 Shke-Sahkehjewaosa Community Centre | |
| People | Ojibwe |
|---|---|
| Treaty | Robinson Huron Treaty &Pennefather Treaty |
| Headquarters | 7 Shingwauk Street, RR 4, Garden River |
| Province | Ontario |
| Land[1] | |
| Main reserve | Garden River 14 |
| Land area | 207.04 km2 |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
| On reserve | 124 |
| On other land | 61 |
| Off reserve | 2073 |
| Total population | 3398 |
| Government[1] | |
| Chief | Karen Bell |
| Council | Kari Lynne Barry Darwin Belleau Lee Ann Gamble Kristy Dawn Jones Travis Jones Chester Langille Luanne Povey Candice Sim |
| Tribal Council[1] | |
| Anishinabek Nation Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tribal Council | |
| Website | |
| https://www.gardenriver.org/site/ | |
Garden River 14 Gitigaan-ziibi | |
|---|---|
| Garden River Indian Reserve No. 14 | |
  Garden River 14 | |
| Coordinates:46°33′N84°06′W / 46.550°N 84.100°W /46.550; -84.100 | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Province |  Ontario |
| District | Algoma |
| First Nation | Garden River |
| Area | |
| • Land | 215.20 km2 (83.09 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
• Total | 1,107 |
| • Density | 5.1/km2 (13/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| [3] | |
Garden River First Nation, also known asKetegaunseebee (Gitigaan-ziibi Anishinaabe in theOjibwe language), is anOjibwaband located atGarden River 14 nearSault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
The Garden River reserve consists of two non-contiguous areas, totalling 20,703.5 hectares (51,159 acres).[4] The larger, main area is located along theSt. Marys River andHighway 17. TheGarden River runs through the reserve as atributary of the St. Marys River. It is bordered by theUnorganized North Algoma District,Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional, the city ofSault Ste. Marie, theRankin Location Indian reserve, andSugar Island Township, Michigan, USA.
Garden River First Nation is governed by a band council consisting of a chief and 8 councillors. Council elections are held biannually. The current chief is Karen Bell.
Garden River First Nation was created as a legal entity whenLord Elgin,Governor General of theProvince of Canada, approved in law theRobinson Huron Treaty on November 29, 1850. The treaty had been negotiated between the British colony's representativeWilliam B. Robinson and numerous Ojibwa chiefs from the Lake Huronwatershed 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.[5]
Garden River First Nation was represented in the treaty byShingwaukonse, who was generally recognized as an Ojibwe 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 theGarden River since 1841, after leaving a settlement nearSault 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.[6] The last hereditary chief was Shingwaukonse's second son Buhgwujjenene, who succeeded his brother Augustine.[7]
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."[5] For many years subsequent to signing the treaty, Garden River First Nation disputed the survey of their reserve conducted by theProvince of Canada. In April 2003, the government ofCanada returned 3,492 hectares of land to the reserve from the adjacent geographictownships of Anderson and Chesley. This resolution was negotiated between the band, the government of Canada, and the province ofOntario in accord with theIndian 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.[8]
In a letter written in October 1855,Johann Georg Kohl cites visitingRivière au Désert ("Garden River" (literally "Desert River") inFrench), located a few miles from the mouth of theSt. Marys River. He recounted aMenaboju story of an encounter with the "Beaver King", in the recounting of "The Legend of Beaverhead Rock and the Origin of the St. Mary's River".[9] Kohl also expressed praise of a beautifulbirch bark biting art work he had seen while at Rivière au Désert[9]
In 1964, the Garden River First Nation hosted a week-long assembly of theNational Indian Council, in which Indigenous representatives from across Canada met in the community's meeting hall, Sahkahjewadsa meaning House of the Rising Sun.
Highway 17, the primary route of theTrans-Canada Highway, was realigned when a four-lane bypass opened north of the existing roadway on October 31, 2007. The reserve objected to the renaming of the old road asHighway 638, and erected its own signs identifying the road, unofficially, asHighway 17B. The municipal councils ofSault Ste. Marie andMacdonald, 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. The provincial government of Ontario eventually acceded to the Garden River band's demand, officially designating the route as Highway 17B in early 2009.
In February 2010, Garden River's band council publicly warned that they would consider imposingtolls on the routes of both Highway 17 and Highway 17B through their territory if the provincial government did not assist the council with a funding shortfall of approximately $1 million. They threatened to impose the toll to protest theHST and native people having to pay the tax, not because they wanted a million dollars.[10]
Garden River First Nation has a population of 2,134 members registered under theIndian Act, according to the latest statistics (June, 2006).[11] 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: more than 45 per cent of the on-reserve population were under 25 years old; more than 93 per cent spoke only English at home; and more than 56 per cent identified as Catholic and 28 per cent as Protestant.[12]
Ontario Northland provides intercity motor coach service to Garden River as a stop along its Sault Ste. Marie–Sudbury–North Bay–Ottawa route, with one bus a day each headed eastbound and westbound from Sunday to Friday, with no service on Saturdays.
Places adjacent to Garden River First Nation | |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
