Canada
Pimachiowin Aki
Pimachiowin Aki by Can SARICA
Pimachiowin Aki is a large forest landscape in the heart of the North American boreal shield that holds sacred meaning for the Anishinaabe First Nations.
Pimachiowin Aki (“Land that gives life”) encompasses three provincial parks: Woodland Caribou and Atikaki Provincial Parks along with Eagle-Snowshoe Conservation Reserve and the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe First Nations. The Anishinaabe continue to live in this forested area in four small settlements and use its waterways for trapping and fishing. They also hold ceremonies at specific sites. Wildlife in the parks includes Woodland Caribou, Moose, Wolf, and Wolverine.
Community Perspective: Zoë reached the outer edges of the parks and searched for the cultural aspects in Bloodvein. Can gave an overview of the possibilities to access, and kayaked his way in.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Pimachiowin Aki (ID: 1415)
- Country
- Canada
- Status
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Inscribed 2018
Site history
History of Pimachiowin Aki
- WHS Type
- Mixed
- Criteria
- iii
- vi
- ix
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- pimachiowinaki.org — Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site
- news.nationalgeographic.com — Canadian First Nations Seek to Protect Forest Homeland
News Article
- July 18, 2016 winnipegfreepress.com — Ontario First Nation pulls out of Pimachiowon Aki bid
- June 16, 2016 cbc.ca — Bipole III route could go through proposed WHS Pimachiowin Aki
- June 20, 2014 winnipegfreepress.com — New hope for Pimachiowin Aki bid
- Jan. 17, 2014 brandonsun.com — Pimachiowin Aki Boreal-forest bid revamped
- May 28, 2013 smh.com.au — Indigenous leaders react on cultural dismissal of Pimachiowin Aki
- Jan. 15, 2013 thestar.com — Pimachiowin Aki: co-management of land resources with aboriginal peoples
Community Information
- Community Category
- Natural landscape: Forest
- Cultural Landscape: Continuing
Travel Information
Recent Connections
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Mixed and Cultural Landscape
Continuing CL -
Reduced from broader TWHS
some components were removed due to lac… -
Bears
Black bear
Connections of Pimachiowin Aki
- Geography
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Isolated WHS
Ca. 1300 km from Dinosaur Provincial Park
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- World Heritage Process
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Reduced from broader TWHS
some components were removed due to lack of support from local communities (the Ontario locations were removed from the nomination which is now restricted to locations in Manitoba) -
Mixed and Cultural Landscape
Continuing CL -
Inscribed at third attempt or more
3rd (2013, 2016, 2018)
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- Religion and Belief
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Living indigenous religions
crit vi: Pimachiowin Aki is directly and tangibly associated with the living tradition and beliefs of the Anishinaabeg (AB ev)
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- Human Activity
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Pictographs
Over a hundred pictographs have been recorded at thirty locations (AB ev) -
Traditional Hunting
Traditional use by Anishinaabeg, including sustainable fishing, hunting and trapping, is also an integral part of the boreal ecosystems in Pimachiowin Aki.
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- Timeline
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Built in the 5th millennium BC
"Ancient and contemporary livelihood sites, habitations and processing sites, travel routes, named places, trap lines, widely dispersed across the landscape, while being sacred and ceremonial sites, reflect the way they, and their Indigenous ancestors, have made use of this and adjacent landscapes for over 7,000 years" (AB ev) -
Holocene
The Canadian Shield of which this is a part was totally glaciated in the last period. Everything "natural" now present in the inscribed Ecosystem must have "arrived" since then
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News
- winnipegfreepress.com 07/18/2016
- Ontario First Nation pulls out of …
- cbc.ca 06/16/2016
- Bipole III route could go through …
- winnipegfreepress.com 06/20/2014
- New hope for Pimachiowin Aki bid
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
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Pimachiowin Aki is one of the world's lesser-visited World Heritage Sites. At the time of writing this review, I was only the fourth visitor of this site on this website, despite its inscription about six years ago. I visited Pimachiowin Aki in late July 2024, starting my trip from Toronto. I landed at Winnipeg Airport at 9:15 am, rented an SUV (110 CAD/day incl. insurance), bought a tent and some food from a nearby Walmart, and left the city around 10:30 am. The airport is compact, and everything was super smooth and within easy reach.
To enter anywhere inside the core zone of this WHS in Manitoba, you must fly, except for the most southern part, called Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park. (I assume most of you are not extreme outdoor enthusiasts who can walk or canoe long distances or have that much time.) There are three options to access this area:
1) Fly into a lodge from Winnipeg, Wallace Lake, or Bissett. You can rent a lodge to experience the wilderness with your family, go for a day trip for fishing, or fly to a point where you can start a multi-day canoe tour.
2) Drive to Wallace Lake and start a multi-day canoeing tour through the park from this point. This option includes long-distance portages and wilderness camping, which are not for novice canoers/kayakers or non-outdoor people.
3) Drive to Bloodvein from English Brook.
I opted to drive to Wallace Lake by car and kayak there, …
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Aki is a very odd collection of First Nation reserves, national parks, forests and plenty of other areas in-between. I had a look at the massive map provided by UNESCO and there are plenty of sections I don't see as nature protected yet I guess they are part of this cultural aspect. More on that later.
There are a few feasible ways into this grand area, a massive collection of several parks. I have been to two of these. Unlike Nahanni it doesn't require a splurge but instead some determination, time, and gravel roads, lots of gravel roads. First stop was Red Bay in Ontario. From there we canoed along flat lakes and marshes towards Douglas Lake. It takes a long day of paddling, camping at the shore, and another full day paddling back. As the drive from Winnipeg is 5h each way it took 4 days total. At the park we mainly saw ducks and other birds but no mammals. The Woodland Caribou park is unfortunately only home to a few thousand of these. The issue is that they eat lichen and logging around the areas has killed those. Second is that their migration paths are now destroyed due to human influence and being stuck in such a "small" area is unnatural for them. Hard to believe with the vast provinces but it is unfortunately true.
Friends of mine went canoeing all the way from here to Bloodvein in the west. Crazy if you ask me even …
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