Paul Band

The Paul Band signed a treaty in 1876 and settled on the eastern edge of Lake Wabamun. While the total population of the Paul Band was 1397, 856 individuals were living on the Paul Band Reserve in 1996. By 1998 there were 1,400 members of the Paul First Nation. The majority were Stoney and the remainder Cree. In Alberta the Nakoda were known as Stoney. They were also grouped by the Cree term Assiniboine. They all speak common Siouan language but according to Bird, "there are differences in dialects spoken between the groups in Alberta and also between those in Alberta and those in Saskatchewan and Montana." ==History==

and Queen Elizabeth greet chieftains of the Stoney Indian Tribe, who have brought a photo of Queen Victoria, during the Royal Visit to Canada in 1939. The Treaties were originally signed by representatives of the British Crown acting in Queen Victoria's name. The Stoney are descendants of individual bands of Dakota, Lakota and Nakota, in particular of western groups of Assiniboine, from which they spun out as an independent group at about 1744. The Stoney were divided geographically and culturally into two tribal groups or divisions with different dialects, which in turn were further divided into several bands. Of all the Siouan speaking groups, the Paul Band and the Alexis Band were the farthest north and west. In her thesis Ruby Bird, daughter of then Chief Bird, summarized Andersen's three possibilities regarding the Paul and Alexis' Bands in pre-treaty times, was better than the lands assigned to the Alexis band as a reserve when they signed Treaty Six in 1876. The chief of the Alexis Band was Catholic and was not tolerant of other religions. The Wabamum Lake band were Protestant. By 1892, the federal government realized the two bands, the Alexis and the Wabamun Lake band had irreconcilable differences and therefore created a second reserve for the Paul Band settled at White Whale Lake. The reserve name was changed to Wabamun Lake Indian Reserve. Paul Band was named after the head man at the time. According to government documents, Paul's brother Ironhead, had led them to Wabamun Lake, but Ironhead died before the reserve was officially founded. The reserve was called Wabamun Lake Indian Reserve and the Band was called Paul Band. Eventually the popular name for the reserve became Paul Band. ==Wabamun Lake==

Ironhead had moved his band to Wabamun Lake by 1880 because the fishing was good there. There are rolling aspen hills and good land surrounding the lake. The vast majority of the coal burning in Alberta occurs approximately 70 km west of Edmonton, in the Wabumun Lake area. The station's primary source of fuel was sub bituminous from the Whitewood mine. According to CASA and cited in David Schindler's 2003 report commissioned by Alberta Environment the combined emissions of the coal-fired plants in the Wabumun Lake area, emitted, Although mercury levels in fish for consumption meet guidelines for occasional use, Schindler cautioned that for the Paul Band subsistence consumers some concern remains in the consumption of large pike that exceed mercury levels in Lake Wabamun. Two years later there were health cautions still issued, warning users of the Lake to avoid oil patches and tar balls in Lake Wabamun. ==Education==

In the summer of 1893 the White Whale Lake Methodist Day School ==Social issues==

In an interview with elder Alexie Simon, == See also ==