Attawapiskat First Nation

Attawapiskat
Band No. 143

Attawapiskat from the air in 2011
People	Swampy Cree
Treaty	9
Province	Ontario
Land
Main reserve	Attawapiskat 91A
Other reserve(s)	Attawapiskat 91
Land area	272.759 km2
Population (November 2024)
On reserve	2010
On other land	115
Off reserve	1659
Total population	3784
Government
Chief	Judy Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin
Council size	11
Council	Deputy Chief Jack Linklater Jr. Michael Stephen Hookimawillillene Alexander James Kataquapit Maggie Koostachin Tesla Felicia Nakogee Kara Rose Shisheesh Jennie Rose Anna Sutherland Robert Leonard Sutherland Mercier Anthony Sheldon Kennedy Wesley Ignace Xavier Wesley Remi Gerald Wheesk
Tribal Council
Mushkegowuk Council

Attawapiskat, or the Attawapiskat First Nation, is an isolated Cree First Nation located in Kenora District in northern Ontario, Canada, at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River near the west coast of James Bay. The First Nation controls the reserves at Attawapiskat 91 and Attawapiskat 91A, established upon the community's signing of Treaty 9 in 1930. The traditional territory of Attawapiskat extends beyond its current location up the James Bay coast to Hudson Bay and hundreds of kilometres inland along river tributaries.

The people of Attawapiskat maintain some knowledge of their ancestral Swampy Cree language and some still participate in subsistence living, hunting in the land around the reserves. However, Attawapiskat has access to modern amenities including telecommunications services and a hospital, as well as an elementary and high school. The community is connected to other towns along the shore of James Bay by the seasonal ice road constructed each December, linking it to Kashechewan, Fort Albany, and Moosonee. The now-closed Victor Diamond Mine is located close to the community.

Attawapiskat has received national media attention for several crises, including a crisis of inadequate and insufficient housing, a lack of clean drinking water, and a youth suicide crisis.

Etymology

Attawapiskat (Āhtawāpiskatowi ininiwak, unpointed: ᐊᑕᐗᐱᐢᑲᑐᐎ ᐃᓂᓂᐧᐊᐠ) means "people of the parting of the rocks" from the Swampy Cree language ᑳᐦ ᑕᐗᐱᐢᑳᐠ (kāh-tawāpiskāk). The Attawapiskat River carved out several clusters of high limestone islands less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) from its mouth, which are unique to the region. These formations (and therefore the river and community) are called kāh-tawāpiskāk in Swampy Cree.

History

The people of Attawapiskat are Mushkegowuk, also known as Swampy Cree or Hudson Bay Lowland Cree. Local oral history and documentation in the archives of the Hudson's Bay Company attests that ancestors of the present-day inhabitants of Attawapiskat had occupied an area extending from the Kapiskau River in the south, to Cape Henrietta Maria (the point where the coasts of Hudson's Bay and James Bay meet) in the north, and from Akimiski Island in the east to Mississa Lake in the west. Across this vast range, family units came together to form smaller bands, which have been identified by anthropologists according to the river basins they tended to occupy. According to John J. Honigmann, these included the Sutton (or "Namee'ko") River people and the Winisk Indians inland of Cape Henrietta Maria, and then from north to south the Lake River, Opinikaw, Attawapiskat, Nawaacii (or "Lawaci"), and Kapiskaw bands. Honigmann identified these loosely-defined bands as "Attawapiskat Indians" in his 1956 ethnographic study of the Indigenous people.

The site of the present settlement at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River (the reserve known as Attawapiskat 91A) has for centuries been a gathering place for the Mushkegowuk. Attawapiskat 91A was originally a seasonal camp that the Cree visited only in the spring and summer to take advantage of the bountiful fishing on a major river of James Bay. Historically, in the wintertime, families moved to more dispersed sites along the coast, inland or on Akimiski Island, where they trapped, hunted, and gathered roots, fruit and nuts. This way of life has persisted at least as recently as the 1950s, with family groups dispersing across the territory beginning in the autumn.

By 1693, a permanent trading post controlled by the British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had been established at Fort Albany, marking the beginning of prolonged contact between the people of the area and Europeans, and introducing the commercial fur trapping economy to the area. People who would typically live inland moved closer to the coastal trade centre, laying the basis for the modern-day settlement at Attawapiskat 91A.

HBC later established a post in Attawapiskat in 1894. Revillon Frères, a French competitor to HBC, built their own store in 1902.

