Mishkeegogamang First Nation

The Mishkeegogamang are Ojibways whose tribe are believed to have originated in the Great Lakes region.[1] The tribe might have moved north when European Hudson's Bay Company traders started establishing interior posts and routes, or possibly beforehand. Their arrival pushed the previous Cree occupants farther northward.[1]

The community maintains strong ties with Cat Lake First Nation, Slate Falls First Nation, Ojibway Nation of Saugeen.

Mishkeegogamang First Nation's Junior Canadian Ranger (JCR) patrol has been named this year's best Junior Ranger patrol in Ontario.

The announcement was made at Camp Loon 2019, making Mishkeegogamang the first JCR patrol to win the coveted trophy twice. Its earlier win was in 2014.

The patrol consists of JCRs from Mishkeegogamang and the nearby town of Sioux Lookout as well as from Ojibway Nation of Saugeen. A dedicated group of drivers transports the JCRs to meetings, training exercises, and events.

The Junior Canadian Rangers is a Canadian Army program for boys and girls aged 12 to 18 across Canada's North. There are more than 1,000 JCRs in 27 First Nations across the Far North of Ontario. Camp Loon is an advanced training camp for JCRs held annually in the bush north of Geraldton

As the Hudson's Bay Company sought to establish interior trading posts to compete with rival companies, it sent John Best along the Albany River to scout locations for such a post.[1] He chose a spot near the northeast end of Lake St. Joseph and called the post Osnaburgh House (51°08′14″N 90°16′00″W).[1] The house itself survived for around 200 years, later giving its name to the settlement of Osnaburgh (51°07′30″N 90°15′14″W) and postal code of P0V 2H0,[1] which lay directly across the lake from the house. The house was abandoned in 1963, after which it fell into ruin.[2] Since the 1980s, the site (which is not inside the boundaries of the first nation) has been the Old Post Lodge fishing camp.[2]

In 1905, the Government of Canada sent commissioners to the area to attain the land for the Crown. Treaty 9 between them and the Mishkeegogamang (among other groups) set aside two pieces of land for reserves (Osnaburgh 63A and 63B) with the promise that the people would not necessarily have to live on the reserves and would have full use of all of their traditional lands.[1] The tribe was formalised at this time with Missabay chosen as the first chief and a band and council system was instituted.[1]

The completion of Highway 599 in 1954 from Savant Lake to an earlier mine road brought great social change to the Mishkeegogamang.[1] The highway was several kilometres from Osnaburgh village (in Osnaburgh 63A), so the government encouraged people to move a new village, New Osnaburgh (51°14′06″N 90°14′20″W), on Doghole Lake (Osnaburgh 63B) which today is the Main Reserve.[1]

On 15 November 1993, the Band Council changed the name of the group from Osnaburgh First Nation to its current name.[3]