The Negotiations Involving Chief Crowfoot of the Blackfoot and Fr

The Negotiations Involving Chief Crowfoot of the Blackfoot and Fr. Albert Lacombe in 1880

To give you an overview, the following is an excerpt from wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Lacombe)

In 1864 he was tasked with evangelizing the Plains Indians, and from 1865 to 1872, he travelled extensively throughout the prairies. It was during this time that he brokered a peace between the Cree and the Blackfoot. In 1872 Lacombe was sent to Fort Garry (modern Winnipeg, Manitoba) to promote the colonization of Manitoba, and to this end travelled throughout eastern Canada and the United States. He became the Vicar of Saint Boniface, Manitoba in 1879. It was during this period that he began his association with the Canadian Pacific Railway and extended his ministry to the natives. In 1880, he relocated to Calgary. When the CPR was preparing to lay track through Blackfoot territory against their wishes, he negotiated an agreement with the Blackfoot leader Crowfoot that allowed the railway to pass through Blackfoot land. Crowfoot was famously given a lifetime pass to travel on the railway by CPR president William Van Horne, as was Lacombe. When the North- West Rebellion erupted in 1885, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald enlisted Father Lacombe's assistance in assuring the neutrality of the Plains Indians. Although braves commanded by Poundmaker and Big Bear were involved in the fighting, Crowfoot, believing the rebellion to be a lost cause, kept his warriors out of the conflict.

Below is the primary source you are to analyse. It is a letter Fr. Lacombe sent to Crowfoot and his Blackfoot.

Well, my friends, I have some advice to give you today. Let the white people pass through your lands and let them build their roads. They are not here to rob you of your lands. These white men obey their chiefs, and it is with the chiefs that the matter must be settled. I have already told these chiefs that you were not pleased with the way in which the work was being pushed through your lands. The Governor himself will come to meet you. He will listen to your griefs; he will propose a remedy. And if the compromise does not suit you, that will be the time to order the builders out of your reserves.

After the North West Rebellion ended and the CPR was finished, William Van Horne gave both Chief Crowfoot and Fr. Lacombe tokens of his appreciation. Fr. Lacombe received a lifetime railway pass and was made President of the CPR for one hour. Crowfoot also got a lifetime pass glazed and framed with his Blackfoot name Sapomaxicow; he wore it around his neck for the rest of his life as jewelry.

Questions: (1) What do you think was Fr. Lacombe’s motive? (2) If you were Crowfoot, what would be your response?