After brief contact with some Jesuit missionaries during the period of French control of Fort Albany (1686-1693), the region did not see any attempts at christianization until 1848, when the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate began making regular visits to the Fort. In 1893, the Oblates built a Catholic church in Attawapiskat, and a residence for their missionaries in 1912. They established St. Anne's Indian Residential School in 1902, which children from Attawapiskat attended. An Anglican church was built in the 1920s.

In 1930, Attawapiskat was part of the adhesion to Treaty 9 with the governments of the Dominion of Canada and Ontario. Although Treaty 9 was originally signed in the years 1905 and 1906, those signings only included the communities south of the Albany River, which was then the northern limit of Ontario. Attawapiskat was included when adhesions were made to the treaty to include the communities north of the Albany River, following the transfer of that land to Ontario. Signing this treaty established the Nation's band government under the Indian Act, and a reserve, Attawapiskat Indian Reserve 91. The treaty set aside reserve lands on the Ekwan River, a parallel river north of the Attawapiskat River that drains into James Bay, totalling 27,040.10 hectares. In time, it was decided by local leaders to establish the community in its present location on the Attawapiskat River instead. This was due to an existing trading post and better access to James Bay shipping routes from this location. The new reserve, which contains 235.8 hectares, was then numbered Attawapiskat Indian Reserve 91A. The majority of the First Nation members moved to the community as late as the mid-1960s.

The first school in Attawapiskat was built by missionaries. It initially operated as a summer school that was only open in July and August so that it would not interfere with traditional life. Attawapiskat School, designed in 1951 by Lennox Grafton, one of Canada's first female architects, opened in 1953.

According to anthropologist John J. Honigmann writing in the late 1950s, after establishing their own infrastructure, members of the mission seem to have taken charge of some of the planning of the modern-day settlement. A loudspeaker located in the church provided announcements to the community. From 1927 to 1960, the mission operated a sawmill. Mission members were engaged in deciding where houses would be built, draining paths, and instructing workers. This management was criticized by the Indigenous people employed in this work at the time. Honigmann observed that Attawapiskat in the late 1950s was a "community in which the chiefs and councillors possess practically no power and display little effective leadership."

Since the 1950s, Attawapiskat has developed from a settlement of temporary dwellings, such as tents and teepees, to a community with permanent buildings. These were constructed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Northern Store took over the operations of the HBC store in the 1980s.

Beginning in 1976, primary school students attended J.R. Nakogee School. It was closed on May 11, 2000, because of site contamination and possible health problems attributed to a massive diesel leak that had occurred in 1979. 30,000 gallons of diesel leaked from underground pipes, the largest such leak in Northern Ontario at the time. Classes subsequently took place in portables. Money that had been allocated for the renovation of the 25-year-old frame school was used to pay for construction of eight double and three single portable classrooms. The facilities were basic, with none of the supplementary resources available to schools in other parts of the province. A new school was promised by the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs in the summer of 2000, but no action was taken for several years. On April 1, 2008, newly appointed Education Minister Chuck Strahl informed the Attawapiskat First Nation Education Authority that Ottawa would not finance the new school after all.

The Education Authority's Chairman summed up the community's plight by saying: "We just want what any other parent would want for their children – a safe school." Construction on a new elementary school began on June 22, 2012. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo congratulated the community that day. It opened two years later.

Beginning in 2007, local teenager Shannen Koostachin launched "Education Is a Human Right", an activist campaign to publicize the lack of educational opportunities for First Nations youth. Koostachin was killed in a car accident near New Liskeard, where she was attending high school, in 2010. The campaign was subsequently renamed Shannen's Dream in her memory, and continues to operate. The campaign was the subject of Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin's award-winning 2013 documentary film Hi-Ho Mistahey!

Geography

Attawapiskat 91A (top) seen from the International Space Station in 2009. The western point of Akimiski Island is at the bottom of the photo.

The main town of Attawapiskat covers 9.331 square kilometres (2,306 acres) of land and is located on the left bank of the Attawapiskat River, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland from the James Bay coastline, on the reserve officially known as Attawapiskat 91A. It is located in the Kenora District within Northwestern Ontario. Timmins, the nearest urban centre, is located approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) south. The town of Moosonee is 160 kilometres (99 mi) south of Attawapiskat.

