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The Kinistin Reserve is located 39 kilometers southeast of Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada. This reserve is 4,020.2 hectares in size with presently (as of August 2006) has 837 people registered, 307 currently living on the reserve.
The Kinistin Band was established by a chief named Kinistin (Cree), who came to Saskatchewan from Western Ontario. Kinistin came west with his two brothers, Miskogwanep (red crow) and Mecacaganis (coyote) and also Yellowquill, leader of the Yellowquill Band. In 1890 soon after returning to the Pasqua Hills, Kinistin sent a message to Reginald Beatty, the first settler in the Melfort district whom Kinistin called Ogemases, meaning 'Little Clerk', asking him to meet. Beatty listened as Kinistin discussed his decision to seek a reserve for his followers, whose needs would change after his "imminent" death. He looked for a commitment from Beatty to help ensure that this would indeed happen. Beatty gave such a commitment, and when he returned home in the spring of 1890 he learned of Kinistin’s death. Keeping his word Reginald Beatty persuaded the Department of Indian Affairs to set aside a reserve for Kinistin's Band. And in 1901 the government set aside lands for the Kinistin Band.
