Saulteau First Nation

This band of Anishinabe Indians lived in northeastern British Columbia, when treaty 8 was agreed upon in 1899. However, they did not sign (signed an adhesion but they claim they were admitted) to Treaty 8 until 1914. White historians have written that an Anishinabe ogima from southern Manitoba, had a vision which told him to lead a group of Anishinabe people from Manitoba who were starving as a result of the whites killing off the wild game, to a location which had a lake and twin peak mountains below the same said lake. White authorities considered the Anishinabe people led by either ogima Kahkhagooguns or ogima Napaneegwan (they have two accounts of this event), as renegades from the 1885 Northwest Rebellion and sent the Northwest Mounted Police after them. White historians claim these Anishinabe people did not arrive to the Moberly Lake region until the late 1890's but Anishinabe people were already living there. It is very evident that the Seven Fires Prophecy is involved.

What that represents is clear. Anishinabe people have been living in what is now British Columbia for an extremely long time. In fact, probably for at least 1,300 years. Some Anishinabe people from Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan did commence an exodus towards the Moberly Lake region in 1885, to join with the Anishinabe people already living there. They may have numbered a few thousand or possibly over 10,000. It took them 10 to 15 years to migrate there. They were unwilling to sign Treaty 8 in 1899. Then for some reason they agreed to (some accounts claim were admitted) signed an adhesion to Treaty 8. By 1914, large numbers of Anishinabe people had obviously slipped into the mountains west of Moberly Lake and migrated towards the western coast of British Columbia, in and around, the Prince Rupert region. That may have been the cause of the Anishinabe refusual to sign Treaty 8 in 1899.

From Moberly Lake to the coast near Prince Rupert, is a vast mountain range Anishinabe ogimak knew would offer the Anishinabe people protection from the whites. In 1914, the whites were commencing an invasion into the region known as the Peace River Valley just east of Moberly Lake (it is located where the Saulteau First Nation, Doig First Nation, and Halfway River First Nation are) still probably controlled by Anishinabe soldiers since the whites did use the Northwest Mounted Police to colonize the Peace River Valley of both Alberta and British Columbia. The white invasion led white leaders to force some of the Anishinabe ogimak to negotiate to sign an adhesion to Treaty 8 which some did or didn't. Others obviously did not. They be from the Kelly Lake Nation and McLeod Lake First Nations, and those Anishinabe people who fled towards the western coast of British Columbia.

The Saulteau First Nation of British Columbia is not the only Anishinabe First Nation located in northeastern British Columbia. Others include the Doig First Nation, Halfway River First Nation, and the West Moberly Lake First Nation which is located at the west end of Moberly Lake, while the Saulteau First Nation is located on the same lakes east end. And the McLeod Lake First Nation which signed (adhered) Treaty 8 in 2000, also has an Anishinabe population. Just east of the Saulteau First Nation is the Kelly Lake Cree-Iroquois. White historians also claim that the Doig First Nation, Halfway River First Nation, and the West Moberly Lake First Nation have a Cree population but they are really Anishinabe. Reading the history of the Kelly Lake Cree-Iroquois can help you to understand the extent of the Anishinabe lands in northeastern British Columbia and neighboring Alberta now. In Alberta, they were kicked out of what became Jasper National Park. Today, the Kelly Lake Anishinabek control a land which covers 44,000 sq. km., or 16,988 sq. mi., in Alberta and British Columbia.

Anishinabe people share the Saulteau Reserve with the Beaver Dene. Their First Nation has one Reserve. On the west side of Moberly Lake is the other First Nation known as the West Moberly Lake Reserve. The Saulteau First Nation's one Reserve covers 3,026 hectares or 7,477 acres. Their First Nation band has an enrolled population of 840, but only 427 live on the Reserve in British Columbia. Of the 5 First Nations in that part of northeastern British Columbia, the Saulteau First Nation has the largest on-Reserve population. That is why the Anishinabe identity survives on there. At the others, the Anishinabe people have been forced to lose their Anishinabe identity. Of course, that means the Dene population on those Reserves is close to that of the Anishinabek.

Once the two peoples (Anishinabe and Beaver Dene) settled down on the same Reserves, the whites commenced to favor the Beaver Dene over the Anishinabe people. That means they forced the Anishinabek to stop speaking their language and to start identifying themselves as Beaver Dene. That led to many of the Anishinabek from the Doig First Nation, Halfway River First Nation, and eventually the West Moberly Lake First Nation, to move to the Saulteau First Nation. At the present time the whites are trying to force the Anishinabe people of the Saulteau First Nation to lose their Anishinabe identity. Very few speak Chippewa but most speak Cree or Beaver Dene. Again the Cree are really Anishinabe. Read the Seven Fires Prophecy to understand this. Anishinabe people of the Saulteau First Nation are still clinging on to their Anishinabe identity now.