Pimachiowin Aki

• Official name: Pimachiowin Aki
• Location: Canada
• Year of inscription: 2018

Pimachiowin Aki is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in Canada and the traditional home of four Anishinaabeg First Nations communities. Pimachiowin Aki, which means “the land that gives life,” has been protected by the Anishinaabeg for thousands of years and remains a pristine wilderness with wetlands, rivers, lakes, and boreal forest. The Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site includes 7.2 million acres (2.9 million hectares) of land and is more than five times larger than Prince Edward Island. It is the largest section of protected boreal shield forest in North America.

The Pimachiowin Aki was one of the first mixed UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which means the site is significant for its cultural and natural features. It was Canada’s only mixed World Heritage site at the time of its inscription. The area is naturally significant in part because it is the largest protected section of boreal forest in North America. The boreal forest, which is also known as taiga in Europe, is a band of coniferous forests that spans countries around the world—including Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russia. Roughly 60 percent of Canada’s landmass is covered in boreal forest. The boreal forest is made up of mostly coniferous trees.

Pimachiowin Aki was recognized as a site of cultural importance because it has been the home of the Anishinaabeg people for at least 7,000 years. Pimachiowin Aki is the home of four First Nations groups that continue to live in ways that respect the land, much as their ancestors did. The Bloodvein River First Nation sits along the Bloodvein River. Little Grand Rapids First Nation sits on the Berens River with land on both sides of the Manitoba-Ontario border. Pauingassi First Nation also has land on both sides of the Manitoba-Ontario border, and it is located next to a lake. Poplar River First Nation is near Lake Winnipeg and the Poplar River.

Pimachiowin Aki has a vast number of cultural sites that are important to the Anishinaabeg. Some sites are places where Anishinaabeg people gather for ceremonies, which may include drumming, singing, and dancing. Other sites are thunderbird nests, which are natural indentations around which lie boulders. The Anishinaabeg avoid these areas because they consider thunderbirds to be sacred helpers of the Creator. Other sites include pictographs, which are hand-drawn or painted pictures created over hundreds of years by the Anishinaabeg. Some of the other cultural sites include islands, rock formations, areas where structures (such as sweat lodges) are built, and more. Although some of these cultural sites have been mapped and identified, many Anishinaabeg want to keep the locations private to help protect them. The Pimachiowin Aki Company, which was formed when the area was under consideration as a potential World Heritage Site, and other governments and organizations also try to protect these sites and the natural world around them.

History

North America’s most recent ice age occurred roughly 30,000 years ago, and glaciers formed around parts of Canada during this period. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered the area that is now Pimachiowin Aki, and it dramatically impacted the region’s geology, wearing down much of the landscape’s rock formations and uncovering large parts of the Precambrian bedrock, which formed billions of years ago. As glaciers began to retreat, they left behind huge boulders and other large pieces of debris. The glaciers also left rounded indentations in the rock. Glacial lakes formed as glaciers melted and retreated.

By about 11,000 years ago, Pimachiowin Aki was covered by water in a glacial lake now called Lake Agassiz. The huge lake shrunk over time, and more dry land became uncovered. The lake left behind deposits that continue to cover part of Pimachiowin Aki. As the glacial lakes began to recede, grasslands and forests began to form. These areas, which still bordered the freshwater lake, were most likely attractive areas for people and animals to find food.

Between 9,000 and 7,000 years ago, the first humans began to inhabit the area. Archeologists found a spearpoint near Rowdy Lake, Ontario, that supports this time frame. The Anishinaabeg lived for millennia in the area. Archeological evidence shows that the people who lived in the area about 2,000 to 2,500 years ago changed their lifestyles with the seasons, joining together in spring, summer, and fall for fishing and splitting up into small groups to hunt in the winter. Advances in technology and small shifts in social organizations continued in the area.

In the late 1700s and 1800s, the Anishinaabeg people were already feeling the effects of European colonization, with increased trapping by colonists forcing Anishinaabeg trappers to expand their territories. Euro-Canadians sometimes settled with the Anishinaabeg in the hope of trapping more animals. Extensive trapping, disease, and declining resources in the area greatly reduced animal populations, such as the beaver population. The Anishinaabeg began to focus more on fishing and hunting instead of trapping. The Anishinaabeg lived in Pimachiowin Aki, practicing Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan (keeping the land) as they hunted, gathered, and fished. However, after Euro-Canadians came to the region, human impact on it became increasingly apparent.

