What follows is where I got to before I shelved the project!

In an introductory section, I planned to consider the evidence as presented in

• First Nations accounts,
• government sources, and
• academic studies

Then I would move on to examine individual First Nations, those in the

• Chapleau area
• Missanabie area
• Michipicoten area.

A conclusion would wrap it all up!

What you will see are the few maps I worked on as I researched the patchwork of reserves. You’ll also see a lot of copy and paste of Wikipedia articles and material from various F.N. websites and other sources that I was compiling to draw from and incorporate into a finished post!

But ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…!

What I did put together may encourage someone keen on untangling the various threads of what is a multi-layered story of how an expanding Ontario dealt with the Indigenous people eking out a living in northcentral Ontario being buffeted by dramatic changes from the mid-1800s.

The Building of Railroads, the lure of pulp and paper, and mineral resources, as well as marginal farmland, would change forever the relationship to the land that the  4000 or 5000 Treaty No 5 and Treaty No 9 Cree and Ojibwe had known.

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Missinaibi-Area First Nations

 &

Their Recent History

Intro

start with a summary of the article on

The Dispossession of the Northern Ojibwe and Cree: The Case of the Chapleau Game Preserve by David Calverley

Deal with

• who was being dispossessed

• how many were affected

• where they ended up

attempt to sort out the various reserve designations and backstory of how the Cree and Ojibwe living on them got there.

First Section

Consider the situation from different perspectives –

A. the various First Nation accounts of their story. F.N. web sites

B. Government sources – census, treaty text, reserve profiles

•  a 1992 Ontario government-produced booklet Akwesasne to Wunnumin Lake: Profiles of Aboriginal Communities in Ontario.

C. other sources – historians, archeologists, academics,

• Ernest Voorhis. Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French Regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies.  Department of the Interior Ottawa.1930.

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Main Section on Individual Bands –

• Brunswick House First Nation

• Chapleau Ojibway First Nation (I.R.74A)

• Chapleau Cree (Fox Lake) First Nation

• Missanabie Cree First Nation

• Michipicoten First Nation (GROS CAP I.R. No. 49) +

  • Gros Cap 49A

  • Chapleau 61

  • Missanabie 62

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Chapleau Area First Nation Reserves:

Map of Chapleau area with the various F.N. land indicated –

from the town of Chapleau’s website, a page on its three First Nations communities –

Not mentioned is Chapleau 61, a reserve which belongs to Michipicoten F.N., an Ojibwe band whose main reserve (Gros Cap 49) is on the north side of Michipicoten Bay. Not clear is if anyone lives on Chapleau 61.

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Brunswick House First Nation:

1. Facebook Page – BHFN – Wapiscagamybout Brunswick House First Nation – Wapiscagamy

1. From the BHFN website –

Brunswick House FN was established through Treaty #9 which was signed by government representatives and First Nation leaders in 1905 and 1906. In late July 1906, treaty commissioners met with the First Nation people who lived in the area of the Hudson’s Bay Company post called New Brunswick House on the north end of Missinaibi Lake.

In 1925, the Chapleau Game Preserve was established as a 7,000 square kilometer area for the protection of wildlife. The new game preserve surrounded Missinaibi Lake, including the land that New Brunswick House had been allocated. When the preserve was created, hunters and trappers including First Nation people who followed a traditional lifestyle were no longer allowed to pursue their subsistence activities in the area. As a result, the people of New Brunswick House had to relocate to a new land base outside the game preserve.

For the 22 years following the relocation, the band had no consistent land base. In fact, the community’s lands were changed three times. The first was to near Kapuskasking to about 50 acres of land. This attempt at establishing a community was thwarted when a local pulp mill operation declared it had the superseding rights to the area.

The community was relocated a second time to an area known as Loon Lake (now called Borden Lake), near the town of Chapleau. This relocation was contested and the community was forced to move elsewhere.

In 1947, a 36 square mile land base was finally allocated to Brunswick House First Nation in the township of Mountbatten. Mostly swamp land, it was the traditional trapping ground of then leader of Brunswick House First Nation, Chief Joe Davis.

In 1970, one square mile of the land base was traded for an equal portion 10 kilometers east of the town of Chapleau on Highway 101, off of Borden Lake. The final move to the community’s present location was made due to health reasons and to gain improved access for members to essential health and education services.

