Rapid Lake Lac-Rapide | |
---|---|
First Nations reserve | |
Coordinates: 47°15′N76°42′W / 47.250°N 76.700°W Coordinates: 47°15′N76°42′W / 47.250°N 76.700°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Quebec |
Region | Outaouais |
Regional county | none |
Founded | 1961 (reserve) |
Government | |
• Chief | Casey Ratt |
• Federal riding | Pontiac |
• Prov. riding | Gatineau |
Area | |
• Land | 1.05 km2 (0.41 sq mi) |
Population (December 31, 2008) [3] | |
• Total | 663 |
Population for entire band, including off-reserve members | |
Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
Postal Code | J0W 2C0 |
Area code(s) | 819 |
Rapid Lake (French : Lac-Rapide) is a First Nation reserve on the western shore of Cabonga Reservoir in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. It belongs to the Algonquins of Barriere Lake of the Algonquin Nation. [4]
The reserve is an enclave within the Lac-Pythonga unorganized territory and in the middle of the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. It is accessible by a short road from Quebec Route 117, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Grand-Remous. In recent years, the community has been troubled by poor living conditions, financial difficulties, governance disputes, school closure, and protests. [3]
The Algonquin have long lived in the Outaouais, following a traditional nomadic life. Evidence has been found of Algonquin presence at Lake Barrière on the Ottawa River from the 18th century. Not until 1851 did the Hudson's Bay Company establish a trading post first at the former Lake Cabonga (named Kakabonga at that time). When this post burned down in 1873, it was replaced by a new post on Lake Barrière in 1874, that was identified as Mitakanabikong or Mitchikanabikong, and as Barrière from 1876 on. [5]
On September 7, 1961, the Rapid Lake Reserve was formed when the Government of Quebec transferred control and administration of 69 acres (28 ha) in the geographic township of Émard to the Government of Canada. It took its name from the former Rapide Lake, which was submerged below the waters of Cabonga Reservoir, created in 1929. Despite these lands being reserved for use by the Algonquins, they continued to regularly visit the site at Barrière Lake about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north because of their historic ties to it. Even today, many families continue to go to Barrière Lake to practice traditional activities. [5] [6]
In 1995, because of a leadership dispute, some families left the reserve and settled on Jean-Peré Lake, not far to the south, also in La Vérendrye Park. Another result was that the traditional oral rules for leadership selection were codified in writing for the first time in 1996. However, leadership disputes arose again in 2006 when two separate band councils were selected by separate Elder Councils, embroiling the community in legal proceedings and governance disputes until today. [3]
On October 6, 2008, seventy-five members of the Barrière Lake Algonquins set up a roadblock on Highway 117, demanding that the federal and provincial governments honour a resource-sharing agreement signed twenty years earlier. This protest was repeated a month later on November 19. Both protests disrupted traffic for hours by dragging logs onto the road, and ending with police confrontation. [7]
There is one school on the reserve, Rapid Lake School, with classes for pre-kindergarten to Secondary grade 3. Since 1995, the school is under the jurisdiction of the Band Council, that can tailor the school's curriculum to local cultural realities in accordance with provincial standards. In addition to recognized provincial programs, the school also teaches the Algonquin language. [3]
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named in honour of the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border between these two provinces. It is a major tributary of the St. Lawrence River and the longest river in Quebec.
Algonquin people are an Indigenous people of Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, a divergent dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Oji-Cree, with whom they form the larger Anicinàpe (Anishinaabeg). The Algonquin people call themselves Omàmiwinini or the more generalised name of Anicinàpe.
La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau(The Valley of the Gatineau) is a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec, Canada. The seat is in Gracefield. It was incorporated on January 1, 1983 and was named for its location straddling the Gatineau River north of Low.
Indigenous peoples in Quebec total 11 distinct ethnic groups. The 10 First Nations and the Inuit communities number 141,915 people and account for approximately 1.75% of the population of Quebec, Canada.
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The Dumoine River is a river in western Quebec with its source in Machin Lake near La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. From Dumoine Lake, the river flows almost due south off the Canadian Shield and empties into the Ottawa River, just west of Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec, or Rolphton, Ontario. The river is 129 kilometres (80 mi) long and drains a watershed of 5,380 square kilometres (2,080 sq mi). This relatively short river compared to its drainage area indicates that the Dumoine has a strong current and many steep-gradient rapids.
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The Ojibwe language is spoken in a series of dialects occupying adjacent territories, forming a language complex in which mutual intelligibility between adjacent dialects may be comparatively high but declines between some non-adjacent dialects. Mutual intelligibility between some non-adjacent dialects, notably Ottawa, Severn Ojibwe, and Algonquin, is low enough that they could be considered distinct languages. There is no single dialect that is considered the most prestigious or most prominent, and no standard writing system that covers all dialects. The relative autonomy of the regional dialects of Ojibwe is associated with an absence of linguistic or political unity among Ojibwe-speaking groups.
Wahgoshig First Nation, formerly known as Abitibi-Ontario Band of Abitibi Indians or simply as Abitibi, is an Anishinaabe and Cree First Nation band governments whose reserve communities are located near Matheson in Cochrane District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. They have reserved for themselves the 7,770.1 hectares Abitibi Indian Reserve No. 70 on the south end of Lake Abitibi. In January 2008, the First Nation had 270 people registered with the nation, of which their on-reserve population was 121.
Lac-Pythonga is an unorganized territory in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. It surrounds Lake Pythonga and is the largest of the five unorganized territories in the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Regional County Municipality.
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The Cabonga Reservoir is a man-made lake in central Quebec, Canada, with a total surface area of 677 square kilometres (261 sq mi) and a net area of 484 square kilometres (187 sq mi). It is located on the boundary between the unorganized territories of Lac-Pythonga and Réservoir-Dozois, and fully within the La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve. The First Nations reserve of Rapide Lake is on its western shores.
Obedjiwan is a First Nations reserve and village on the north shore of Gouin Reservoir in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. It belongs to the Atikamekw of Opitciwan band of the Atikamekw Nation.
Coucoucache was a tiny First Nation reserve, in Cloutier Township, on the north shore of Reservoir Blanc on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. It belonged to the Atikamekw First Nation of Wemotaci but had no permanent population in recent decades.
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The Kitcisakik Anicinape Community, which the official name is communauté anicinape de Kitcisakik, is an Indian band of the Algonquin First Nations in Quebec, Canada. The majority of its members lives on the Indian settlement of Kitcisakik, also called Grand-Lac Victoria, located on the shore of the Grand lac Victoria on La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve, where is also located the band council, the Conseil des Anicinapek de Kitcisakik. In 2017 the band had a registered population of 498 members.