In 1875, the First Nations of Pimachiowin Aki and the Canadian government signed Treaty 5, which was supposed to set aside land for the First Nations and allow their people to receive assistance from the government. In reality, the Canadian government did not follow through on the parts of the agreement that were beneficial to the First Nations. The government did begin using quotas to limit the Anishinaabeg’s harvests, especially beavers, and registered trappers were awarded rights to trap in the area instead. During the mid-1900s, the government exerted a great deal of control over the Anishinaabeg. When the Anishinaabeg were made to live in a single area, they could not as easily travel with the seasons. Many Anishinaabeg spent less time in nature, and children were forced to go to schools in which they had to stop using their Indigenous languages.

The Anishinaabeg continued to practice Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan. Some also continued the yearly migrations to find food in different places. In the late 1900s, however, many Anishinaabeg began to use gas-powered boats and snowmobiles to move between locations. After the mid-1900s, most Anishinaabeg could no longer make a living trapping for furs, but many Anishinaabeg continued to trap for domestic uses. Some Anishinaabeg began commercial fishing operations, which became an important source of income for the people of Pimachiowin Aki. In the early twenty-first century, the people of Pimachiowin Aki also began selling wild rice, which they had cultivated for generations.

In the late twentieth century, the Canadian government realized the significance of Pimachiowin Aki and the surrounding areas. The government created parks and reserves, such as the Woodland Caribou Park and Atikaki Park, to keep the region and its wildlife safe from development. Although the parks were meant to preserve the land, they also attracted tourists, with the area attracting thousands of tourists a year by the early twenty-first century.

In 2002, four Anishinaabe First Nations signed an agreement to help protect their ancestral land and the biodiversity that still existed there because the Anishinaabe kept it safe for thousands of years. The members of the four First Nations became interested in nominating Pimachiowin Aki to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The governments of Ontario and Manitoba joined with the four First Nations to try to protect the area. Different groups and organizations drafted plans and statements as part of the process to be considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Pimachiowin Aki Corporation, which included the First Nations living in the area and local governments, formed to preserve the area and to help the site be chosen as a World Heritage Site. In 2012, the Canadian government submitted a nomination for the site to UNESCO. It submitted another nomination in 2016 after Pikangikum First Nation—one of the original First Nations to become involved in the effort—withdrew from the process. UNESCO named Pimachiowin Aki a World Heritage Site in 2018.

Significance

UNESCO chooses World Heritage Sites based on their cultural, historical, and scientific importance. UNESCO has ten criteria, and each site must meet at least one of the criteria to be considered. Before the 2010s, UNESCO classified each site as either of cultural or natural importance. However, in the 2010s—partly because of the application from Pimachiowin Aki—UNESCO also created a mixed classification to indicate that a site is both culturally and naturally important.

Pimachiowin Aki meets three of the ten UNESCO criteria. The first is criterion III, which states that a site should “bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization.” Pimachiowin Aki is an excellent example of the Anishinaabe culture. The site is particularly important because it is a testimony to the Anishinaabe concept of Ji-ganawendamang Gidakiiminaan, which has kept the land and its wildlife remarkably intact.

The second criterion the site meets is criterion VI, which states a site should “be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works.” Pimachiowin Aki fulfills this requirement in part because it is full of Anishinaabe cultural sites. The Anishinaabe continue to worship the Creator at these sites. The sites also tell about the past and the current beliefs of the Anishinaabe.

The third criterion the site meets is criterion IX. This criterion states that sites should be “outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems.” As the largest untouched section of the boreal shield ecozone, Pimachiowin Aki is an important natural landmark. Its high degree of biodiversity and its preservation of water-cleaning wetlands also help the area fit this criterion.

Bibliography

“About Us.” Pimachiowin Aki, pimaki.ca/about-us. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Filice, Michelle. “Treaty 5.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 29 August 2016, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-5. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Groat, Cody. “Pimachiowin Aki.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 16 Aug. 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pimachiowin-aki. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Hele, Karl S. “Anishinaabe.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 19 Oct. 2022, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/anishinaabe. Accessed 27 June 2022. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“More Guardians to be Hired.” Pimachiowin Aki, 17 Sept. 2024, pimaki.ca/more-guardians-to-be-hired-in-pimachiowin-aki/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Nomination for Inscription on the World Heritage List.” Pimachiowin Aki, pimaki.ca/wp-content/uploads/nomination-document.pdf. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“Pimachiowin Aki.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/1415. Accessed 23 Jan. 202.

“Pimachiowin Aki Assembly of Partners: About Us.” Pimachiowin Aki, pimaki.ca/about-us/pimachiowin-aki-corporation. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

“World Heritage Sites in Canada: Pimachiowin Aki.” Government of Canada, 19 Sept. 2023, www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/spm-whs/sites-canada/sec02s. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.