Opiticiwan

Opitciwan lies in the upper Saint-Maurice country, where a lake of the same name stood on important canoe routes leading towards Lake Saint-Jean and James Bay. Its Atikamekw name refers to a current in a narrow passage. This was part of Nitaskinan, a land of forests and waterways travelled by Atikamekw families for hunting, fishing and exchange.

In 1825 the Hudson's Bay Company and the King's Posts Company established rival trading posts at the lake. Hunters came not only from the surrounding country but also from eastern James Bay and the upper Ottawa River. Atikamekw visitors exchanged beaver and moose skins for goods at the post, adding the fur trade to the many purposes for which they travelled these inland waterways.