“Being Out on the Lake”: Iskatewizaagegan Anishinaabeg Perspectives on Fishing Practice and Well-Being

The practice of fishing offers a useful analytical lens to explore how communities transmit knowledge, maintain social networks and interpret and derive meaning from their world. As such, it provides a framework to analyze both the material and symbolic ways that ecosystems contribute to human well-being. This paper draws on data gathered from open-ended interviews with expert fishers and participation in fishing practices to present contemporary Iskatewizaagegan No. 39 First Nation (IIFN) fishing practice and its connection to the community’s well-being. Preliminary results demonstrate that “being out on the lake” and taking part in contemporary fishing practice reinforces a sense of identity and strengthens community cohesion through processes of sharing. While rooted in the past, fishing Shoal Lake is a dynamic practice culturally adapted by community members within changing landscapes and socio-political environments.