Marten Falls First Nation is an

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, Potawat ...

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 ...

located 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 ...

. The First Nation occupies communities on both sides of the

Albany River Albany, derived from the Gaelic for Scotland, most commonly refers to: *Albany, New York, the capital of the State of New York and largest city of this name * Albany, Western Australia, port city in the Great Southern Albany may also refer to: ...

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 Pro ...

, including Ogoki Post (

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 ...

: ''Ogookiing'') in the

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming and Thunder Bay districts. In 2016, the population was 79,682. The land area of th ...

and Marten Falls 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 ...

. As of December 2013, the First Nation had a total registered population of 728 people, of which their on-reserve population was 328 people.

Profile

Ogoki is a First Nation community managed by the Marten Falls Band. It has a registered population of roughly four hundred people, with additional transient residents fulfilling healthcare, teaching or policing roles. The town is served by Ogoki Post Airport, and has its own

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...

station, CKFN 89.9 FM (a repeater of

CKWT-FM CKWT-FM is a radio station of Wawatay Radio Network in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada. The station airs a programming format for First Nations, and serves much of Northwestern Ontario through a network of rebroadcast transmitters. Rebroadcaste ...

). The only road access to the community is through

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice.Proskin et al, 2011. Guidelines for the Construction an ...

s. However, from 2000 to 2014 there were no winter roads into the community; recently, the community has worked to maintain the ice road. The community is fly-in only in terms of all year travel.

Government

Governance

The Marten Falls First Nation elects their council members through the Act Electoral System for a two-year term, consisting of a chief and seven councillors. Chief Ambrose Achneepineskum's term ran from September 30, 2017, to September 29, 2019. The Seven (7) councillors are: Russell Achneepineskum, Paul Achneepineskum, Sam Achneepineskum Sr, Grace Bottle, Linda Moonias, Robert Moonias,

Council

As a signatory to

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 Marten Falls First Nation is a member of the

Matawa First Nations Matawa First Nations (Ojibwe: ᒫᑕᐙ (''maadawaa'', "to fork, to confluence"); unpointed: ᒪᑕᐧᐊ), officially as the Matawa First Nations Management, Inc., is a non-profit Regional Chiefs' Council representing Ojibway and Cree First Nat ...

, a Regional Chief's Council, and 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 ...

, a Tribal Political Organization representing majority of the First Nations in northern Ontario. Through these council memberships, the First Nation receives additional services, ranging from Economic Development assistance and Health Care assistance to

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 ...

Services

The healthcare in the community is serviced by a First Nations Inuit Health (a branch of Health Canada) clinic staffed by community health nurses (CHN). There is a K-8 school (Henry Coaster Memorial School) that staffs teachers from both outside the community and within the First Nation. The on-reserve version of Children's Aid is provided through Tikinagan Child and Family Services. Ogoki 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

, an Aboriginal-based service.

Reserve

The First Nation have reserved for themselves the Marten Falls Indian Reserve 65, located on the north bank of the Albany River, about northeast of Nakina, Ontario.

History

Marten Falls was the home of Chanie Wenjack, a young boy who died in 1966 while trying to return home after escaping from an

Indian residential school In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sys ...

."Gord Downie to release album, graphic novel about residential schools"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', September 9, 2016. His story was dramatized in ''

Secret Path ''Secret Path'' is a Canadian multimedia storytelling project including a ten-song music album and tour, a graphic novel, an animated television film, and instructional materials. Released on October 18, 2016,graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

project by

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its form ...

and

Jeff Lemire Jeff Lemire (; born March 21, 1976) is a Canadian comic book writer, artist, and television producer. He is the author of critically acclaimed titles including the ''Essex County Trilogy'', '' Sweet Tooth'', and ''The Nobody''. His written work in ...

Transportation

Marten Falls is proposing a new all-season access road to be built to replace the winter road. The new road will connect to Ontario Highway 643 at its northern terminus northwest of Aroland.

References

External links

AANDC profile
{{authority control Communities in Cochrane District Nishnawbe Aski Nation First Nations governments in Ontario Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Communities in Kenora District Anishinaabe reserves in Ontario