Pikangikum First Nation

Pikangikum is an Ojibwe reserve in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Kenora District approximately 100 kilometres north of Red Lake. The First Nation community is accessible primarily by airplane at the Pikangikum Airport, although it has winter road access to Red Lake and Highway 125.

The community has a population of approximately 2,300. A 2005 Wawatay Native Communications Society survey found that the residents of Pikangikum have one of the highest rates of original language retention of any First Nation in Northern Ontario. The language is Anishinaabemowin, the major dialect of Ojibwe people. (See Anishinini language.) Unemployment rates are estimated to be around 70% in Pikangikum. In 2000, the First Nation was reported to have the highest suicide rate in the world. [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/353.html (1)]

Whitefeather Forest Initiative

Since 1996, Pikangikum First Nation has been pursuing its Whitefeather Forest Initiative, a land-based community economic development renewal and resource stewardship initiative. Through this Initiative the First Nation is working with the Province of Ontario to manage the Whitefeather Forest, 12,200 square kilometres of Crown land in the Pikangikum customary land-use area. In 2006 the First Nation completed their Land Use Strategy, Keeping the Land, which was approved by the Province through the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Land Use Strategy provides guidance for the future management of proposed new land-use activities, such as commercial forestry, protected areas and eco-cultural tourism.Keeping the Land provides a vision for the management of proposed new land uses rooted in the indigenous knowledge and customary stewardship traditions of Pikangikum people. Keeping the Land is made up of three key components (WFMC 2006):
# "Stewardship Strategy" - an obligation to respect all living beings
# "Customary Activities" - all those physical, mental and spiritual states of well-being that are needed for survival on the land.
# "Economic Development" - new livelihood practices adapted to customary stewardship approach to provide for the survival of Pikangikum people in a contemporary cultural context.

External links

* [http://www.pikangikumfirstnation.ca/ Pikangikum]
* [http://www.whitefeatherforest.com/ Whitefeather Forest Initiative]
* [http://www.whitefeatherforest.com/pdfs/land-use-strategy.pdf WFMC 2006: Whitefeather Forest Land Use Strategy (23.62MB)]