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Nipissing First Nation
Nipissing First Nation is located on the north shore of Lake Nipissing between the Municipality of West Nipissing (Town of Sturgeon Falls), Ontario (to the West) and the City of North Bay, Ontario (to the East). Our reserve has several small settlements - Garden Village, Duchesnay, Yellek, Beaucage, Beaucage Subdivision, Meadowside, Jocko Point Subdivision, Veterans' Lane.
On-reserve population: 750 Tribal Council / Affiliations: Waabnoong Bemjiwang Association of
First Nations. BAND ADMINISTRATION
Nipissing First Nation Band
Administration Office
Chief: Marianna Couchie Deputy Chief: June Commanda Past Chiefs: ECONOMY Economic Development: Small business and self-employment account for a large part of the economy of Nipissing First Nation. Small Business sectors include: Smoke Shops, Convenience Retail, Beaucage Tent and Trailer Park, Couchie Industrial Park, Miller Quarry (Partnership with Miller Paving), Construction Sub-trades, Handicrafts Retail, Service Stations, Automotive, Specialty Services, and an unlicensed Commercial Fishery.
Lake Nipissing Fishery: Lake Nipissing is the life-bed of our people. Historically, the Nipissing First Nation depended on the fishery for trade and self-sustainability. Today, the fishery continues to be an important part of our community. Although the economy is not dependant on the fishery, there are several harvesters that depend on this for a livelihood. However, a vast majority of the community, still depend on the Lake Nipissing fishery stocks for self-sustainance. Pickerel and Northern Pike are the main species harvested by our people. Herring, whitefish and lake perch are also harvested. Sturgeon can still be found in the Lake, and in the gillnets of our fisherman and is a rare delicacy. Today, Nipissing First Nation participates in all conservation and fisheries management programs in association with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre. The Nipissing First Nation employs a Fisheries Coordinator/Biologist, Technicians and coordinates a number of fisheries programs. In 2004, Nipissing First Nation began a walleye hatchery program, releasing nearly a million fry into Lake Nipissing. In 2005, the Nipissing First Nation passed its Fisheries Regulations which will see the community regulate its commercial fishery on Lake Nipissing. Forestry: The band-owned forestry company manages the forestry operations on the First Nation. In addition, there are several community members that depend on forestry as a means of earning a living. These are done along family lines, and has been passed from generation to generation. Today, the harvest has diversified from logging for pulp and paper processing, to low yield sawmill and lumbering operations. EDUCATION
Nbising Education Centre Nipissing currently has two pre-school daycare centres and a few unlicensed private daycare centres. Although a elementary school has been discussed and debated for about two decades, both elementary and secondary school students are still bussed to North Bay and Strugeon Falls. Our alternative, private high school, the N'bising Education Centre has about 75 students enrolled. This is a band-owned and controlled school. Curriculum and school programming is developed to meet the needs of our students. Both Canadore College and Nipissing University are located in North Bay, on property physically adjacent to the reserve. College Borčal, a french institution, has a campus located in Sturgeon Falls. The Anishinabek Education Institute, owned by the Union of Ontario Indians provides post-secondary programs to member First Nations. Their facility is located at the UOI headquarters. An elementary school is currently being built on the reserve. According to Statistics Canada, 12 percent of Nipissing have less that a Grade 9 education and 12 percent of Nipissing have a university Education. Recently, through out affiliation with the Union of Ontario Indians, the Anishinabek Nation signed a self-government agreement respecting education. This will allow First Nations to develop education laws for on-reserve schools. HISTORY & CULTURE
Drum and Pipe Ceremony at Franks Bay, on the south shore of Lake Nipissing. The Nbisiing, as we are known, were in this area surrounding Lake Nipissing for hundreds of years before Samuel de Champlain "found us" in 1615. Prior to that our people were skilful hunters and fisherman. We developed a technique of fishing, using a open air torch and spear long before the French arrived. Our fisherman continue to use this technique to this day. Our Grandmothers and Grandfathers lived all around the Lake, including sites in the West Arm, Cache Bay and the French River. We travelled from season to season, depending on where the food was. In the summer, we spend most of our time on the Lake. During the winter, we would venture further North (towards Temagami) or further South, where there were plenty of big game animals, deer, moose and bear. Our people were deemed a "Nation of Sorcerers". The early French settlers and the Huron gave us this title for our abilities to heal and our fierce belief in our spirituality. We were always a member of the Anishinabe Nation, and therefore a part of the Confederacy of Three Fires. This is one of the oldest and strongest confederacies in North America. Our people participated in the Midewiwin Society and are active participants in many ceremonies and gatherings throughout Canada and the USA. THE EARLY NBIISING The people who live in the