Eabametoong First Nation

Eabametoong, also known as Fort Hope, is an Ojibway First Nation in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Kenora District. Located on the shore of Eabamet Lake in the Albany River system, the community is located approximately 240 kilometres north of Beardmore and is accessible only by airplane or water, or by winter/ice roads, which connect the community to the Northern Ontario Resource Trail.

Eabametoong is policed by the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, an Aboriginal based service.

The following information is paraphrased from the Eabametoong First Nation web site:

Eabametoong came to be during the fur trade era when the Hudson's Bay Company set up a trading post by Eabamet lake in 1890. Canoe was used as the main source of transportation so the post had to be near water. The Fort Hope Band came into existence in 1905 when the treaty was signed by 500 people. The new community of Eabametoong started in 1982 with the official name of Eabametoong First Nation being adopted in 1985.

The name Eabametoong has a significant meaning in the Anishinaabe language; the name means, "the reversing of the waterplace." The water flow from Eabamet lake into the Albany River reverses each year, resulting from runoff water, such that water flows into Eabamet lake from the Albany River for a short period of time. The main draw for the people of Eabametoong before the fur trade was the multitudes of various fish including: sturgeon, walleye and whitefish which still inhabit the waters today.

External links

* [http://www.eabametoong.firstnation.ca/ Eabametoong First Nation]