Cat Lake First Nations, ON 2024

Cat Lake First Nation is an Ojibway reserve approximately 180 kilometres northwest of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario, Canada, located on the central north shore of Cat Lake. As of 2021, their total registered population was 651 people.  

Great images of the community here: https://www.catlakefirstnation.com/about

"Our community is situated 180 kilometers north of Sioux Lookout, on the picturesque shores of Cat Lake. Deeply rooted in our traditions, we cherish the land and continue the time-honored practices of hunting, fishing, and trapping that connect us to our heritage. Anishinaabemowin, our language, is the heartfelt expression of our culture, which we diligently preserve and celebrate." We were connected to Cat Lake through the Rotary Club in Manitoba this past year and invited them to submit a wish list for their art supplies and for their land based learning program. When we made contact with them, we discovered that they had just harvested 6 moose for the community. We saw this as a brilliant opportunity for youth to learn valuable skills, but the community did not have the resources to outfit them for safe learning. Efficient and safe gear would allow youth to learn the art of processing wild game safely and efficiently so we selected items that would provide them with a learning opportunity. We included cut resistent gloves, gambrels (for hanging game), cleavers and skinning knives along with hide scrapers. We coupled this gear with the wonderful homemade jigging rods from Robert, one of our Art for Aid volunteers. Lure kits and line were also included to get kids out on the ice to learn how to fish. We are so excited to be able to provide these supplies to a community that uses the land to feed the community.

This year we teamed up with True North Aid as part of their One Palette-One Community program. Sending a shipment of this size would generally cost upwards of $2,000.00. This opportunity allowed Art for Aid to utilze those shipping dollars to purchase needed items beyond what we would normally be able to afford if we had to ship by Canada Post. The Rotary Club's IPPC (Indigenous Peoples Partnership Cluster) also helped with a donation to purchase much of the land based learning gear! Once the boxes were ready to go, we loaded them onto Robert's truck and brought them to Kingston where they were received by Walker's Moving and Storage, then onto Pickle Lake and eventually to Cat Lake. We are looking forward to working with True North Aid again for future shipments!

Supplies were received at the school on January 5, 2025. Many thanks to the amazing partners and volunteers who helped us to get this shipment out.