The Aamjiwnaang First Nation (formerly Chippewas of Sarnia First Nation; ) is an

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

(

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

) First Nations Band located on reserve land by the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, three miles south of the southern tip of

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. The reserve is located across from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

border from

Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Po ...

, and is a result of treaties that were negotiated with the Crown in the 1820s. There are approximately 2,600

band members Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

with about 900 living on the reserve. Their heritage language is

. The word ''Aamjiwnaang'' (am-JIN-nun) means "meeting place by the rapid water", which describes the surrounding communities.

Environmental issues

Aajimwnaang Resource Centre right next to Dow Chemical in Chemical Valley

The Aamjiwnaang community has expressed concern regarding its proximity to

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

, polymer, and

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...

s in the area, as

birth rates Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration syste ...

of their people have been documented by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

journal ''

Environmental Health Perspectives ''Environmental Health Perspectives'' (''EHP'') is a peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qual ...

'' as deviating from the normal ratio of close to 50% boys, 50% girls. The ratio as found between 1999 and 2003 by the journal was roughly 33% boys, and 67% girls, the lowest live male birth rate in Canada. On April 25, 2024 Aamjiwnaang announced a state of emergency after preliminary data from an air pollutant monitor in the community showed elevated levels of benzene. Seven days earlier, the

Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is an Government of Ontario, Ontario government ministry responsible for environmental protection, protecting and improving the quality of the environment in the Canadian province of Ontario ...

issued a provincial order to nearby

INEOS Ineos Group Limited is a British multinational conglomerate headquartered and registered in London. it was the fourth largest chemical company in the world, with additional operations in fuel, packaging and food, construction, automotive, ph ...

Styrolution, and the facility shutdown operations temporarily.

Demographics

Notable members

Lisa Jackson (filmmaker) Lisa Jackson is a Canadian Screen Award and Genie Award-winning Canadian and Anishinaabe filmmaker. Her films have been broadcast on APTN and Knowledge Network, as well as CBC's '' ZeD'', ''Canadian Reflections'' and Newsworld and have screened ...

* Christopher Plain - Previous Chief * June Simon - Band Manager * Carolyn Nahmabin - Membership * Fred Plain - Former President 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 ...

* David D. Plain - Author of The Plains of Aamjiwnaang:Our History

References

External links

Aamjiwnaang First Nation - Home

2001 Community Profiles
for Sarnia 45 from

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada profile
{{Authority control Anishinaabe reserves in Ontario Ojibwe reserves in Ontario First Nations governments in Ontario Municipalities in Lambton County Environmental racism in Canada

Environmental issues

Demographics

Notable members

See also

References

External links