Band No. 228 Traditional Name: Wapiscogamy House. Alternate Names: New Brunswick House Band of Ojibway

Read more at: https://www.first-nations.info/brunswick-house-first-nation-2.html.

Time Line –

1906   Treaty No.9 commissioners meet at the “new” (since 1790!) Brunswick House HBC post at the north end of Missinabi Lake.

1925    Chapleau Crown Game Preserve was established; BHB lost its hunting area since it was no longer permitted. How many people were in the band at that time?

1926-1947      failed relocations to  50 acres reserve in Kapuskasing area and then to Borden Lake area east of Chapleau

1947   36 sq. mile reserve in Mountbatten Township allocated. 76A on map Note in Wilson to the effect that they did not have timber rights!

1970   one sq. mile of Mountbatten reserve exchanged for 1 sq. mile of Chapleau/Borden Lake land – I.R.76B [Ontario Govt booklet has 1973.]

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Government info

Historical Notes

After the arrival of the Europeans in the 17th century, the Ojibway economy, which had been based on hunting, fishing and gathering, expanded to include trapping for trade as well as for subsistence purposes. During the fur trade era, trading posts became part of the cycle of movements for Indian people, and some groups or Bands became associated with particular trading posts. The Ojibway people who traded primarily at the New Brunswick House posts at Brunswick Lake and Missinaibi Lake became known as the New Brunswick House Band (ancestors of Brunswick House First Nation people).

The lames Bav Treat of 1905 – Treaty No. 9 was signed with the New Brunswick House Band on luly 25, 1906. An Ontario Order-in-Council, dated February 13, 1907, confirmed a selection of Indian reserves, including New Brunswick House No. 76, which was set aside for the Band and surveved at 17 280 acres.

On June 1, 1925 the Ontario government established the Chapleau Game Preserve which surrounded (and did not explicitly exclude) the New Brunswick House reserve and was closed to all hunting and trapping. The Ontario government subsequently purchased reserve land from the federal government in 1928. In 1947, the federal government purchased a tract of land in Mountbatten Township from the Ontario government and established the Mountbatten I.R. No. 76A. The Band moved to its present reserve after 642 acres of the Mountbatten reserve were exchanged in 1973  for an equivalent area of land closer to Chapleau.

The account begins with a discussion of trading post communities, which were different than the traditional pre-Contact band communities whose families would meet annually at a certain spot for the May to September season. Trading post locations were set up with a different objective than traditional summertime band gathering points.

This account does not mention any details about the years between 1928 and 1947. The First Nation’s account mentions Kapuskasing and the Borden Lake site east of Chapleau.

Neither account provides information on the number of people in the band in 1906 or 1928 or more recently.

population

2021   About 763 members with approximately   121 living on-reserve and 642 off-reserve.

from First nations Info.

An amazing jump from 85 in 2016 to 2021. Why?

2016    85

2006   80.

Other Sources:

The H.B.C. trading post on Missinaibi Lake …from Voorhis

Note from Hap Wilson’s Missinaibi guidebook –

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Chapleau Ojibway First Nation (I.R.74A)

74A – main reserve (799.3 ha); also Chapleau 61A (67ha) and Chapleau 74 (64.7 ha)

Wikipedia article

First Nation Web page

Population

2007  37 (total registered population (30 on  reserve)

2000  24

1991   25

 

from first Nation web page….

Currently the community, whose land base is outside Chapleau, has several buildings and homes near highway 101/129. Elder Therese Memegos recalled that Chapleau Ojibwe FN was moved three times before it was permanently established at its present location. 

Originally the community was based on the shores of the Chapleau River. This first community had a large population, with several homes and buildings including an Anglican and Catholic Church. “There was a fairly large community on the shores of the Chapleau River. It had more people with several family names such as Cheese and Quakegesic, as well as Memegos. Just before I arrived to this area the community had declined. The younger people moved to other communities and only a few older people lived along the river. In time these elders passed away until there was only about nine members in the community,” said Elder Memegos.

Before the decline, the people of Chapleau Ojibwe led a traditional lifestyle. They visited the community only in the summers and lived with their families on traditional trap lines and hunting grounds in the winter. Through her Father-in-Law, Elder Memegos had learned that the Cheese family was a prominent family in the community. She indicated that Simon Cheese was known as the first Chief of the First Nation, but she is not certain if the government at the time recognized him as a community leader. At that time, traditional community leadership was passed down through family ties.

