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The Couchiching First Nation is a Saulteaux First Nation band government in the Canadian province of Ontario, who live on the Couchiching 16A and Agency 1 reserves in the Rainy River District near Fort Frances.
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The current band chief is Brian Perrault, elected after defeating incumbent Sara Mainville on February 25, 2016. A council of six band members governs the band, but the 2016 election saw Chief Brian Perrault voted in both as the Chief and as a Council member. The council members elect currently sit at five. (March 2016 – 2018 terms) David Bruyere, Bill Perrault, Lucille Morrisseau, Patrick Morrisseau, and Dean Bruyere. (Brian Perrault was voted into a Council position, but vacated his Council seat and accepted his election to Chief instead)
Programs
Couchiching First Nations administers over a dozen programs within the reserve.
Wasaw Companies
Couchiching First Nation had early residences in the Wasaw area north of Frog Creek/Frog Lake and this area is highly regarded in the busy forestry and wild rice harvests in the nineteenth century. After 1909 flooding impacts and expropriation and taking of land for the railway and highway the community moved south of Frog Creek and along Sand Bay (south of Highway 11 east of Fort Frances). The Wasaw companies include Wasaw Business Enterprises, Wasaw Project Inc., Wasaw Construction Ltd., Wasaw Developments, and Wasaw Food Services, Inc. These companies are meant to create own source revenue for the community in order to build an economic base for the community.
Wasaw means "Far" in the language of Couchiching, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway).