Attawapiskat Lake is a lake in Kenora District

Kenora District, Ontario

Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It was created in 1907 from parts of Rainy River District. It is, geographically, the largest division in that province; at 407,192.66 km2 it comprises almost 38 percent of the province's land area...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The primary inflows are the Otoskwin River, the Marten-Drinking River and the Pineimuta River. The two outflows are the Attawapiskat River

Attawapiskat River

The Attawapiskat River is a river in Kenora District in northwestern Ontario, Canada that flows east from Attawapiskat Lake to James Bay.-Course:The Attawapiskat River travels a distance of , and has a drainage area of ....

 and the North Channel, which itself flows into the Attawapiskat River.

The First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

 community of Neskantaga (also known as Lansdowne House, Ontario) is located on the west side of the lake.

The name of the lake comes from a region through which the Attawapiskat River flows less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) from its mouth, where it has carved out a several clusters of spectacular high limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 islands, nicknamed by canoeists the "Birthday Cakes". The formations are unique to the region, the Swampy Cree (Omushkegowuk)

Swampy Cree language

Swampy Cree is a dialect of the Cree language complex. Swampy Cree is spoken in a series of communities in northern Manitoba, central northeast of Saskatchewan along the Saskatchewan River and along the Hudson Bay coast and adjacent inland areas to the south and west, and Ontario along the coast...

word for which, chat-a-wa-pis-shkag, gives name to the river and hence the lake.