First Nation citizens will often hunt and occasionally live in the lands that surround the settlement proper, which consists of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, a vast wetland located between the Canadian Shield and James Bay and Hudson Bay. The vegetation is typically subarctic, with a mostly coniferous forest (stunted black spruce and tamarack) in the muskeg. Wildlife includes geese, ducks, caribou, moose, beaver, bear, wolves, wolverine, marten, rabbit, muskrat, otter, and other species.

According to a 1999 report by the Wakenagun Community Development Corporation, the land around Attawapiskat had 0.8 metres (2 feet 7 inches) of fertile soil, underlain by clay and silt.

It is normal for the Attawapiskat River to rise 1 to 2 metres during the spring thaw and break-up. As of 1999, the community had occasionally had to deal with recurring partial and complete flooding.

Geology

The Attawapiskat kimberlite field is a field of kimberlite pipes in the Canadian Shield located astride the Attawapiskat River on Attawapiskat First Nation land. It is thought to have formed about 180 million years ago in the Jurassic period, when the North American Plate moved westward over a centre of upwelling magma called the New England hotspot, also referred to as the Great Meteor hotspot.

The area is composed of 18 kimberlite pipes, 16 of which are diamondiferous. The De Beers open pit Victor Mine was developed on top of the Victor pipe. Mines from Victor Main and Victor Southwest have appeared close enough to the surface to be used in an open-pit mine. The Victor Kimberlite is a composition of pyroclastic crater facies and hypabyssal facies, and is considered to have a highly variable diamond grade.

Climate

In May 2008 hundreds of people were evacuated from the community after a state of emergency was declared. The threat stemmed from the possibility of ice jams in the Attawapiskat River and subsequent flooding. Flooding conditions the following year also caused evacuations.

On May 1, 2013, officials announced the closure of all schools in the community because of flooding.

Reserves

The community's main reserve is Attawapiskat 91A, located on the bank of the Attawapiskat River near the west coast of James Bay. Most of the population lives on that site, having formerly mostly lived on Attawapiskat 91, a larger site located further inland on the Ekwan River.

Demographics

The people of Attawapiskat are part of the Swampy Cree, also called Nehinaw or Mushkegowuk. An individual of the Swampy Cree is referred to in their language as "inninew" (a person, part of the Cree people). They are a division of the wider Cree Nation whose territory extends from northern Saskatchewan, through northern Manitoba along the Saskatchewan River, down the coast of Hudson's Bay and inland areas of Northern Ontario, through to the James Bay coast.

Population

As of the 2021 Canadian census, Attawapiskat 91A had a population of 1,586. As of May 2025, the First Nation had a registered population of 3,793, of whom 2,007 reportedly lived on their Nation's own reserve, 88 on other reserves, and 26 on their Nation's own crown land, the remaining 1,672 living elsewhere.

According to anthropologist John J. Honigmann, Attawapiskat's population in 1947 was 467. Honigmann observed that the population had decreased to only 300 by 1955, and he attributed that decline to migration towards communities further south like Fort Albany and Moosonee.

Language

The traditional language of the people of Attawapiskat is the Swampy Cree language, an "n-dialect" along the Cree language continuum. 575, or approximately 37.4% of respondents to the 2021 Canadian census reported Cree as their mother tongue. No other non-official languages were reported as a mother tongue, but 400 (24.5%) respondents reported either English or French and a non-official language as their mother tongue. 615 (39.5%) reported English as their mother tongue.

Almost all of the 1,586 respondents in the 2021 Canadian census reported knowing English, with 10 individuals reporting knowledge of French too, and only 5 reporting knowledge of neither of the official languages of Canada.

As of 1958, anthropologist John J. Honigmann reported that "only one or two men command English" (out of a population between 300 and 400). According to a 1998 thesis by Norbert W. Witt, about 98% of the population of Attawapiskat at that time spoke Swampy Cree. As of 2003, many elders understood very little English; they spoke Cree and other Aboriginal languages.

Religion

In 1893, a Catholic chapel was erected in the community by missionaries from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Possibly due to the Catholic instruction many in the community received at St. Anne's Indian Residential School, as of the 1950s, most of the community attended Sunday Mass, and the Anglican congregation was limited to one family. The modern-day St. Ignatius Catholic Church was built in 1935, maintains the local cemetery, and remained the only church in the community until the construction of two Pentecostal places of worship. St. Ignatius is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Keewatin–Le Pas. A second large burial grounds, St. Mary Cemetery, is located in the west end of town.

