Pikangikum First Nation

Indigenous reserve in Ontario, Canada

The Pikangikum First Nation (/p//ɪ/'/k//æ//n//dʒ//ɪ//k//ə//m/, Ojibwe: Bigaanjigamiing, unpointed ᐱᑲᐣᒋᑲᒥᐠ,,pointed ᐱᑳᐣᒋᑲᒦᐣᐠ) is an Ojibwe First Nation located on the Pikangikum 14 Reserve, in Unorganized Kenora District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The main centre is the community of Pikangikum, on Pikangikum Lake on the Berens River, part of the Hudson Bay drainage system; it is approximately north of the town of Red Lake. The community has a registered population as of 2011 of 2,443, of whom 2,334 live on the reserve.

A 2005 Wawatay Native Communications Society survey found that the residents of Pikangikum have one of the highest rates of original language retention of any First Nation in Northern Ontario. The language is Ojibwe, the major dialect of Anishinaabe peoples (see Berens River Ojibwe language). In 2000, the First Nation was reported to have the highest suicide rate in the world. A report by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released June 1, 2011 regarding 16 deaths by suicide between 2006 and 2008 on the reserve showed a pattern of inhalant abuse by young people aggravated by poor educational, health, child welfare, and other services.

The Pikangikum First Nation is governed by a council elected via a custom electoral system consisting of a chief, deputy chief and nine councillors. The current chief is Shirley Lynne Keeper, Pikangikum First Nation is a member of Treaty 5 (through the initial signing on 20 September 1875 at Berens River, Manitoba) and the Independent First Nations Alliance.

The community is accessible primarily by airplane at the Pikangikum Airport, although it is also served by Pikangikum Water Aerodrome. It has winter road access north to Poplar Hill First Nation and south to Red Lake and Ontario Highway 125.

The community's only school burned down in 2007, with all students learning in portables until the opening of Eenchokay Birchstick School in 2016.

Unemployment rates are estimated to be around 90% in Pikangikum. Traditional subsistence economies are not factored into the employment rate calculation. In November 2020, Pikangikum became the first community in Canada to gain access to the beta version of the Starlink satellite internet constellation, providing limited high speed Internet access to the community for the first time.

Hockey on adjacent Lake Pikangikum is a favourite pastime of the youth. recent averages for 1992 to 2000 exceed 200 per 100,000, possibly the highest rate of suicide of any community in the world. As of 2011 the situation had not changed. In the summer of 2008, eight people between the ages of 8 and 18 died by suicide. In total, there have been 74 documented cases of suicide from 1990 to 2007, many of whom were women and girls who habitually huff gasoline. The perpetual cycle of grief in Pikangikum makes this situation unique. Due to influence of Elders in the community, who strongly voice their religious opposition to burying Aboriginal youth who have died by suicide in cemeteries, families of youth who have taken their own lives are forced to bury their family members in their own front yards.

Pikangikum was under boil water advisory for more than 10 years. The supply of clean running water was negatively affected by inadequate power supply by the community's diesel power generator.