Biinjitwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek | Fort William First Nation
Community Profile
- Fort William First Nation is an Anishinaabe First Nation community situated near Thunder Bay, Ontario, with historical significance in the region's fur trade and traditional territories.
- Last Updated 2025-05-28 22:27:10 UTC
- Name: Fort William (ISC Code: 187)
- Former Names: Fort William Indian Reserve No. 52, Robinson-Superior Treaty First Nation
- Band Style: Ojibwe First Nation
- Cultural Area: Boreal Forest/Great Lakes Region
- Indigenous Language: Anishinaabemowin
- Number of Registered Members: 2970
Governance
Band Council
- GOVERNANCE TYPE: Not Applicable
- TERM EXPIRES: 05/27/2027
- CHIEF: MICHELE BERNADETTE SOLOMON
- NUMBER OF COUNCIL MEMBERS:13
- MICHELE BERNADETTE SOLOMON
- LEO CLIFFORD BANNON
- YVETTE ANNE GREENWALD
- PETER WAYNE COLLINS
- BESS ANN LEGARDE
- SHERRY LYNN CATHERINE PELLETIER
- JACOB JORDAN MCKAY
- BONNIE BLOSSOM PELLETIER
- KYLE DOUGLAS MACLAURIN
- DESIREE ANGELINE MORRISEAU-SHIELDS
- BRIAN DOUGLAS LUDWIGSEN
- JANELLE MARIE CHARLIE
- SHELDON LAWRENCE BANNON
Contact Information
- BAND WEBSITE: http://www.fwfn.com/
- PHONE NUMBER: (807) 623-9543
- FAX NUMBER: (807) 623-5190
- ADDRESS: 100 Little Lake Road, Suite 201, FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION, ON
- EMAILS:
- Chief MICHELE BERNADETTE SOLOMON:
- Councillor LEO CLIFFORD BANNON:
- Councillor YVETTE ANNE GREENWALD:
- Councillor PETER WAYNE COLLINS:
- Councillor BESS ANN LEGARDE:
- Councillor SHERRY LYNN CATHERINE PELLETIER:
- Councillor JACOB JORDAN MCKAY:
- Councillor BONNIE BLOSSOM PELLETIER:
- Councillor KYLE DOUGLAS MACLAURIN:
- Councillor DESIREE ANGELINE MORRISEAU-SHIELDS:
- Councillor BRIAN DOUGLAS LUDWIGSEN:
- Councillor JANELLE MARIE CHARLIE:
- Councillor SHELDON LAWRENCE BANNON:
- General Band Office:
- Media Contact:
- Referrals Contact:
- Websites
Band Financial Statements
- 2024 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2023 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2022 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2021 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2020 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2019 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2018 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2017 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2016 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2015 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2014 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2013 - Audited consolidated financial statements
- 2012 - Fort William20122013.pdf
- 2011 - Fort William20112012.pdf
- 2010 - Fort William20102011.pdf
- 2009 - Fort William20092010.pdf
- 2008 - Fort William20082009.pdf
- 2007 - Fort William20072008.pdf
- 2006 - Fort William20062007.pdf
- 2005 - Fort William20052006.pdf
- 2004 - Fort William20042005.pdf
- 2003 - Fort William20032004.pdf
- 2002 - Fort William20022003.pdf
- 2001 - Fort William20012002.pdf
Band Council Remuneration
- 2024 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2023 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2022 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2021 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2020 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2019 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2018 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2017 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2016 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2015 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2014 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
- 2013 - Schedule of Remuneration and Expenses
Laws, Bylaws, and Codes
Intergovernmental Agreements
Lands and Traditional Territory
Reserves
-
ISC Code: 6300
FORT WILLIAM 52
11159.8 Hectares
SOUTH/SUD OF/DE THUNDER BAY
[48.3067617, -89.2715224]
- Traditional lands encompass the Thunder Bay area and surrounding Lake Superior region
- Historically occupied lands along Kaministiquia River
- Territory includes critical hunting, fishing, and gathering sites
- Boundaries extend through modern-day Northwestern Ontario watersheds
Consultations and Referrals
Band Submissions
Consultation Reports
Band Business Interests
Band Owned Corporations
Court Records
Downloadable Court Decisions
- Collins v. Canada (Attorney General)
- Anderson v. Fort William Commercial Chambers Ltd.