Economy

M. Koostachin & Sons (1976), a locally owned store

Tourism and subsistence are among the primary means that the people of the Hudson Bay Lowlands make their living, due to a lack of timber and minerals. Historically, livelihoods were gained through traditional hunting and trapping, including of fur-bearing animals which could be traded through the Hudson's Bay Company.

There are only a handful of businesses in town.

Subsistence

In 1990 Dr. Fikret Berkes, Distinguished Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Manitoba, and a team of academics interviewed 925 aboriginal hunters from eight communities of the Mushkegowuk region, including Attawapiskat. Their results published in 1995 showed "that geographically extensive land use for hunting and fishing persists in the Mushkegowuk region, some 250,000 square kilometres (97,000 sq mi)." However, they found that hunting patterns had changed over the past few decades, now most hunters undertook "numerous short trips of a few days' duration instead of the traditional long trips" which had been observed by anthropologist John J. Honigmann in the 1950s. Berkes' team found that, despite the fact that the First Nations under consideration only controlled 900 square kilometres (350 sq mi) (0.36% of the region) as Indian reserve land, "they continued to use large parts of their traditional territory."

In her Masters thesis (1998), Jacqueline Hookimaw-Witt, a Muskego-Cree, interviewed elders from Attawapiskat who described in great detail ways in which they continued to harvest, fish and hunt for food, clothing, crafts and subsistence to complement store-bought items. Hookimaw-Witt was the first Muskego-Cree to earn a doctorate.

Welfare

As of 1958, a significant amount of the community's income came from government welfare, provided to "the old, women whose husbands are away in hospitals, and to young adults working on houses for themselves and, therefore, unable to hunt for meat in the summer," according to anthropologist John J. Honigmann. Honigmann attributed the dependence on government aid in part to the scarcity of fur-bearing animals in the area, as well as the inadequate role community members felt the government played in upholding Treaty 9, by which they asserted that "the federal Government promised to care for the Indians."

Victor Diamond Mine

Main article: Victor Diamond Mine

De Beers Canada officially opened the Victor Diamond Mine, Ontario's first ever diamond mine on July 26, 2008. As of August 2009, De Beers had spent approximately $1 billion on construction of the mine. It was an open-pit mine mining two kimberlite pipes, located 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of the settlement of Attawapiskat on the nation's traditional land. The mine had been expected to produce 600,000 carats (120 kg) of diamonds a year.

Traditional harvesters from Attawapiskat First Nation regularly hunt caribou, goose, and fish along the Attawapiskat River, while tending trap lines throughout the region (Berkes et al., 1994; Whiteman, 2004). Like many other northern Cree communities, these traditional activities are more than subsistence, comprising an important part of local culture and identity (Inf. #2, 4). Therefore, the community leadership was very concerned with the proposed development of the Victor mine, and, at De Beers' invitation, sought to ensure that any environmental impacts of the mine would be effectively mitigated.

An Impact-Benefit Agreement (IBA) was signed with community leaders in 2005 with Danny Metatawabin acting as coordinator for the IBA between De Beers and Attawapiskat. The IBA set out how the community would benefit with respect to employment and business opportunities, training and education, sound environmental management and financial compensation for loss of the use of the land while it is being mined.

Community members later protested the agreement through demonstrations and roadblocks, claiming that the community's share of the "bounty from the mine isn't getting back to the community." In August 2009 community members travelled to Toronto to confront De Beers Canada about the growing prosperity of the company and the growing poverty in the community. De Beers had negotiated a lease area. Although it was acknowledged that the mine was on Attawapiskat traditional land, the royalties from the Victor Mine were flowing to the Province of Ontario, not Attawapiskat First Nation. As of 2013, the mine had 500 full-time employees, with 100 from the First Nation. De Beers also employed members of Attawapiskat First Nation in winter road construction and as sub-contractors. According to Global News in 2013, "a federal review of the relationship between De Beers' Victor mine and Attawapiskat showed that government support for training and capacity did not start soon enough to deal with the huge lack of skills in the First Nation."

As of 2013, the mine generated "about $400 million in annual revenue for the company." The Attawapiskat Trust, established January 1, 2007, received payments made by De Beers Canada and Attawapiskat Limited Partnership (ALP) as part of the Victor Diamond Project Impact and Benefits Agreement. As of January 2011, the company had transferred about $10.5 million to the trust fund. The beneficiary of the trust includes "all members of Attawapiskat on a collective and undivided basis."

The mine closed in 2019.

