Pauingassi First Nation

The Pauingassi First Nation is a Canadian First Nations in the east of the province of Manitoba. The 587 members (February 2010 ) are among the Anishinabe and live predominantly in the Indian reservation Pauingassi (547 residents, 260.5 ha). This is 280 kilometers northeast of Winnipeg and 24 km north of Little Grand Rapids, on a peninsula in Fishing Lake, which flows into the Berens River.

To reserve carries only a winter road from Pine Dock and Bloodvein (16 km). The nearest airport with a 1000 -meter runway is located at Little Grand Rapids. The airport is accessible from the reserve only by boat on the Fishing Lake or seaplane, in winter by snowmobile. 2006 there was virtually no medical care, only in emergency medical personnel was flown. The power is still tenuous.

The community lives traditionally, that is, from fishing, from trapping and wild rice. The community is "dry", that is, it is illegal to bring alcohol there. All children speak the language of the Ojibway. Pauingassi should ' mean high standing sand dune.

History

Originally came in 1800, the ancestors of the Ojibwa ( Anishinabe ) from Lake Superior, some ancestors of Moose Factory on James Bay, at the extreme southern end of Hudson Bay.

1875 included the Pauingassi signatory to an agreement with the Canada established in 1867. This was to Contract No. 5 of the so-called Numbered Treaties.

A well-known personality was one of the last medicine men of the tribe. Naaniwan ( Fairwind ) built two houses and a sweat lodge north of Little Grand Rapids, where he conducted the Waabanowin among other ceremonies. His reputation as a healer was widespread. A vision he received the right to a new ceremony to develop a dream drum ceremony, which acted as an intermediary between the living and the spirits of the dead. The anthropologist Irving Hallowell was a witness of the dance.

The Mennonites Henry and Elna Neufeld founded in 1955 as members of the Mennonite Pioneer Mission, which in turn was from 1945 to 1957 an agency of Mennonite Church Bergthaler of Manitoba, a town in the Pauingassi. Mennonites had first started work in Manitoba with the Indians on Matheson Iceland in Lake Winnipeg in 1948. This community was followed in 1955 Pauingassi and Cross Lake. 1970 founded the Mennonites Pauingassi Trading Post, which was acquired in 1980 by 13 members of the community. It burned down in the 90s and had to be closed.

In the 60s and 70s of the 20th century museums bought on numerous artifacts of the tribe. So went to Professor Jack Stone Bring from the University of Winnipeg at the Pauingassi and so bought many artifacts as he could get. 240 acquired by the said 400 pieces came from the Pauingassi, he felt he had to save her. The tribe kept contact with the University and the elderly of the tribe gave lectures and organized exercises with the students there. In 1999, his successor Jennifer Brown notes that were objects " returned " to nine people been, but knew the root of it. Eight of the nine persons were not of the tribe, the ninth did not exist. Some were of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society in Wisconsin, who belonged to three tribal groups that were dedicated to the lifestyle of this society. One belonged to the Three Fires Society in Manitoba. He was in the belief that Pauingassi were in agreement. Added to this was that many more pieces were missing, as it was thought the documentation was insufficient. In 2002 it was found that 89 objects were missing, including a water drum (water drum ) of the shaman Fairwind. On 21 June 2002, the Three Fires Society, among other objects, the drum retorted.

1985 was the South East Economic Development Corporation as an economically oriented composite of several First Nations; these were the Berens River, Black River, Bloodvein, Brokenhead, Buffalo Point, the Hollow Water, Little Grand Rapids and the Poplar River First Nation. From 1987 Pauingassi was connected to the power supply in the province.

1988 separated the Pauingassi of the Little Grand Rapids First Nation. Until 1991, they were not recognized as a tribe (band).

Drug use was a pressing problem, according to a Commission report, in particular young people. Thus, it was found in 2003 that every second child solvent sniffing. In September 2005, the Omiishoosh Memorial School opened its doors to the children of the tribe are taught to Grade 9. Reminds you of one of the elders ( Elders ), Charlie Owen.

The trunk is one of the few ethnic groups that are affected by a rare disease of multiple hereditary Exostosenkrankheit ( MHE ).

2001 Pauingassi had the results of the census, 417, five years later, only 352 inhabitants. According to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development lived in February 2010 547 Pauingassi in the reserve.