Nipissing First Nation in the context of Algonquin people

The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing, and Algonquin peoples. The Anishinaabe speak Anishinaabemowin, or Anishinaabe languages that belong to the Algonquian language family.

At the time of first contact with Europeans they lived in the Northeast Woodlands and the Subarctic, and some have since spread to the Great Plains.

Anishinaabe traditional beliefs cover the traditional belief system of the Anishinaabeg peoples, consisting of the Algonquin/Nipissing, Ojibwa/Chippewa/Saulteaux/Mississaugas, Odawa, Potawatomi and Oji-Cree, located primarily in the Great Lakes region of North America.

The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada and parts of the United States. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe (including Oji-Cree), Mississaugas, and Nipissing, with whom they form the larger Anicinàpe (Anishinaabeg) group. Algonquins are known by many names, including Omàmiwinini (plural: Omàmiwininiwak, "downstream man/men") and Abitibiwinni (pl.: Abitibiwinnik "men [living] halfway across the water") or the more generalised name of Anicinàpe.

Though known by several names in the past, such as Algoumequin, the most common term "Algonquin" has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakómkwik (IPA: [ɛlæˈɡomoɡwik]): "they are our relatives/allies." The much larger heterogeneous group of Algonquian-speaking peoples, who, according to Brian Conwell, stretch from Virginia to the Rocky Mountains and north to Hudson Bay, was named after the tribe.

The Anishinabek Nation, also known as the Union of Ontario Indians, is a First Nations political organization representing 39 member Anishinabek Nation First Nations in Canada in the province of Ontario, Canada. The organization's roots predate European contact in the 16th century, in the Council of Three Fires. The Union of Ontario Indians was incorporated in 1949 to serve as a political advocate and secretariat for the Anishinabek First Nations. The Anishinabek peoples speak Anishinaabemowin and Lunaape (in Munsee Delaware Nation) within the Anishinabek Nation territory in Ontario. In 2017, the Council changed its identification using the name "Union of Ontario Indians" only for legally-binding agreements but for all other purposes referred to themselves as Anishinabek Nation. The head office for the Union of Ontario Indians is located at Nipissing First Nation near North Bay, Ontario.

The Anishinabek Nation is guided by a Leadership Council, consisting of a Grand Council Chief, four (4) Regional Deputy Grand Council Chiefs, and Nation Councils representing four geographic regions: Southeast, Southwest, Lake Huron, and Northern Superior. In 2018, an organizational restructuring introduced four regional deputy grand council chiefs. In 2007 the organization appointed an Anishinabek Women's Water Commission to advise on water issues and management of the Great Lakes. As of May 2022, the current Grand Council Chief is Reg Niganobe.