- City of Fort William v. McNamara Construction Co. Ltd.
- United Food & Commercial Workers International Union, Local 175 v Fort William Golf & Country Club Limited
- Fort William First Nation Sawmill Regulations
- 3 Bar Staff Employees of Fort William Moose Lodge #844 v. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
- Workers Co-Operative of Consumers (Fort William) Ltd. v. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 175
- Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Co. v. City of Fort William
- Fort William Indian Band v. Canada
- Re West Fort William Credit Union Ltd. and Office & Professional Employees International Union, Local 81
- Pelletier v. Fort William First Nation
- Fort William First Nation v. Ontario (Ministry of Environment)
- Toronto Hospital for Consumptives v. The City of Fort William and The Township of O'Connor
- Ukrainian (Fort William) Credit Union Ltd. v. Nesbitt, Burns Ltd.
- Re Goyan, Port Arthur v. Fort William and Sault Ste. Marie
- Service Employees Union, Local 268 v. Fort William Clinic
- West Fort William Credit Union v. McKillop
- Lambert v. Fort William First Nation
- Dilico v. Ontario; Fort William First Nation v. Ontario
- National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation & General Workers Union of Canada v. Fort William Clinic
- Keli Foglia v Fort William Country Club
- Societa Italiana Di Benevolenza 'Principe Di Piemonte' of Fort William, Ontario (Da Vinci Centre) v Swoluk
- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 175 v. Loyal Order of Moose, Fort William Lodge No. 844
- Societa Italiana Di Benevolenza Principe Di Piemonte' of Fort William, Ontario operating as Da Vinci Centre v Donna Swoluk
Active Court Cases
Media Reports
Media Reports
- Fort William First Nation declares state of emergency
- Local exhibits tell stories of Northwestern Ontario’s Indigenous veterans
- Fort William First Nation honours history of service and sacrifice
- Indigenous creators in Fort William First Nation share their stories with help from a mobile film studio
- Anishinaabe Keeshigun returns to Fort William Historical Park
- A healthy rez dog means a healthy community: Advocates working to bring vet care to Indigenous communities
- Fort William First Nation receives help amid community emergency
- They Died in the French and Indian War. Their Remains Await Reburial. (Published 2020)
- Dr. Nel Wieman on being an Advocate and Canada's First Female Indigenous Psychiatrist
- Anishinabek Nation’s Indigenous Traditional Games camp connects youth to traditional knowledge
- Birchbark Dreams: Canoe Building Connects First Nations Youth To Their Roots
- Study aims to change the narrative around Indigenous economic contributions to Thunder Bay
- How a non-Indigenous man became a member of the Fort William First Nation
- Fort William First Nation commemorates Remembrance Day up on Anemki Wajiw
- Fort William First Nation accepts non-Indigenous man as full member
- Thunder Bay's 1st First Nations mail carrier a man of many hats
- Fort William Elder celebrates 80th birthday
- Opinion: Those who pretend to be Indigenous only distract from the things that really matter
- Urban Indigenous community safety plan to be developed
- Development of Urban Indigenous Community Safety Plan in Thunder Bay
- The 1757 Siege of Fort William Henry & James Fenimore Cooper
- Fort William First Nation celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day (6 photos)
- What does National Indigenous Peoples Day mean to you?