Cost of living

As of 2011, it cost CA$250,000 to build a house in Attawapiskat. The cost of renovating one condemned house was $50,000–100,000. At the height of the national attention on the housing crisis in the early 2010s, the majority of community members had updated their heating needs, while many households still used dry firewood. Firewood in Attawapiskat cost $150 and $200 a cord, and a cord could heat a winter-bound tent for only a week, or at most 10 days.

Arts and culture

Many community members have maintained traditional social structures and philosophies in a deeper fashion than in other, less isolated First Nations communities. Some elders lead a traditional life on the land, moving into the community only during Christmas season. Some families, despite having their home base in the community, use the land extensively as their economic and social basis. The vast majority of community members are involved in the annual goose hunts in fall and spring. Most of the members of Attawapiskat First Nation are aware of their traditions.

Traditional harvesters from Attawapiskat First Nation continue to regularly hunt caribou, goose, and fish along the Attawapiskat River, while tending trap lines throughout the region. Their activities go beyond subsistence hunting and fishing, as these comprise an important part of local culture and identity.

Sports

Maytawaywin Authority provides recreational services at Reg Louttit Sportsplex, a community centre and sportsplex, including an ice rink, community hall, gym, and fields for football, soccer, and baseball.

Government

Attawapiskat First Nation Office, 1990s

The First Nation's government follows the template set forth in the Indian Act. Local leadership is an elected government of a chief, a deputy chief and twelve councillors who serve three-year terms. As of 2025, the current chief is Judy Sylvia Koostachin-Metatawabin.

Attawapiskat First Nation is part of the regional Mushkegowuk Council, an Aboriginal political group representing the Omushkego Cree. The community is also represented by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which represents 51 First Nations across Northern Ontario. NAN is the representative political body for the First Nations that are part of Treaty 9. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative organization of the hundreds of First Nation communities in Canada.

The reserve is within the federal riding of Kapuskasing—Timmins—Mushkegowuk, and the provincial riding of Mushkegowuk—James Bay.

Government history

The band council was under Third Party Intervention for part of 2011–2012. While the federal government had preemptively removed the third-party manager, a Federal Court decision later deemed the Third Party Management arrangement 'unreasonable'.

Police

Attawapiskat is policed by the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, an Aboriginal-based service that replaced the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in the early 1990s in most remote northern communities in Ontario. The community is served by the Attawapiskat detachment in the Northeast Region.

Military

Attawapiskat Canadian Ranger Patrol is a Canadian Ranger unit attached to the 3rd Canadian Ranger patrol group (based at CFB Borden) and was formed in 1994.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Air

Travel to Attawapiskat is accessible through Attawapiskat Airport year-round. The airport was opened in 1974, but air service in the community began in 1957. The airport is equipped with a gravel runway that was constructed in the 1970s.

Around 2007, Thunder Airlines supplanted Air Creebec as supplier of postal services and for shipping goods. Heavier goods are shipped into the community via a seasonal barge from Moosonee.

Rail

The closest train station is in Moosonee, where the Ontario Northland Railway runs south to Cochrane, with bus connections further south to Toronto and Southern Ontario.

Road

Roads in town are not paved and are either dirt or gravel. Beyond the winter roads, none of the gravel roads connect beyond Attawapiskat. Roads are generally unnamed. Airport Road, River Road, Meenish Road, 1A Street and 2nd Street are the few named streets. Most places in town use post office boxes for identification.

Winter roads constructed every year link Attawapiskat First Nation with Kashechewan, Fort Albany, and Moosonee to the south. The first roads were built by the province in 1956. Winter roads are temporary routes of transportation that are constructed mostly in January, February, March and even April throughout remote parts of Northern Ontario. The James Bay Winter Road is operated or managed by Kimesskanemenow Corporation. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has an office and representative in Attawapiskat.

When the winter road is in good condition, the trip can take five hours between Attawapiskat and Kashechewan. During the period when the winter road is open, certain community band members offer taxi services, shuttling between the communities. James Bay Winter Road is available in the winter months barring bad weather such as blizzards and heavy snowfalls, at which point access will be closed until the road is inspected and snow is plowed away.

Feasibility studies have been undertaken on the construction of a permanent all-season road between the coastal communities. Such a project, if undertaken, would entail a "coastal road" connecting the four communities (Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Moosonee) with each other, as well as a road to link the coastal road to the provincial highway system at Fraserdale, Kapuskasing or Hearst.

