TheWhitesand First Nation (Severn Ojibwa:ᐗᐱᓀᑲ)[1] is anOjibwayFirst Nationreserve inNorthern Ontario, Canada. They have reserved for themselves the 249-hectare (615-acre)Whitesandreserve. The community ofArmstrong Settlement is their main community, located coterminously withArmstrong, Thunder Bay District, Ontario. In June 2008, their total registered population was 1,086 people, of which their on-reserve population was 311.
Originally located along the northwest shore ofLake Nipigon near Mount St. John, and near theWhitesand River which gives name to the group, Whitesand First Nation was without a home from 1942 when high water levels began eroding the shoreline and flooding out their buildings and burial grounds. Due to the economic influence of theCanadian National Railway, many Whitesand First Nation members settled along the CNR rail line. Largest of these settlements took place in Armstrong. Consequently, when a new Reserve was negotiated, it was located immediately north of that community.
Whitesand is policed by theOntario Provincial Police, an agreement made between the chief and council and OPP.
The current electoral leadership of the council consists of Chief Allan Gustufson and six councillors: Barbara Doblej, Jim Doblej, Raymond Kwandibens, Yvette Kwandibens-Toset, Wayne Matchiendagos and James Nayanookeesic. Their term began on October 27, 2007. There will be an election held this year on the 28th and 29 October 2011.
The First Nation is part of theIndependent First Nations Alliance of theNishnawbe Aski Nation, though Whitesand First Nation is located within theRobinson Superior Treaty area. The First Nation is also a member ofWaaskiinaysay Ziibi Inc., aneconomic development corporation made up of five Lake Nipigon First Nations.
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