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Home , Assiniboine, Cypress Hills Massacre, Henry Kelsey, Nakota

The central rock pile was 14 feet high with several cairns spanned out in different directions, aligning to various stars. Astraeoastronomers have determined that one cairn pointed to Capella, the ideal North sky marker hundreds of years ago. At least two cairns aligned with the solstice sunrise, while the others aligned with the rising points of bright stars that signaled the summer solstice 2000 years ago (Olsen, B, 2008).

Astrological alignments of the five satellite cairns around the central mound of Moose Mountain from research by John A. Eddy Ph.D. National Geographic January 1977.

MEDICINE WHEELS

Medicine wheels are sacred sites where stones placed in a circle or set out around a central cairn. Researchers claim they are set up according to the stars and planets, clearly depicting that the Moose Mountain area has been an important spiritual location for millennia.

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Establishing Cultural Connections to Archeological Artifacts

Archeologists have found it difficult to establish links between artifacts and specific cultural groups. It is difficult to associate artifacts found in burial or ancient camp sites with distinct cultural practices because aboriginal livelihood and survival techniques were similar between cultures in similar ecosystem environments. Nevertheless, burial sites throughout help tell the story of the first peoples and their cultures. Extensive studies of archeological evidence associated with burial sites have resulted in important conclusions with respect to the ethnicity of the people using the southeast Saskatchewan region over the last 1,000 years.

In her Master Thesis, Sheila Dawson (1987) concluded that the bison culture frequently using this area was likely the / people. In her thesis she presents the following map showing a likely land use area which clearly overlaps, and at the very least, adjoins the current lands of the / peoples.

THE BETHUNE BURIAL MOUND

The Bethune Burial located in the Arm River Valley, northeast of Bethune, Saskatchewan, approximately 200 km from White Bear , dates to approximately 1400 BP. This site is the only Avonlea8 burial known to date in , and only one of three burials now known in . The burial is situated on the top of a knoll with large rocks nearby, and prior to disturbance by cultivation, may have been a secondary mound interment.

Secondary interment mounds coincide with the mortuary practices of the Plains people. Rather than one primary burial, whereby a complete body is buried, the Plains mortuary practices involved several stages from scaffolding the dead, removing decomposed flesh, and collecting bones to be interred in a single burial or mass grave (Dawson, 1987).

The remains of seven incomplete individuals were recovered from this mound, along with Plains cultural grave goods including an Avonlea projectile point; a biface; an endscraper; a drill; a retouched flake; and an ochre stained antelope bone artifact (Dawson, 1987).

8 Avonlea culture consists of Plains peoples, known to be excellent bison hunters, and believed to be the first group to rely completely on the bow and arrow in Saskatchewan. The Avonlea complex dates from 1750 to 1150 BP and refers to Plain peoples who occupied the north mixed woods and southern Saskatchewan, , northern Wyoming, and (Dawson, 1987). Avonlea Burials tend to be situated on a prominent point of land particularly where protection is offered by a natural rock formation (Dawson 1987, Walker, 1984)

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Figure 4: Sioux/Assiniboine Land Use Area

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Chapter 2 – EUROPEAN COLONIZATION

The Fur Trade

With the beginning of colonization the blossomed as European demand for exotic fur products was fueled by the reciprocal native desire to obtain European goods. The French began their colonization of New France in the St. Laurence River basin in the early 17th century. Since his first encounter, the French Captain Samuel de Champlain, formed an alliance with the Huron and the Algonquin Peoples of the St. Laurence Valley and supported them in their conflicts with their southern neighbours, the . The French strategy was to combine colonization and settlement with trade and their efforts allowed them to reach as far as the tip of Lake Superior by 1618 and by the mid-17th century they had huge supplies of furs flowing into Paris.

Also, at the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch wanted to share in the riches of the fur trade and began trading with the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario on the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. With this connection to European markets the Iroquois developed a thirst for trade. As the market demand depleted the furs in their homeland, in 1638 the Iroquois began to conquer the neighbouring tribes, first south of Lake Ontario and then more conflicts developed with their neighbours to the north and west. By the mid-17th century the Iroquois controlled all of the lands surrounding Lake Erie including southern Ontario. These conflicts were known as the Beaver Wars and caused the displacement of many eastern tribes. For example, the Huron were forced northwest into Anishinaabe territory and the were pushed westward into the which necessitated a change in their means of survival.