Lake Nipissing area are of Ojibway and Algonquin descent. Archaeological studies indicate that the Lake Nipissing area has been occupied continuously for approximately 9,400 years prior to first contact by the Europeans. The people were called Nipissing or N’Biissing after the lake which was centre to their territory. The translation of N’Biissing is “little water”. The name of this large inland lake is probably a comparison to the larger great lakes, to the west and south. Dr. R.B. Orr in his report “The Nipissing, Coming of the White man”, 29th Archaeological Report utilized the primary source of the Jesuit Relations and Jean Recollect to describe the Nipissing at contact. The translation of N’Biissing is “little water”. The name of this large inland lake is probably a comparison to the larger great lakes, to the west and south.Dr. R.B. Orr in his report “The Nipissing, Coming of the White man”, 29th Archaeological Report utilized the primary source of the Jesuit Relations and Jean Recollect to describe the Nipissing at contact. "Each man’s and woman’s liberty was absolute and inviolable. A Nipissing came as near as possible to Rousseau’s perfect and “ideal man.” He was untainted by civilization, did what he liked, and was moved only by natural impulses, and if, (according to the French deist, “L’homme qui relechiot est un animal deprave” – “the man who meditates is a brute”.) the Nipissing was not a free man and independent man, then there was no absolute freedom or independence on earth”. Any person, no matter their race or nationality would find this description as appealing. To the remaining descendents of the Nipissing, this description may only instil pride in their ancestors’ basic principle of personal freedom and independence. THE NBIISING TRADER The Nipissing’s have been documented in various historical references as traders. Their commodity was the fish and furs harvested from their territory. The Nipissing territory was approximately 100 miles by 250 miles in what is now the Province of Ontario. The pre-contact Nipissing trader controlled trade routes in the four directions. They traded as far west as Lake Nipigon. The trade route north to Hudson Bay allowed for trade with the Cree and in later years the English as well. The southern trade route into Huron Territory put them in contact with the Winnebagoe trade and other southern tribes. The eastern trade route allowed for trade with the tribes located as far east to what is now known as Quebec City. The timeline on the trade activity predated the early 15th century contact by Champlain. Bruce G. Trigger and Gordon M. Day, in Chapter 4 of the book “Aboriginal Ontario” writes that; “Archaeological evidence exists of close relations between the Huron and the Nipissing dating back several centuries prior to European contact.” “Before 1612, Nipissing traders had begun to travel as far north as James Bay each summer, exchanging Huron corn and European goods for furs that ultimately made their way to the French Traders on the St. Lawrence.” The Nipissing’s were trading furs and fish for corn, nets tobacco and other supplies with other Nations from the north, the Cree and later with the English; the south, the Winnebaego, and west trade routes with the Ojibway; and the east, through the Nipissing at the Two Mountains (Oka) and later with the French. These trade routes formed a junction on Lake Nipissing. The importance of this junction and their command on the middle man monopoly on the trade became their downfall. FIRST CONTACT On the French trade, Day in the “Handbook for North American Indians, Vol 15, writes; The French were the first to historically document the Nipissing through the French missionaries sent into their territory by Champlain. The Recollect missionaries recorded that they had some Nipissing’s wintering with the Huron. The Nipissing’s very spiritual nature easily drew them to convert to the Catholicism offered by the missionaries. The Mission of the Holy Ghost has been located on the shores of Nipissing since the early 1615. The Recollect missionaries and the Jesuits who came later, recorded the Nipissing lifestyle and reported the vast trade and wealth of the Nipissing. The Lake of the Sorcerer’s being the junction of the trade routes and the direct trade between the French and the Nipissing meant that the eastern Nations began to be shifted out of the trade. This direct French contact put the Huron and then the Nipissing at odds with the Iroquois. In 1630 the Iroquois began their assault on the Hurons and the missionaries at Ste. Marie. The fall of the Huron territory allowed the Iroquoian assault into the Nipissing’s territory. In 1647, after brutal conflicts with the Iroquois, the Nipissing fled into the Lake Nipigon area. The Nipissing trader did not give up on their trade routes. Historical records of that period tell of the Nipissing running the guantlet into the eastern territory from their north western refuge to ensure their trade routes survived. Reports of ambushes and betrayal by the parties coveting the trade routes are numerous. The Nipissing were historically documented to have returned to the Lake in 1670. In 1850, the Nipissing became signatores of the Robinson Huron Treaty. Chief Shabokeshick and his Head Men, Penassy and O’jeek were recorded in that Treaty as the Chief and the Principal men of their Nation. The Treaty was signed to preserve their way of life and command the northern shores of Lake Nipissing and its main waterways.
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