In 1990, Chapleau Ojibwe became one of the founding First Nations of the newly created Wabun Tribal Council. The community accomplished this through the efforts of past leaders including Chief Joanne Nakogee and Chief William Memegos.

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From Akwesasne to Wunnumin Lake Booklet

Historical Notes

After visiting Chapleau in 1906, the Treaty No. 9Commissioners reported that it would not be necessary to negotiate a treaty with the Indian people of Chapleau, as they belonged to Bands residing at Moose Factory, English River and other places already under treaty. Since large reserves had already been established in other parts of the province for the Bands from which the people at Chapleau had immigrated, the Commissioners recommended that small areas be set aside for the Chapleau Cree and Ojibway so that they could build small houses and cultivate garden plots.

‘The Chapleau Ojibway reserve was contiguous to the land purchased by the Robinson Treaty Indians, and within the boundaries of the territory described by the James Bay Treaty of 1905 – Treaty No. 9. The reserve was officially established in 1950.

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Chapleau Cree (Fox Lake) First Nation

Population

• 2019  57

• 2011   79

• 2006 92

website

Wikipedia entry

Chapleau Cree First Nation (Cree: ᔕᑊᓗ ᐃᓂᓂᐗᐠ, šaplo ininiwak) is a Mushkegowuk CreeFirst Nationlocated by Chapleau Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada. The First Nation have reserved for themselves the 108.1 hectares (267 acres) Chapleau 75 Indian Reserve and the 1,016.8 hectares (2,513 acres) Chapleau Cree Fox Lake Indian Reserve. As of 2019, their on-reserve population was 57^[1] compared to 2011 with 79 and 2006 with 92.^[2]

The flag of the tribe bears the text in Cree: “ᔓᑊᓗ ᐠᕆ ᒪᑫᔑᐤ ᓴᑲᐃᑲᐣ” (“šaplo kri makishiw sakahikan”), which refers to its main reserve, Chapleau Cree Fox Lake.

Census Info

 

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Missanabie Cree First Nation:

Population 

2018    476

• band office in downtown Sault Sainte Marie
• 96 members lived at Missanabie in 1906 (treaty No. 9) but they were not considered a separate band, but rather included in the Moose Cree of James Bay.
• population of 476 in 2018,  few of whom live full-time in the Missanabie area where it has a fishing camp – Island View Camp.  see sat images below for location

 

from the Missanabie Cree F.N. website:

In 1906, under the terms of Treaty 9, the Crown promised to set apart reserves for each band based on one square mile of reserve land per family of five, or 128 acres per person. From 1906 to 2018, there never have been any lands set apart for the use and benefit of the Missanabie Cree people, and as a result, the First Nation suffered and continues to suffer significant damages. With no land base for over 100 years, and their traditional livelihood of hunting and fishing undermined with the creation of the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve, people began to leave the Missanabie area in search of economic opportunities to support their families. Areas of settlement were spread across Canada and the Missanabie Cree people have been living without their own land base in rural areas such as Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury, and London, Ontario. Many went as far as the East and West Coast making Missanabie Cree First Nation a unique Band.

The Missanabie Cree First Nation filed a claim with Canada on the basis that they have an outstanding entitlement to land under the terms of Treaty Nine, and that both Ontario and Canada, who were signatories to the Treaty, have breached their treaty obligations by failing to set aside land for the Missanabie Cree. Canada accepted the TLE claim for negotiation under the Specific Claims policy.

While discussions remain ongoing with the Ontario government, in 2011, Missanabie Cree First Nation successfully concluded an agreement with the Government of Ontario for a land transfer of 15 square miles of Crown land in the Missanabie area and has successfully had this land designated as a reserve in 2018 under the Additions to Reserve Policy. 

The Missanabie Cree were also successful in negotiating with the Government of Canada for loss of use compensation under their Treaty Land Entitlement claim which was recorded the largest per capita settlement in the history of Canada. The Government of Canada has also included 5 additional square miles, where its location has yet to be determined.

Missanabie is part of the James Bay Treaty (Treaty #9), is a member of the Mushkegowuk Council and a political-territorial affiliate of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

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Wikipedia Entry

Missanabie Cree First Nation (Cree: masinâpôy ininiwak, ᒪᓯᓈᐴᔾ ᐃᓂᓂᐗᐠ) is a “Treaty 9” Nation. The nation is named after Missinaibi River and Lake, around which the traditional territory of the nation is located. The name “Missanabie” means “Pictured Water”, referring to pictographs found on rock faces along Missinaibi River.