In 1664, the English took over the trade with the Iroquois from the Dutch in New York and rekindled trade out of Fort Albany. However, fur bearing animals were becoming depleted in the French trading region around the St. Lawrence River Valley and in the Hudson River Valley forcing the traders to trade further north and west. The Anishinaabe, who occupied lands north of Lake Superior, tried to trade directly with the French and the English posts but the Iroquois intercepted them. Despite efforts of the French to promote peace between the Iroquois and the Anishinaabe, the Iroquois continued their blockade. The history of the conflict between the Anishinaabe and the Iroquois is legendary in frontier history. In summary, after continued provocations by the Iroquois, the Anishinaabe mounted a concerted effort to drive the Iroquois out of southwestern Ontario in a most bloody war. Finally by the beginning of the 18th century the Anishinaabe occupied southern Ontario and the lands north of the Great Lakes.

In 1670 the English chartered the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). Avoiding the French controlled St. Laurence, the HBC established Moose Factory (1673) and Albany Fort (1679) on the James Bay and at (1684) further north on the . These forts accessed rivers flowing from the western frontier. The and eventually the Chipewyan traded at these northern posts. However, during the 1600s these northern

26 posts changed hands between the English and French several times. Queen Anne’s War ended in 1713 with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht. Among its many provisions, the Treaty required France to relinquish all claims to Hudson Bay, which again became a British possession.

In 1690, when the posts were held by the English, , an early explorer employed by the HBC, traveled with (Assiniboine) and Cree guides down the system reporting that what is now called the southeast Saskatchewan area was occupied by the Nakota and Siouan tribes. This record is reflected the pre-contact occupancy of the Moose Mountain region noted in the pre-contact map in the preface.

Meanwhile, during the first half of the 1700s the Anishinaabe, who were known to travel at least as far west as Lake (), enjoyed a period of stability trading at French and English posts. However, after the 7 Years’ War (1760) between the British and French, the British took over control of the St. Lawrence fur trade. These new British trading partners were not as sympathetic to the Anishinaabe as the French and did not respect the traditional trade payments. The English terms of trade placed considerable distress on the Anishinaabe and from 1763 to 1766 the Anishinaabe carried out a war against the British (Pontiac’s Rebellion) until the British sued for peace and promised to respect old trading rules. As proven in the Pontiac conflict, the military organization of the 3 Fires Confederacy, the Ottawa, Potawatomi and the Ojibwe, was proven yet again to be strong and they continued to play a pivotal role in conflicts such as the American Revolution, the Indian Wars that followed as well as the War of 1812. Some Anishinaabe claim that they have never been conquered and this is a testimony to their political and military organization. First Nation Middlemen

Before the 7 Years War, (Ending in North America circa 1760) the English traded by establishing posts along the edge of the Hudson and James Bays. The French approach was to establish settlements along rivers and in central locations around the great lakes and down the Mississippi into Louisiana. Both relied upon the natives to bring the furs to their trading posts.

The Cree who occupied the woodlands around the Hudson’s Bay were more than willing to make the long voyages to bring furs to the northern posts. The Anishinaabe traded primarily with the French on the St. Lawrence. The Assiniboine also traded alongside their allies the Cree but also traded further south along the western Great Lakes where their territories extended and further south with other colonial groups.

The Nêhiyawak (Cree) and the Nakota (Assiniboine) had become allies as a result of a conflict between the Nakota and Dakota. The legend tells that a love triangle caused this conflict (Warren, W, 1885). To protect them from being overwhelmed by the greater numbers of Dakota, the Nakota allied themselves with the Cree, the traditional enemies of the Dakota,. The Cree continued to participate in the fur trade as middlemen, bartering goods for furs with other first nations further west. Their association with the Nakota

27 encouraged them to broaden their travels into the prairies. They moved further onto the plains, and eventually further north into the Athabasca River basin and Basin into what would become the Province of Alberta. The Assiniboine also moved west with the Cree into the lands of the Blackfoot, Beaver and Chipewyan and used lands right up to and including parts of the .

