Aamjiwnaang First Nation


The Aamjiwnaang First Nation is an Ojibwe First Nation band government in southwestern Ontario, Canada. They reside on the Sarnia 45 Indian Reserve, located on the shores of the St. Clair River directly south of Sarnia across from the United States border from Port Huron, Michigan.
The name Aamjiwnaang, or more fully vocalised as Aamijiwanaang, means "at the spawning stream."

Environmental issues

The Aamjiwnaang community has expressed concern regarding its proximity to petrochemical, polymer, and chemical plants in the area, as birth rates of their people have been documented by the American journal Environmental Health Perspectives as deviating from the normal ratio of close to 50% boys, 50% girls. The ratio as found between 1999 and 2003 by the journal was roughly 33% boys, and 67% girls. The First Nation is concerned that this abnormal trend is due to adverse effects of maternal and fetal exposure to the effluent and emissions of the nearby chemical plants. This is the first community in the world to have a birth rate of two girls to every boy.

Demographics

Prominent members