The tribe’s mother tongue is Swampy Cree language, also referred to as the “n-dialect” of Cree language.

Historical Timeline

Evidence and records suggest that by as early as the 1570s, members of the Missanabie Cree had settled in the areas surrounding present day Missinaibi Lake, Dog Lake and Wabatongushi Lake. According to Elders’ testimony and anthropological evidence, the Missanabie Cree had utilized these lands from time immemorial to hunt, fish and trap for food, for ceremonial purposes and to provide for the cultural, spiritual and economic well-being of their people.

In the 1660s Father Allouez confirmed that the Cree people regularly traveled between Lake Superior and James Bay.^[2]

In the 1730s Cree speaking people with summer encampments at Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie) gathered to fish, trade and do ceremonies.^[3]

In 1904 the Indian Affairs Department recognized Missanabie Cree as an Indian band to be ‘treated with’ by Treaty Commissioners for the purpose of adhesions to Treaty 9 scheduled for 1905.

In 1905 Canada and Ontario enter into Treaty 9 with various Cree and Ojibwa groups to obtain surrender of 130,000 square miles (340,000 km²) of land.

In 1906 the Crown did not sign formal adhesions to Treaty 9 with the Missanabie Cree First Nation. The Crown did not set apart any reserve for 98 members of the First Nation living at Missanabie.

In 1915 Missanabie Cree’s request for land was turned down by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND).

In 1925 the Chapleau Crown Preserve was created which abrogated Missanabie Cree’s treaty rights to hunt and fish for subsistence living.

In 1929 Missanabie Cree’s request for land was turned down by DIAND.

In 1951 Missanabie Cree were formally recognized by DIAND as an Indian band.

In 1992, under the Indian Act, the first Chief and Council are elected by the Missanabie Cree First Nation.

In 1993 Missanabie Cree First Nation submitted specific claim for outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE).

In 1996 Missanabie Cree First Nation received a letter from Canada accepting the claim, with the condition that Ontario, also a signatory to Treaty 9, be at the table. Ontario began a legal review of the claim.

In 1998 Missanabie Cree and Canada begin preliminary meetings in April.

In 1999 jointly funded studies began. These included genealogical, traditional use, site selections, and loss of use. Legal review by Ontario was completed in June. A letter from Canada stated that negotiations could begin, if Ontario came to the table.

In 2000 the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat sent a letter indicating Ontario would be presenting its position.

In 2001 preliminary discussions of the negotiation process began between First Nation and both levels of government. The development of a work plan and negotiation framework continued.

In 2006 Ontario agreed to a land transfer of 15 square miles (39 km²) with conditions attached. The transferred land was to be credited towards the eventual settlement of the land claim (to be determined through legal action). Land area was selected. Discussions with Canada continued over additions to Reserve process and loss of use compensation.

In 2008 Missanabie turned down an offer of $15 million from Canada.

In 2011, on August 17, The Missanabie Cree First Nation and the Government of Ontario signed an agreement to provide the Nation with 15 square miles (39 km²) of land as an initial allotment of a total 70 square miles (180 km²) to which they are entitled under Treaty 9.^[4]

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Not everyone was happy with the Land Transfer to Missanabie F.N. -​

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Michipicoten First Nation (GROS CAP I.R. NO. 49)

This F.N. includes the following reserves –

• Gros Cap 49
• Gros Cap 49A
• Chapleau 61
• Missanabie 62

xxx

 

Historical Notes

The Ojibway people living on the north shore of Lake Superior (ancestors of Michipicoten First Nation people) subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering.

As the fur trade moved into the Lake Superior area, they expanded their economic activities to include hunting and trapping for trade purposes. By the early 19th century, Ojibway hunting ranges had evolved into well-defined trapping territories.

Fort Michipicoten was at one time the site of a French post, said to have been established around 1700. The old post was taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821 and became for many years the principal trading post on the north shore of Lake Superior. Representatives of Michipicoten signed the Robinson-Superior Treaty in 1850, and a reserve was set aside for the Band out of the land ceded. The Gros Cap reserve was first surveyed in 1853. On April 10, 1855 Michipicoten entered into a treaty with the government to cede a one square mile portion of its

Voorhis Note On Michipicoten Post (pp.184-185)