The reserve is located across from the United States border from Port Huron, Michigan, and is a result of treaties that were negotiated with the Crown in the 1820s.

The Aamjiwnaang community has expressed concern regarding its proximity to petrochemical, polymer, and chemical plants in the area, as birth rates of their people have been documented by the American journal Environmental Health Perspectives as deviating from the normal ratio of close to 50% boys, 50% girls.

[2] The ratio as found between 1999 and 2003 by the journal was roughly 33% boys, and 67% girls,[3] the lowest live male birth rate in Canada.

[4][5] On April 25, 2024 Aamjiwnaang announced a state of emergency after preliminary data from an air pollutant monitor in the community showed elevated levels of benzene.

[6] Seven days earlier, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a provincial order to nearby INEOS Styrolution, and the facility shutdown operations temporarily.