Talk:Fort Albany, Ontario
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[edit] Fort Albany And Kashechewan Are Seperate First Nations
I took out the sentence Part of the original settlement is now the territory of the Kashechewan First Nation., as I don't believe this to be true. Both communities are recognized as seperate First Nations. If both are related from previous history, Fort Albany was recognized first and Kashechewan appeared later. If anyone has more information on this please post a message. I know some of the history from this area as I am from the James Bay coast. --sapiyeh 03:02, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
- I did some quick research on the internet and found a short explanation on the Chiefs of Ontario website on the history of Fort Albany and Kashechewan and added this note to the article. Hopefully it will clear up any confusion. If anyone has further information please post their change to the article or to this discussion page. --sapiyeh 20:54, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Some history regarding the separation of the communities
I have made a few changes to the article based on what I know to be true from having been a resident of Kashechewan for 10 1/2 years(Jan.,1994-June,2004) and hearing stories of the separation of the communities from people in Kashechewan. (One of those who told me about the creation of 2 separate Band Councils in the 1970s was the one who was the chief of the two communities at the time, and other elders told me precisely the same stories as he did, about that separation.)
I should add that I was the resident Anglican pastor for the Kashechewan community in the time of my residence there, and that I continue to visit the community on a regular basis with regard to my work as an Anglican priest.
The changes I made:
The article spoke of the old community as being called "Old Fort Albany". But it only became known as "Old Fort Albany" after the new "Fort Albany" was established. While I will not cite any particular publication to verify this, I have read many articles in various places referring to the old community, and none of them ever spoke of it as being known as "Old Fort Albany" prior to the creation of the new Fort Albany town site. But for a few years the Anglican portion of the community remained on the old community site, after the Roman Catholic portion of the community had moved from it. Hence during that period of time the old community would have been called "Old Fort Albany", while there also existed a "New Fort Albany".
The article spoke of the Old Fort Albany community splitting up in the 1950s. From what I was told by people in Kashechewan the Roman Catholic mission moved prior to the 1950s. I expect that the move of Roman Catholic families came about gradually, to the Fort Albany site, and speculate that some may have not moved until the Anglican families moved to the Kashechewan site. The Anglican people began moving to the site of Kashechewan in the 1950s. I am not certain whether the move was completed in the 1950s or in the early 1960s.
While I have spoken of Anglican and Roman Catholic portions of the old community, there were a few families that were mixed Anglican-Roman Catholic. Just as there have also always been a few RC families in Kashechewan, and some Anglicans in Fort Albany.
I can cite the Indian Status card of every such card carrying member of the Fort Albany and Kashechewan First Nations, to the effect that all such cards refer to the "Albany" Band, and not to the "Fort Albany" or "Kashechewan" Bands. Hence while the Fort Albany and Kashechewan First Nations are two separate Bands, there is some way in which the separation has never been complete, in Indian Affairs terms.
The name "Kashechewan", by the way, should actually have been "Keeshechewan". "Keeshechewan" is the Cree name for the Albany River. This was the name which the residents of the community chose, at the time of the move to the Kashechewan site. But when the sign for the new post office at the new townsite arrived, it had on it the mispelling "Kashechewan"!
