Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation, formerly known as the Nicickousemenecaning First Nation and as the Red Gut First Nation, is a Saulteaux First Nation band government who inhabit the banks of Rainy Lake of the Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. As of January, 2008, the First Nation had a population of 290 registered people. As of 2017, it has approximately 130 on-reserve members. [1]
The name Nigigoonsiminikaaning can mean "Place abundant with little otters" but the intended meaning is "Place abundant with Little-Otter berries"—nigigoonsimin (Little-Otter berry) being the Ojibwe word for sand cherry (Prunus pumila). [2] Due to the First Nation's main Reserve Rainy Lake 26A located on Red Gut Bay of Rainy Lake, Nigigoonsiminikaaning was also known as the "Red Gut Band" and later as "Red Gut First Nation".
The First Nation have an electoral system of government, consisting of a Chief and three Councillors forming their council. Chief Will Windigo, and Councillors Don Jones, Clayton Windigo and Sue Boshey are serving their two-year term that began on in June 2014.
The First Nation is a member of the Pwi-Di-Goo-Zing Ne-Yaa-Zhing Advisory Services, a regional Chiefs Council, which in turn is a member of the Grand Council of Treaty 3, a Tribal Political Organization serving many of the First Nations in northwest Ontario and southeast Manitoba.
Seven Generations Education Institute (SGEI) is an Aboriginal-owned and controlled post-secondary institution co-founded by the ten bands in the Rainy Lake Tribal area in 1985. The ten bands are: Big Grassy, Big Island, Couchiching, Lac La Croix, Naicatchewenin, Nicickousemenecaning, Ojibways of Onigaming, Rainy River, Seine River and Mitaanjigaming. Each of the ten bands appointed one member to a Board of Directors of Seven Generations Education Institute, which functions with the leadership of the Executive Director.
The community has its own voluntary and paid positions in their community organizations, including a volunteer fire department, First Responder team, Recreation, Education, Housing and Economic Development committees. The Band Administration services the community in the areas of community health, education, social services, housing and economic development. In addition, the First Nation has also made arrangements with the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to set up seasonal language camps at the mouth of the Ottertail River.
The First Nation have reserved themselves four Indian Reserves:
The Saulteaux, otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. They are a branch of the Ojibwe who pushed west. They formed a mixed culture of woodlands and plains Indigenous customs and traditions.
Treaty 3 was an agreement entered into on October 3, 1873, by Chief Mikiseesis on behalf of the Ojibwe First Nations and Queen Victoria. The treaty involved a vast tract of Ojibwe territory, including large parts of what is now northwestern Ontario and a small part of eastern Manitoba, to the Government of Canada. Treaty 3 also provided for rights for the Waasaakode Anishinaabe and other Ojibwe, through a series of agreements signed over the next year. The treaty was modified in 1875 when Nicolas Chatelain negotiated an adhesion that created a reserve, surveyed as reserve 16A, for Metis families connected to Mikiseesis' Rainy Lake Band. Reserve 16A and the Rainy Lake Band reserve were unified in 1967.
Yellow Quill First Nation is a Saulteaux First Nation band government in Saskatchewan, Canada. Their reserve is twenty kilometres northwest of Kelvington. The Yellow Quill First Nation is a signatory of Treaty No. 4, which was signed by Chief Yellow-quill on August 24, 1876.
Mishkeegogamang First Nation is an Ojibway band government in the Canadian province of Ontario. Until 1993, the band was called the Osnaburgh First Nation, with various settlements at times being called New Osnaburgh, Osnaburgh House, or Osnaburgh.
Bearskin Lake First Nation is an Oji-Cree First Nation reserve in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada, located 425 kilometres (264 mi) north of Sioux Lookout. Bearskin First Nation's total registered population as of March 2014 was 900, of which their on-reserve population was 461.
Lac Seul First Nation is an Ojibwe First Nation band government located on the southeastern shores of Lac Seul, 56 kilometres (35 mi) northeast of the city of Dryden, Ontario. Though Lac Seul First Nation is a treaty signatory to Treaty 3, the First Nation is a member of the Independent First Nations Alliance, a regional tribal council and a member of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.