Utilities

Electricity

Fiber optics were installed in July 2009, providing high-speed Internet service and improved cable service to Attawapiskat

Five Nations Energy Inc was incorporated in 1997 and connected the community to the Hydro One electrical grid via the Moosonee Substation. FNEI remains the lead transmitter of the region. Prior to 2000, power was supplied by diesel generators located in Fort Albany.

Water

Prior to the 1970s, clean potable water from the Attawapiskat River and Monument Channel was obtained using buckets and pails. There was no running water.

When in 1976, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada recommended that the community water supply should come not from the river but from a slough just northeast of the town, community members using traditional ecological knowledge were aware that the water intake site proposed was too high in organic material. They were right and no filtration system since then has proven adequate to control the quantities of organics without over-compensation with chemicals. Two consecutive treatment plants have failed, causing health problems.

In March 2012 there was a Health Canada advisory warning residents to "minimize their exposure to household tap water." Most residents therefore drank bottled water.

Healthcare

Basic health services are provided by nursing staff at the 15-bed Attawapiskat Hospital of the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, a provincial hospital which provides sixteen beds for pediatric, medical/surgical and chronic care. The hospital was founded in 1969, replacing St. Mary's Hospital, which had been established by the Catholic Church in 1951. Like other remote communities on the James Bay coast, there is no doctor located permanently in the community. A physician from Weeneebayko General Hospital in Moose Factory visits Attawapiskat and other communities along the coast on a regular basis each month. Patients with serious injuries, or those requiring surgery, must be transported to a larger centre for treatment. These emergency patients are transported by air ambulance airplane or helicopter to medical centres in Moose Factory, Timmins, Sudbury or Kingston, depending on their condition.

Attawapiskat Health Clinic provides additional outpatient health care services to the community and is located across the street from the hospital.

As with other places in town, the hospital has occasionally been evacuated due to the river flooding in the springtime.

A healing lodge, the Jules Mattinas Healing Lodge, is located northwest of Attawapiskat and connected by a road. The building's entrance is shaped as a teepee.

2016 suicide crisis

According to reporting by CTV and CBC, more than one hundred people had attempted suicide in the community between September 2015 and April 2016, and one person died. Many young people attempted suicide during this time, which MP Charlie Angus called a "rolling nightmare." This crisis gained national attention when a state of emergency was declared after eleven people attempted suicide on April 9, 2016. A document signed by Chief Bruce Shisheesh and eight councillors indicated that there were twenty-eight suicide attempts during March 2016.

According to Chief Shisheesh, reasons for the many suicide attempts included overcrowding, bullying at school, the legacy of residential schools, and physical, sexual and drug abuse. Health Canada provided $340,860 for mental health and wellness programs and $9,750 for the National Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy, which the reserve claimed was inadequate. They said they were overwhelmed. Local hospitals, which were already in poor condition, struggled to treat the people attempting suicide, in addition to already ill patients. This led to the local jail being used as a temporary waiting location.

Emergency services

As of 2008, Attawapiskat Fire Rescue consisted of a fire department of nine.

Pre-hospital medical care is provided by Weeneebayko Area Health Authority Paramedic Services, a service run by Weeneebayko Area Health Authority funded by the Ministry of Health. The community is served by one EMS base with two ambulances for the entire community. There are eight primary care paramedics stationed at this base which operates 24/7/365.

Telecommunications

Telecommunications, including local television cable service is provided by Attawapiskat Development Corporation.

Telecommunications in the community is received from a tower located next to the hospital.

Housing crisis

Attawapiskat has a long-standing housing crisis, due to lack of adequate housing supply leading to overcrowding and health problems.

During his 2004 mission in Canada, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, UNESCO Special Rapporteur, observed first-hand the substandard conditions of on-reserve housing which included deteriorated units, lack of heating and insulation, leakage of pipes and toxic mould.

In November 2007, UNHCHR Special Rapporteur, Miloon Kothari, noted that overcrowded and inadequate housing conditions, as well as difficulties to access basic services, including water and sanitation, are major problems for Aboriginal peoples. He called for changes in federal and provincial government, legislation, policies and budgetary allocation for Aboriginal people.

On July 11, 2009 a massive sewage flood dumped waste into eight buildings that housed 90 people. De Beers donated and retrofitted two construction accommodation trailers intended as a short-term stop-gap measure, until the homes could be remedied or replaced. As of November, they were still housing 90 people who shared four stoves and six washrooms.

