Akasu, or âhkosiw, is a Cree word meaning “sick.” There is no confirmation on the origin of the name; however, the lake is near Sick Man Hill. According to one source, the name dates from the 1870s or perhaps earlier. In 1872 Charles Napier Bell (1854–1936) travelled with a group of Métis from Saddle Lake and eventually joined a Cree camp then at Flagstaff Hill. In his diary he noted that he passed Sick Mountain. His companions told him a group of Aboriginal people had died nearby. Other origins include that due to the alkalinity of the water of the lake, people died, or that the hill was the place where elders went to die.