- National Indigenous People's Day offers healing, celebration
- Fort Wiliam First Nation celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day with Grammy Awards nominated singing group
- Ontario judge rules Fort William sanatorium not a residential school
- Indigenous Leaders: Peter Collins to lead new economic era for First Nations
- For Indigenous peoples, Canada 150 recalls a dark history
- "The rest of the country is waking up to what First Nations people have always known": Tanya Talaga on her new book, The Knowing
- In Fort William First Nation, band uses election to press forward despite echoes of colonial past
- Collins to head First Nations power line collaboration
- The City with Two Faces: A Response and Recollection about Seven Fallen Feathers and Thunder Bay
- Residential School history displayed at Fort William City Hall
- First Nations will redevelop former Thunder Bay post office into housing
- An 'emotional day': Fort William First Nation powwow to mark extinguishing of sacred fire after 120 days
- School of Indigenous Learning offers traditional Anishinabek knowledge and land-based skills for youth
- This Anishinaabekwe is keeping Indigenous governance alive through her relationships with the land
- Indigenous artist Patrick Hunter inspires creative confidence
- First Nation in Ontario and cannabis operator at odds over opening store in community
- Decades after Ontario’s 'Indian hospitals' closed, survivors are still fighting to be heard
- Fort William First Nation Elder to receive honorary Doctor of Letters
- Indigenous youth get a taste of military life on Fort William First Nation
- How a First Nations school in Thunder Bay, Ont., combines traditional and land-based learning
- Never forgotten: Fort William honours memory of 215 children in Kamloops
- New insurance services offered in Fort William First Nation
- Former ski jumping star on a mission to revive his sport among his First Nation
- Indigenous virtual reality company looking for knowledge keepers, storytellers, artists to promote culture
- Indigenous leaders call for 'immediate change' in wake of Ontario law school dean's resignation
- THE BIG READ: Finding Emma, a residential school victim who never came home
- Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nation partner on economic development
- Opinion: The beast of addiction in Indigenous communities remains untamed
- How a Thunder Bay satellite kindergarten class aims to improve Indigenous graduation rates
- Tamara Johnson, PC candidate, stands by 'frank' First Nations comments
- Court rules Ft. William Sanatorium school was not a residential school
- Buffy Sainte-Marie story brought tears to the eyes of Indigenous musician
- How Indigenous businesses are paving their way in northwestern Ontario
- Legacy of St. Joseph's Residential School etched in stone (6 photos)
- Fort William citizens heading to law school
- Northern Ontario Indigenous artists recognized with Premier's awards for excellence
- What Indigenous workers are doing to end intimate-partner violence in Ontario's northwest
- Ojibway man's human rights complaint against Indigenous Services Canada might not proceed
- Indigenous people say racism-tainted drive-by violence all too common
- Fort William First Nation leadership demands investigation into known and suspected burial sites at local former residential school – Anishinabek News
- 'Indigenous voice' added to Thunder Bay police board
- Indigenous youth spend time at the Canadian Armed Forces youth camp
- Ontario Power Generation and Fort William First Nation at odds over Kakabeka Falls redevelopment
- Nishnawbe Aski Nation to ask Thunder Bay, Ont. and Fort William First Nation to declare state of emergency
- Thunder Bay community paying tribute to veterans
- Fort William First Nation declares state of emergency over drug epidemic
- Federal government hub now located on Fort William First Nation
- Fort William First Nation Opposes OPG Kakabeka Falls Redevelopment
- Fort William Henry reenactments mark anniversary of siege and surrender
- Fort William First Nation settles 17-year-old land claim
- Fort William First Nation demands investigation of potential burial sites
- Fort William First Nation partners with Hydro One Inc. to bring clean electricity to northwestern Ontario
- Outgoing Fort William First Nation chief to take new job in energy industry
- Expansion on horizon for Fort William First Nation environmental firm
