The Brunswick House First Nation app is now available

Brunswick House First Nation, originally known as Wapiscogamy House, is an Ojibway-Cree First Nation in the Sudbury District of Ontario. For 7,000 years its people hunted and trapped across a wide territory, from as far south as the Great Lakes to as far north as the Moosonee area. The Nation has two reserves:

• Mountbatten 76A (9,054 ha)
• Duck Lake 76B (260 ha)

The community's history includes hard times. In 1925 Ontario created the Chapleau Game Preserve around the original reserve and banned all hunting and trapping there, and in 1928 Ontario bought the reserve land. The Nation says its people then had no land base for 21 years, which led to poverty and illness. Canada created the Mountbatten 76A reserve in 1947, and the community moved to Duck Lake 76B after a land swap in 1973. Residential schools and the Sixties Scoop scattered many families, and today the community is working to reconnect with its language and culture.

Brunswick House wants culture and traditional ways of life to be the foundation of the community, and it values education, inclusion and bringing generations together. Members were traditionally trappers and fur traders. Today the Nation is pursuing mining, renewable energy and its own blueberry farm, along with education, health and job training. It co-owns Wahkohtowin Development, a social enterprise, with Chapleau Cree and Missanabie Cree First Nations. Local services include a health centre and after-school and New Paths education programs.

Members elect a Chief and six councillors, and the current Chief is Cheryl St. Denis. The Nation is a member of the Wabun Tribal Council and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. You can learn more at bhfn.ca.