Red Rock Indian Band
About this Nation
Red Rock Indian Band (RRIB) is located on the Lake Helen Reserve #53A approximately 1/4 km from the junction of Highway 11/17, 100 km east of Thunder Bay. It consists of two sections, Parmachene Reserve 53 and Lake Helen Reserve 53A. The total area covered by these two reserves is approximately 950 acres. Historically, the people lived in different locations on and around Lake Nipigon such as at Jackfish Island, Gull Bay, and McIntyre Bay. RRIB became an Indian Reserve under the Indian Actin 1914. They have a registered membership of 1,823 people, with 323 of those members living in the community.
Food Sovereignty Visions
PROJECT 2b
- Butcher Shop (continued): The project supported labour for the community to lay the concrete slab for the butcher shop this year. The project team and community team have developed a workplan and are committed to completing the butcher shop by mid-summer 2020, additional grants have been written in collaboration with the community team to support this work.
- 3rd Phase Food Gathering: The community has partnered with the project to host the 3rd Phase gathering set to happen in August of 2020, planning has begun with the community and project teams and will continue throughout the year.
PROJECT 2a
- Community Moose Hanger and Butcher Shop: The community has four major traditional events/gatherings that bring community members together in a traditional way; a yearly Pow Wow each July, the Fall Harvest every September/October, Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrations in June and the Salmon Derby every spring. Most recently through the Understanding Our Food Systems project in collaboration with the Indigenous Food Circle, Lakehead University and The Thunder Bay District Health Unit the community has been more forward thinking in developing a more consistent and economically driven multiyear plan that can support the development of their Chalet Lodge venue into a cultural harvesting area that can be utilized by community and potentially for a future tourism attraction. The project will target all community members on and off reserve. During Phase Two of the Understanding Our Food Systems project RRIB built a four-prong moose hang, RRIB members and administration harvest many moose in the fall season and needed a more community friendly space for all of community to access the hang (see attached picture). While installing the moose hang the community realized the need for an adjacent butchering shop/building for community members to harvest moose and other animals in together. The Chalet Lodge committee met to plan the space and have decided on developing the butcher shop and a tannery that would allow for traditional teachings around the harvesting of moose hides and other trapped animals as well as place for community to gathering during traditional activities with a future potential for an economic development opportunity in a tourist attraction.
- Community Garden: Due to the interest from the team in food related initiatives the community decided to support the development of a community garden behind the band office and try and incorporate programming and community members around it. The summer of 2019 was the first year for the garden and it grew and yielded a number of different harvests, although there are some growing pains the community is planning for another year of the garden for the summer of 2020.