- Fort William First Nation marks Remembrance Day at Anemki Wajiw in northwestern Ontario
- Fort William First Nation hockey players competing at Little NHL tournament
- Mural takes shape on Fort William First Nation's Mt. McKay
- Settlement of annuities case would mean 'the good life,' First Nations leader says
- 'Indian hospital' survivors want in on residential school agreement
- Thunder Bay Police Services Board swears in first Indigenous chair
- Sanatorium residents urged to file for gov't compensation
- Concert series to make a return in Fort William First Nation this summer
- Erasing The Colonial Baggage: Indian Army renames Fort William as ‘Vijay Durg’
- Fort William, Army’s Eastern HQ, renamed Vijay Durg
- Fort William Renamed as ‘Vijay Durg’
- Anchors and artifacts: French & Indian War Society sponsoring enrichment workshop series
- FWFN opposes Kakabeka generating station redevelopment
- Kolkata: Army offers heritage enthusiasts a sneak peek into rich history of Fort William
- 'This is who I am': How young Indigenous artists are regenerating their roots
- Closing arguments in Robinson-Superior treaty annuity case will be made in Thunder Bay
- 'That grand old barn': heritage, history boost Fort William Gardens
- Fort William First Nation calls for investigation of possible burial sites on traditional territory
- Fort William First Nation Chief to discuss status expansion with Ottawa
- Fort William First Nation woman named Law Society of Ontario's 2nd-ever Indigenous lay bencher
- Indian Residential School Survivors and families honoured with hand-made quilts
- Indigenous carver shares Creator’s gift with learners
- Indigenous populations in Thunder Bay and Kenora may be undercounted. Officials say that's a problem
- Fort William First Nation Catherine Banning makes history as second Indigenous lay bencher of the Law Society of Ontario – Anishinabek News
- First Nations oppose potential arrival of nuclear waste
- Opinion: Customary adoption is a legitimate basis of Indigenous citizenship
- Northern Ontario First Nations collaborate on water protection
- Mining company collaborates with Thunder Bay-area First Nations
- Fort William First Nation speaks about community efforts to revitalize Anishinaabemowin
- Dilico and Tikinagan Child and Family Services fight over jurisdiction
- The Fort William Heritage Walk is the talk of the town in the City of Joy
- During his visit to Headquarters Eastern Command, Indian Army, Fort William Kolkata.
- Reclaiming Heritage: Indian Army Renames Historic Fort William
- Fort William, headquarters of Army Eastern Command, is now Vijay Durg
- Indian Army renames Kolkata’s Fort William to Vijay Durg
- Inside Kolkata’s Fort William, a military museum that tells many stories—from colonial Bengal to India-Pak War of 1971
- National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated through music and dance at annual powwow
- Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande visited at Fort William today
- FWFN opposes Kakabeka generating station redevelopment
- Fort William First Nation journalist hosts CBC Thunder Bay special on National Indigenous Peoples Day
- Fort William First Nation screens Bones of Crows film
- Fort William First Nation’s Michelle Elliott with NADF’s Startup Business of the Year award
- Fort William, headquarters of Army's Eastern Command, renamed as 'Vijay Durg'
- In pics: Check what's inside Fort William as Indian Army Opens Kolkata's Grand Fort to public
- Court rules Ft. William Sanatorium school was not a residential school
- Dilico announces provincial government’s Indigenous midwifery initiative
- Reenactments and craft brews on tap for Fort William Henry’s Battles & Beverages
- Thunder Bay CEDC, Fort William First Nation, ABPA, and NADF Celebrate Indigenous Economic Impact Report
- Indian Army renames Fort William, the headquarters of its Eastern Command, as 'Vijay Durg'
- Fort William First Nation honours veterans in Remembrance Day ceremony
- Fort William citizen elected as trustee with Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
- Who was Fort William in Kolkata named after, and why it needed renaming
- Indian Army’s Fort William renamed Vijay Durg
- Indian Army Renames Eastern Command HQ’s Fort Williams as Vijay Durg amid Decolonization Efforts
- Understanding Indian Army's renaming move: Eastern Command headquarters Fort William is now 'Vijay Durg'
