Maskwacis



Maskwacis (ᒪᐢᑿᒌᐢ, maskwacîs), renamed in 2014 from Hobbema, is an unincorporated community in central Alberta, Canada at intersection of Highway 2A and Highway 611, approximately 70 km south of the City of Edmonton. The community consists of two Cree First Nations communities – one on the Ermineskin 138 reserve to the north and the other on the Samson 137 reserve to the south. It also consists of an adjacent hamlet within Ponoka County. The community also serves three more nearby First Nations reserves including Samson 137A to the south, Louis Bull 138B to the northwest, and Montana 139 to the south.

The area was originally known as Maskwacis, and Father Constantine Scollen always referred to it as "Bear Hills" when he attempted to re-establish a Catholic mission there, in late 1884 and 1885, around the time that he and Chief Bobtail succeeded in persuading the young men not to join the North-West Rebellion. The first railway station was named Hobbema after the Dutch painter Meindert Hobbema during the construction of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway in 1891. As a result, all of Hobbema's neighbouring communities came to bear names of First Nations origin (Ponoka ("elk"), Menaik ("spruce"), Wetaskiwin ("hills where peace was made")), with the exception of Hobbema itself. The community, including the hamlet portion within Ponoka County, was renamed Maskwacis (meaning "bear hills" in Cree) on January 1, 2014.

The community has an employment centre, health board and college.

Geography


The community straddles the boundaries between the Ermineskin 138 reserve, the Samson 137 reserve and Ponoka County. The northern portion of the community is located within Ermineskin 138 on the west side of Highway 2A. The southern portion of the community is located within Samson 137 on the east side of Highway 2A and north side of Highway 611. The remaining portion of the community is located within Ponoka County on the west side of Highway 2A across from the Samson 137 portion of the community and south of the Ermineskin 138 portion of the community.

The Ermineskin 138 portion of the community is located within Census Division No. 11, while the Samson 137 and Ponoka County portions are located within Census Division No. 8.

Maskwacis serves five reserves of four Cree First Nation band governments, which are collectively known as the "four nations" and are each party to Treaty Six. The four nations include the Ermineskin Cree Nation, Samson Cree Nation, Louis Bull Tribe, and the Montana First Nation.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Maskwacis had a population of 64 living in 14 of its 15 total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of 60. With a land area of 0.25 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Maskwacis (Hobbema) had a population of 60 living in 21 of its 22 total private dwellings, an increase from its 2011 population of 0. With a land area of 0.27 km2, it had a population density of 226.2/km2 in 2016.

The total population among the five reserves in the 2016 census was 7,663.

Crime
The community has attracted national media attention in Canada for its problems with crime and gangs. In an attempt to cut down on crime, the Hobbema Cadet Corp was established with the goal of keeping children as young as eight years old off the streets.

The Pê Sâkâstêw Centre, a minimum-security facility based on Aboriginal healing processes, is in Maskwacis.

Education and culture
The community is home to Maskwacis Cultural College and CHOB-TV.

Maskwacîs Education Schools Commission oversees the 11 schools throughout Ermineskin, Samson, Louis Bull, Montana, and Ma-Me-O.

Wetaskiwin Regional Division No. 11 operates public schools serving the area, including Pigeon Lake Regional School.

It was once home to Ermineskin Indian Residential School.

It is home to an annual pow wow.

Pioneering, award-winning First Nations hip-hop groups War Party and Team Rezofficial are from Maskwacis.

Briar Stewart made an award-winning documentary, "Journey to Jamaica", about a group of cadets from Maskwacis.

W. P. Kinsella wrote a number of short stories which were set in what was then called Hobbema, including the collections Dance Me Outside, The Fencepost Chronicles, Brother Frank's Gospel Hour, and The Secret of the Northern Lights. The stories "met with controversy from some critics who objected to Kinsella's appropriation of Native voice and what they saw as stereotype-based humour."

Notable people

 * Ted Hodgson (born 1945), retired professional ice hockey forward
 * Willie Littlechild (born 1944), lawyer and Cree chief
 * Willie Nepoose (died c. 1997–1998), wrongly convicted of second-degree murder in 1987
 * Henry Norwest (c. 1881–1918), distinguished sniper in World War I
 * Shane Yellowbird (1979–2022), country music singer-songwriter

Sports
The community was formerly the home of the Hobbema Hawks junior "A" hockey team.