On October 14, 2009, Chief Theresa Hall raises concerns about the federal government's lack of response to the housing crisis in Attawapiskat caused by the sewage back-up. The government subsequently claimed they had committed $700,000 to repair homes.

As of 2011, housing in the community consisted of 300 houses, five tents and 17 sheds. The trailers that had been donated by De Beers cost CA$100,000 per year to maintain.

On October 28, 2011, the First Nation's leadership declared a state of emergency in response to dropping temperatures, and the resulting health and safety concerns due to inadequate housing. Many residents were still living in tents, trailers and temporary shelters, and many residences and public buildings lacked running water and electricity. In one case, children, the elderly, and the ill were sleeping in rooms just a few feet away from the sewage spill from years prior that had not been adequately cleaned. In a 2011 statement, James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, said that many residents in the community "live in unheated shacks or trailers that lack running water." Anaya noted that "aboriginal communities face higher rates of poverty, and poorer health, education and employment outcomes than non-aboriginals in Canada."

The housing crisis received widespread media attention following the declaration of a state of emergency.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan claimed that officials in his department were unaware of Attawapiskat's housing problems until October 28, 2011, despite having visited the community many times that year.

In November, 2011, a spokesperson for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs stated that the reserve had received a commitment of $500,000 to renovate five vacant housing units, and that it had already received "a significant boost from Canada's Economic Action Plan and funding dedicated to a new subdivision, of which 44 houses have been completed". Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that Attawapiskat had received $90 million in transfer payments since the federal Conservative Party was elected in 2006. That amount was an aggregate figure, including all federal funding for Attawapiskat over 5 years, which includes education, health care, social services, housing and other necessities, including the infrastructure and human resources required to deliver those services. According to the Huffington Post in 2011, it was estimated that $84 million was needed for housing alone in Attawapiskat.

In December 2011, the Canadian Red Cross mobilized to help meet immediate needs in the community of Attawapiskat.

On January 14, 2012, Attawapiskat First Nation Housing Manager Monique Sutherland signed an affidavit with numerous items of evidence dating back to 2002 that attested the long-standing nature of the crisis. Evidence included official signed requests from social services, the local hospital, and physicians detailing a case-by-case urgent need for housing, particularly for the ill and elderly, citing problems with mould and mildew, over-crowding, and a lack of heat and running water. The affidavit included the description of one residence 300 square feet in size, housing three people, which was more like a bush camp.

Later in 2012, the federal government "rushed 22 pre-fabricated homes to the community."

On December 30, 2012, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development stated that $131 million will have been spent on Attawapiskat from 2006 to the end of fiscal year 2012–13, which included 60 houses that had been renovated or newly constructed and the new elementary school, then under construction. The Attawapiskat band received a total estimated revenue of $34 million in 2011: $17.6 million from the federal government, $4.4 million from the provincial government, and income derived from non-governmental sources.

As of February 2013, the network of trailers donated by De Beers were in disrepair. Monique Sutherland explained that the materials needed to renovate the trailers still had to be shipped up the ice road in February, but the work had begun. According to Sutherland, nothing in a housing plan written in 2010 had come to fruition, and pressure caused by lack of housing was growing along with the community's population.

As of 2013, according to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, "only 46 of Attawapiskat's 316 housing units are considered adequate, while another 146 need major work and 122 a replacement."

In November 2013, a fire damaged a portion of the East End Trailers in Attawapiskat, displacing 80 community members. A state of emergency was declared. Thirty people had to be evacuated to Kapuskasing for several weeks while repairs were undertaken.

As of 2016, homes in Attawapiskat were mainly pre-fabricated wooden structures as well as some newer trailer units which arrived after the 2011 floods.

The housing crisis is the subject of a 2012 documentary by First Nations filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, The People of the Kattawapiskak River, and the 2015 documentary After the Last River by Victoria Lean. Obomsawin was present in the community in 2011, working on another film for the National Film Board of Canada, when the housing issue came to national attention.

Audit investigation

In response to the housing crisis, the federal government hired Deloitte to conduct a limited audit of the First Nation, which Attawapiskat agreed to voluntarily. The final report, titled "Audit of the AANDC and Attawapiskat First Nation (AFN) Management Control Framework" by Deloitte and Touche LLP was completed on September 28, 2012. The audit's investigation covered the period between April 1, 2005, and November 30, 2011. The area under scrutiny by the audit was the roughly $8.3M for "housing-related activities through the Capital Facilities and Maintenance (CFM) program, which included $6.85M for housing maintenance; $1M for immediate housing needs; and, $450K for housing renovations under Canada's Economic Action Plan."

The total amount of all AANDC funding to Attawapiskat First Nation which includes health, education, infrastructure, housing and administration, and more was approximately $104M over the timespan considered.

It was revealed in the audit that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) only conducted one physical condition review of Attawapiskat First Nation housing units during the period from April 1, 2005, to November 2011. The April 2009 review was conducted on a very small sample in a single 27-unit housing project built in 1990 and 1994. These units had "poor indoor air quality, high water table and overcrowding." CMHC had not shared this report with AANDC.

Recommendations from the audit included changes regarding loan eligibility, improvements in reporting, and book-keeping, for example, the suggestion that CMHC Physical Condition Reviews must be shared with AANDC. It was noted that there existed a chronic problem with collection of rent in arrears which was impeding loan payments to CMHC and the challenges of evicting tenants in an impoverished, remote northern community already plagued by overcrowding. The auditors found "an average of 81 per cent of files did not have adequate supporting documents and over 60 per cent had no documentation of the reason for payment." Additionally, the letter delivered to Chief Theresa Spence stated the audit revealed "no evidence of due diligence on the part of Attawapiskat of funding provided by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada for housing projects and Health Canada for health-related projects."

According to Green Party MP Elizabeth May, the audit showed "an unacceptable level of expenditures for which proper documentation was not provided."

One positive outcome of the audit was the observation that AANDC, CMHC, and Attawapiskat First Nation "worked in partnership at the regional level to determine allocations of housing funds for the Attawapiskat First Nation."

A CBC radio report noted that insensitive timing of the announcement to CBC and the online publication of the audit just before a controversial, highly publicized and much anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leadership. CBC correspondent Terry Milewski reported that the auditors did "not allege fraud" but raised "questions about bookkeeping" on the part of the federal government and the band.

Education

Kattawapiskak Elementary School's construction site in 2011 before construction began.

Secondary school students attend Vezina Secondary School, which was established in the early 1990s with additions built in following years. The secondary school was founded by John B. Nakogee in 1991 and it was named after Father Rodigue Vezina, a local Catholic priest who had served the community since 1975. Before the high school was opened in 1991, high school students had to go to Timmins, North Bay, or Ottawa for their studies.

On September 8, 2014, the new Kattawapiskak Elementary School was officially opened. This new construction followed the closure of the former elementary school in 2000 due to site contamination.

Media

Radio

• FM 89.9 – CKMT, Wawatay Radio Network (relays CKWT-FM, Sioux Lookout)
• FM 101.5 – CBCA, CBC Radio One (relays CBCS-FM, Sudbury)
• FM 107.1 – CJBA-FM, First Nations Community Radio

Television

The community has up to 48 TV channels with local shows.

Notable people

• Theresa Spence, chief (2010–2015)
• Jules Arita Koostachin, filmmaker
• Shannen Koostachin (1996–2010), youth activist

Further reading

• "Feds aware of Attawapiskat crisis for years". CBC. December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
• "What's next for Attawapiskat?". CBC Community News. December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
• "What Attawapiskat First Nation gets from the diamonds mined on its land". CBC News. Tom Ormsby, Director of Corporate Affairs for De Beers Canada and the Ontario MPP for the area, Gilles Bisson.
• Goyette, Linda (December 10, 2010). "Attawapiskat: The State of First Nations Education in Canada". Canadian Geographic. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
• Lindell, Rebecca (November 29, 2011). "Putting Attawapiskat on the map". Edmonton: Global News. Retrieved December 3, 2011. This includes a valuable timeline of events related to the housing crisis.
• "www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/story/2011/12/01/attawapiskat-Thursday.html". CBC News. December 1, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
• "Harper wants 'accountable' First Nations self-government". CBC News. December 2, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
• "Adrienne Arsenault Reporter's Notebook". YouTube. December 2, 2011. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
• Pearson, Patricia. "The seventh fire generation". Zoomer, Vol. 29, No. 6. pp. 52–55.

External links

• "Attawapiskat First Nation (Official Website)". Retrieved December 5, 2011.
• Weeneebayko Health Ahtuskaywin regional health authority
• Hokimaw-Witt, Jackie (1994). "Attawapiskat First Nation Community Profile: Geographic and Historical Overview" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 2, 2011. Retrieved December 4, 2011.
• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada profile