Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation

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Asubpeeschoseewagong (Asabiinyashkosiwagong, in the Anishinaabe language), also known as Grassy Narrows #149, is an Ojibwe Indian reserve located 80km north of Kenora, Ontario. It is home to the Asabiinyashkosiwagong Nitam-Anishinaabeg (Grassy Narrows First Nation). It has a registered population of 778 as of September 2005. It is part of the Treaty 3 territory, and is a part of Anishinaabe Nation.

In 1986, the government of Canada "paid" Grassy Narrows an 17 million Dollar settlement along with the nearby Whitedog First Nation for compensation in killing their way of life. Nevertheless, the community members have seen little of this money, due to strings attached to its use, but also because of the bureaucratic red tape by the band councils. Similarly to other First Nations communities, the federal government's unilaterally imposed Indian Act governance system has rendered band council and its Chief and councilors paralyzed to do their best for their people. [1]

Chief Sakatcheway was the first leader of community when the treaty was signed and mainly wanted education for the community.

Grassy Narrows land is being logged by Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi, which is opposed by the Grassy Narrows First Nation. Grassy Narrows members have non-violently protested the destruction of their lands, and staged a logging blockade towards the end of 2002, which has had many similarities to the civil disobedience and non-violent direct actions of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., but of course with its Indigenous uniquenesses. On 2006 February 7, the Nation sent a cease and desist letter, saying "We are not consenting to the clear-cutting of our traditional lands, which is an assault on our culture, our way of life, and indeed our very existence." [2] The First Nations community has held an ongoing blockade for a few years, but staged a blockade that blocked Highway 17 on July 13, 2006.