the ''Indian Act'' (i.e. status Indians or First Nations). Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

. They reside on the Muskrat Dam Lake reserve, 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 larger ...

. 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 Airport is located north of the First Nations community of Muskrat Dam Lake First Nation, Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories ...

. Muskrat Dam Lake is

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

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 Ojibwe) and Omushkegowuk Cree communities and the Canadian Crown, which includes both the gov ...

. 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 (),Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services Corporation - Annual Report 2013-2014https://nanlegal.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/nalsc-annual-report-2013-14.pdf/ref> sometimes also known as Round L ...

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.

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 - 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 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

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 of muskrat dam

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