Pauingassi First Nation
Pauingassi First Nation is an Anishinaabe (Saulteaux/Ojibwa) First Nation located approximately 280 kilometres (170 mi) northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and 24 kilometres (15 mi) north of Little Grand Rapids, Manitoba, on a peninsula jutting southward into Fishing Lake, a tributary of Berens River. As of May 2009, the First Nation had a registered population of 583 people, of which their own on-reserve population was 544. The main economic base of the community remains hunting, fishing, trapping and wild rice harvesting.
Reserves
The First Nation have reserved for themselves one reserve:
- 260.50 hectares (643.7 acres) Pauingassi First Nation Indian Reserve, which serves as their main Reserve and contains the Settlement of Pauingassi at 52°09′20″N 95°22′26″W.
Governance
Originally part of Little Grand Rapids First Nation, the Pauingassi received reserve status in 1988. They became a separate First Nation from the Little Grand Rapids First Nation on October 7, 1991. Today, Pauingassi First Nation is governed by the Custom Electoral System of government. The current leadership is Chief Michael Owens and Councillors Susanne Keeper, Harold Crow and Robert Owens. The Chief's and Councillors' three-year elected term began on August 27, 2008, and will conclude on August 26, 2011. Pauingassi First Nation is a member of the Southeast Resource Development Council and a signatory to Treaty 5.