Buffalo Point First Nation is an Ojibwa or Saulteaux First Nations located in the southeastern corner of Manitoba, along the shores of Lake of the Woods. It is bordered largely by the unorganized portion of Division No. 1, Manitoba, and also has smaller borders with the Rural Municipality of Piney, as well as the northeast corner of Roseau County, Minnesota.
Lac La Croix First Nation is a Saulteaux First Nation band government who reside in the Rainy River District of northwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Ontario-Minnesota border. It is approximately 200 km northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario. As of January 2008, the First Nation had a registered population of 398 people, of which their on-Reserve population was 273.
Sachigo Lake First Nation is an Oji-Cree First Nation band government in Unorganized Kenora District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is located on Sachigo Lake, part of the Sachigo River system and Hudson Bay drainage basin, approximately 425 kilometres (264 mi) north of the town of Sioux Lookout. As of September 2011, the First Nation had a registered population of 814 people, of which the on-reserve population was 443.
Wabaseemoong Independent Nations or more fully as the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations of One Man Lake, Swan Lake and Whitedog, is an Ojibway First Nation band government who reside 120 km northwest of Kenora, Ontario and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of the Ontario-Manitoba border of northwestern Ontario, Canada. As of December 2018, the First Nation had a population of 2,000 registered people, of which their on-Reserve population was 1200 registered members and approximately 100 non-Band members.
Skownan First Nation is a Saulteaux (Ojibwe) First Nations band government whose reserve community, Waterhen 45, is located 288 km north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on the south shore of Waterhen Lake, between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis. As of May, 2015, the First Nation had 1,464 registered members, of which 750 lived on-reserve.
Dauphin River First Nation is an Ojibway First Nation band government in Manitoba, Canada. Its landbase is the Dauphin River First Nation Reserve 48A, located at the outlet of the Dauphin River into Lake Winnipeg. The largest city nearest this community is Winnipeg located approximately 250 km (155 mi) to the southeast.
The Naicatchewenin First Nation, also known as the Anishinaabeg of Nagaajiwanaang and formerly known as Northwest Bay First Nation, inhabited a region in Ontario that was cited in the Northwest Angle Treaty of 1873, also known as Treaty 3. Nagaajiwanaang is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Fort Frances, with the community of Devlin 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the south on Highway 11. The city of Thunder Bay lies 420 kilometres (260 mi) to the east and Winnipeg is 450 kilometres (280 mi) to the northwest.
Rainy Lake and River Bands of Saulteaux are Saulteaux (Ojibwe) group located in Northwestern Ontario and northern Minnesota, along and about the Rainy Lake and the Rainy River, known in Ojibwe as Gojijiing.
Seine River First Nation, previously known as the Rivière la Seine Band, is an Ojibwe First Nation reserve located roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. As of November 2011, the First Nation had a total registered population of 725, of which 327 lived on their own reserve.
Mitaanjigamiing First Nation, formerly known as Stanjikoming First Nation, is an Ojibwe First Nation band government who inhabit 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of Fort Frances, Ontario, along the shores of Stanjikoming Bay of Rainy Lake. As of November, 2011, the First Nation had a total registered population of 142, of which 99 lived on their own reserve.
Rainy River First Nations is an Ojibwe First Nation band government in Emo, Ontario, Canada.
Big Grassy First Nation is an Ojibwe or Ontario Saulteaux First Nation band government located in Rainy River District, Ontario near Morson, Ontario.
Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation is an Ojibwe or Ontario Saulteaux First Nation located in Kenora District, Ontario near Nestor Falls, Ontario. Together with the Big Grassy First Nation, Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation is a successor apparent to the former Assabaska Band of Saulteaux. Total registered population in February, 2012, was 737, of which the on-reserve population was 445. The First Nation is a member of the Anishinabeg of Kabapikotawangag Resource Council, a regional tribal council that is a member of the Grand Council of Treaty 3.
Seven Generations Education Institute is an Aboriginal-owned and controlled post-secondary institution co-founded by the ten bands in the Rainy Lake Tribal area in 1985. The ten bands are: Big Grassy, Big Island, Couchiching, Lac La Croix, Naicatchewenin, Nigigoonsiminikaaning, Ojibways of Onigaming, Rainy River, Seine River and Mitaanjigamiing. Each of the ten bands appointed one member to a Board of Directors of Seven Generations Education Institute, which functions with the leadership of the Executive Director.