Chippewa Indians Fort Albany First Nation

This band of chippewa indians live along the west coast of james bay. The early history of the fort albany region was one in which the whites tried to establish their presence but the nearby anishinabek, driven by the seven fires prophecy, made life extremely difficult to those first whites to attempt to establish their trading post in the 1670s. After the many wars between the indians and whites ended in the 19th century, a great many anishinabek from michigan, southern ontarion, and other locations fled to the northern ontario region. The whites negotiated with the chippewa's and other indians in the region, in either 1905 or 1929-1930 (probably 1929-1930), and signed a treaty which established the fort albany first nation. The whites have made themselves clear that they consider this reserve to be the crees but they are not fooling anyone. The crees are anishinabek, like the chippewa's. The total enrolled band population is 4,105, but the population is probably much higher because the reserve is located in an isolated region with no year round road access to the white communities to their south. The reserve covers 36,346 hectares or 89,813 acres. However, the real first nation is the 10,000s of sq. mi. that surrounds them.