- Fort William Henry to hold Battle and Beverages event
- Kolkata: Indian Army's Fort William is now 'Vijay Durg'
- Indian Army renames Fort William, the headquarters of its Eastern Command, as 'Vijay Durg'
- Indian Army renames Fort William, the headquarters of its Eastern Command, as ‘Vijay Durg’, after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s impregnable fort
- Fort William Renamed as Vijay Durg
- Former Fort William First Nation Chief calls for more economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples
- Fort William First Nation company receives Hydro One grant
- $154M deal accepted
- Lieutenant General Ram Chandra Tiwari officially takes charge of Indian Army’s Eastern Command at Fort William
- 'Heritage Walk to Remember': Indian Army Opens Kolkata’s Grand Fort William for Public Tours | Exclusive
- Indian tycoon plans to build 'Brigadoon' village in Highlands
- Indian Army's Kolkata Based Eastern HQ Fort William Renamed As 'Vijay Durg'
- FWFN Fall Festival helps families to reconnect with the land
- Fort William Historical Park celebrates Anishinaabe Keeshigun
- FORT WILLIAM RENAMED AS VIJAY DURG
- Anishinaabe Keeshigun returns to Fort William Historical Park
- Fort William First Nation celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day
- Innovative GCcoworking Office Opens on Fort William First Nation, Boosting Collaboration and Reconciliation
- Fort William First Nation declares state of emergency over drugs and violence
- Fort William First Nation cleared of fiscal misuse allegations
- The Fort William Boundary Claim
- The Borgi Bogeyman: Why renaming Fort William to Vijay Durg might be a misstep in Bengal
- 'Indian' hospital birthday surprise remembered by First Nations elder
- New podcast aimed at elevating and celebrating Indigenous women debuts in November
- Indian Army's Kolkata Based Eastern HQ Fort William Renamed As 'Vijay Durg'
- (PDF) “Where the Moose Were”: Fort William First Nation’s Ancestral Land, Two–Eyed Seeing, and Industrial Impacts
- Get set for Fort William’s Heritage Walk
- YFLO’s ‘Be Historic, Be You’ at Fort William was time-travel no less
- ‘Indigenous procurement spend’ to rise with Hydro One
- Heritage walk resumes at Fort William after pandemic break
- Kolkata: Indian Air Force officer found dead at Fort William
- Indian hospital that employed teachers not a residential school – judge
- Fort William First Nation explores language reclamation within the community
- Robinson Superior Treaty Settlement was doomed to fail, suggests Gull Bay chief
- Why Ontario’s plan to locate residential-school graves may not be enough
- National Aboriginal Day celebrated at new Fort William First Nation powwow grounds
- Fort William First Nation honours Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman, Girls, and Two Spirit people
- Library taps Fort William First Nation member to lead reconciliation efforts
Academic Research
Academic Research
- Adoption Constitutionalism: Anishinaabe Citizenship Law at Fort William First Nation
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Forts, curriculum, and ethical relationality
- “Where the Moose Were”: Fort William First Nation's Ancestral Land, Two–Eyed Seeing, and Industrial Impacts
- “Because our law is our law”: considering Anishinaabe citizenship orders through adoption narratives at Fort William First Nation
- “Land is everything, land is us”: Exploring the connections between climate change, land, and health in Fort William First Nation
- Documenting First Nations perspectives on water: Engaging Fort William First Nation in source water protection using photovoice
- “Bloody Outrages of a Most Barbarous Enemy:” The Cultural Implications of the Massacre at Fort William Henry
- The pedagogy of the fort: Curriculum, Aboriginal-Canadian relations, and Indigenous Métissage
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- The Politics of Vanishing Celluloid: Fort Rupert (1951) and the Kwakwaka'wakw in American Ethnographic Film
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Forts, colonial frontier logics, and Aboriginal-Canadian relations: Imagining decolonizing educational philosophies in Canadian contexts
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
- Superior rendezvous-place: Fort William in the Canadian fur trade
- Speculators in Empire: Iroquoia and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Expert Analysis