Garden River First Nation

Garden River First Nation (or "Gitigaan-ziibi Anishinaabe" in the Anishinaabe language) is an Ojibwa band located at Garden River 14 near Sault Ste. Marie.

The Garden River reserve has an area of 20,703.5 hectares. [ [http://pse2-esd2.ainc-inac.gc.ca/FNProfiles/FNProfiles_DETAILSRE.asp?RESERVE_NUMBER=06184 Band Details ] ] The Garden River runs through the reserve as a tributary of the St. Mary's River.

Garden River First Nation is governed by a band council consisting of a chief and 12 councillors. Council elections are held bianually. [ [http://www.gardenriver.org/about/government.htm Garden River First Nation - Government ] ] The current chief is Lyle Sayers.

History

Garden River First Nation was created as a legal entity when Lord Elgin, Governor General of the Province of Canada, approved in law the Robinson Huron Treaty on November 29, 1850. The treaty had been negotiated between the British colony's representative William B. Robinson and numerous Ojibwa chiefs from the Lake Huron watershed earlier that year, and had been signed by these representatives on Sept. 9, 1850. The treaty extinguished Ojibwa title to the land in exchange for 17 reserve lands and annual annuities. Each reserve had to register its band members because an increase to annuity amounts would be determined on a per-person basis. [ [http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/trts/rbt_e.html Copy of the Robinson Treaty Made in the Year 1850 with the Ojibewa Indians of Lake Huron Conveying Certain Lands to the Crown - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada ] ]

Garden River First Nation was represented in the treaty by Shingwaukonse, who was also generally recognized as an Ojibwa grand chief by other bands in both the Lake Huron and Lake Superior watersheds. Shingwaukonse and his band had been living at their traditional garden lands at the mouth of the Garden River since 1841, after leaving a settlement near the rapids of Sault Ste. Marie. The treaty formally recognized the band's reserve lands in this vicinity as reservation 14. Upon his death in 1854, Shingwaukonse was succeeded as chief by his son Augustine Shingwauk. [ [http://www.shingwauk.auc.ca/ShingwaukHall/SH_p5.html shingwauktrust1 ] ] The last hereditary chief was Shingwaukonse's second son Buhgwujjenene, who succeeded his brother Augustine. [ [http://www.shingwauk.auc.ca/ShingwaukHall/SH_p6.html shingwauktrust1 ] ]

In the treaty's schedule of reservations, the fourteenth reservation is "a tract of land extending from Maskinongé Bay, inclusive, to Partridge Point, above Garden River on the front, and inland ten miles, throughout the whole distance; and also Squirrel Island." [ [http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/trts/rbt_e.html Copy of the Robinson Treaty Made in the Year 1850 with the Ojibewa Indians of Lake Huron Conveying Certain Lands to the Crown - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada ] ] For many years subsequent to signing the treaty, Garden River First Nation disputed the survey of their reserve conducted by the Province of Canada. In April 2003, the government of Canada returned 3,492 hectares of land to the reserve from the adjacent geographic townships of Anderson and Chesley. This resolution was negotiated between the band, the government of Canada, and the province of Ontario in accord with the Indian Lands Agreement of 1986. Ontario also released all mineral rights and revenues on the returned land to Canada to administer for the use of the band. [ [http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nr/prs/j-a2003/2-02277_e.html Garden River First Nation Celebrates Addition To Its Reserve Lands - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada ] ]

Highway 17 dispute

Highway 17, the primary route of the Trans-Canada Highway, was realigned when a four-lane bypass opened north of the current one on October 31, 2007. The reserve objected to the renaming of the old road as Highway 638, and has erected its own signs identifying the road, unofficially, as Highway 17B. The municipal councils of Sault Ste. Marie and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional, which border Garden River on either side and are also located on the route of the disputed roadway, both passed municipal resolutions in 2007 supporting Garden River's position.

Population

Garden River First Nation has a population of 2,134 members registered under the Indian Act, according to the latest statistics (June, 2006). [ [http://pse2-esd2.ainc-inac.gc.ca/FNProfiles/FNProfiles_GeneralInformation.asp?BAND_NUMBER=199&BAND_NAME=Garden+River+First+Nation General Information ] ] However, only 1,004 members are resident on the band's reserve, while 1,130 members live off the reserve, predominantly but not exclusively in Sault Ste. Marie. According to Statistics Canada, the 2001 census showed the following: that more than 45 per cent of the on-reserve population were under 25 years old; that over 93 per cent had English as their only mother tongue; and that over 56 per cent identified themselves as Catholic and 28 per cent as Protestant. [ [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/Profil01/CP01/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=3557074&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=Ontario&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=35&B1=All&Custom= 2001 Community Profiles ] ]

References