This Saulteaux Ojibway First Nation is a part of the Kinistin Band of Ojibwa’s. In fact, Swan Lake is the home of Chief Yellow Quill. It was Chief Yellow Quill who took action during the 1860s, when the whites forced their way to what is now Manitoba. That happened after the 1862 Minnesota Indian War in which Ojibwa soldiers attacked that part of Red River Colony, located in what is now Minnesota and North Dakota. Chief Yellow Quill stationed many Ojibwa soldiers at Portage la Prairie to prevent any whites, Eskimos and mixed bloods, from expanding west. He did so to prepare for a fair Treaty. Those Treaty negotiations were conducted during the late 1860s. It became formal on August 3, 1871 and August 21, 1871, when Treaties 1 and 2 became official. Treaty 2 was an adhesion to Treaty 1. All numbered treaties are adhesions to Treaty 1. In 1875, Treaty adhesions were signed in response to white lies. That treaty is known as Treaty 4.
Chief Yellow Quill was an important Ojibway leader during those times. He along with his sub-chiefs including chief Kinistin, acted on behalf of the Saulteaux Ojibwa’s. Chief Kinistin led many Ojibwa’s north to the caribou lands of the Chipewyan. Chief Yellow Quill may have been from northwestern Ontario or where the Ojibway Wa-ba-seem-ong First Nation is located. Their main community is located along Swan Lakes shores.