During the fur trade period, many changes in lifestyle and intertribal relations occurred, and the Nakota and Cree were quick to use the newly introduced technologies such as fire-arms to their advantage. Also, by the early 1700s the Cree had acquired horses which expanded their mobility and changed their hunting techniques. It was these European induced factors that led to the development of a new and distinct tribal entity: the Nêhiyawak (Plains Cree).

The Nakota and Nêhiyawak enjoyed a tremendously strong trading position which was further strengthened when the Nahkawininiwak (Saulteaux or Plains Ojibwe), who traded goods originating from Montreal via the Great Lakes, joined the Nakota and Nêhiyawak. This came to be known as the Iron Alliance, the term reflecting the trade in iron goods upon which their power was built.14 Competition in the fur trade continued throughout the 18th century. It was impacted by the European and colonial wars and by the end of the century inland trading posts stretched across the continent.

Trading at an inland HBC post in the 1840s. Ballantyne's Hudson Bay. 1848. Reference Number HBCA 1987/363-T- 32/27. Photo courtesy of the HBC Heritage Collection.

In 1774 the Hudson Bay Company built its first inland post called Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan River. This initiative was followed by competition between the and the HBC to build inland forts to obtain more fur. The construction of inland posts, the competition between first nations to participate in the trade and depletions of wildlife forced much tribal relocation. However, by the early 19th century as shown in Figure 5 below, it appears that the lands of the Cree, Assiniboine and western Ojibwe had not dramatically changed particularly with respect to the Moose Mountains.

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Figure 5: First Nations and Native American Boundaries ca. 1820

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The Bison Massacre

The Bison population of the North American Plains circa 1800 is estimated to be approximately 30 million animals. This population was a source of sustenance for many native peoples. It supported those nations who had hunted before contact and adapted the use of the horse after contact. It also supported those nations and peoples pushed out of eastern regions by competition in the early fur trade, the influx of European immigrants and eastern wars and conflicts. However, after the American Civil War there was a systematic destruction of the bison herds which was intended to remove the native reliance and open up the west for more European immigration. White Bear Elders and Treaty letters describe how Chief White Bear and his family hunted bison well before Treaty was signed in 1875. This is depicted in the painting by Michael Lonechild on the cover of this book.

Disease, Markets, War and Immigration

There were four major waves of destruction that swept down upon the native peoples of North America. The first was disease. These new strains of lethal European microbes started with the arrival of Columbus and spread throughout the continent decimating large indigenous populations in a series of waves the last of which occurred in the early 1900s. Deadly epidemics such as Smallpox swept through the indigenous nations, with major outbreaks recorded in 1780, 1819, 1838 and 1869, carrying away over half of the native population with each occurrence (Decker, 1991). The effects of all these events

30 greatly threatened the lands and livelihood of the native people in this region, having traumatic effects of their social, political and economic well-being.

The second wave was the marketization of the subsistence economy. Instead of gathering, trapping and hunting for food, natives were rewarded for trapping and hunting to supply European consumption. This insatiable demand for marketable goods began to cause a series of depletions and cyclical starvations which eventually resulted in the complete destruction of the massive bison herds on the .

The third effect was war. The conflicts between the Europeans and natives were thought to be more violent and deadly than any earlier tribal conflicts. Then the natives became involved in European based wars between the British and French, followed closely by the American War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the “Indian Wars” of the 1800s.

The fourth and final blow was the massive European immigration and land grab where the remaining indigenous peoples were herded onto Reserves and reservations as their homes were gobbled up by land hungry immigrants.

Indian Wars and the

There were several specific conflicts which likely drove the ancestors of White Bear members from their other lands into what is now southeast Saskatchewan. These conflicts are described below:

The Massacre (Dakota War; Sioux Uprising)

During the American Civil War, in 1862 the Sioux peoples of Minnesota entered into a war with the settlers primarily caused by a tenuous relationship between traders for fur and their lust to acquire native owned lands. In an earlier agreement, lands in Minnesota had been divided between the neighbouring tribes of Ojibwe and Sioux but as a result of the hostilities with the traders and eventual defeat of the Sioux warriors, the Sioux were shipped out and banished from the state (Lass, W., 1962).

During the carnage that followed the Minnesota War, many of the Sioux escaped to Canada. According to White Bear Elders, these refugees likely became some of the Sioux and Assiniboine ancestors of their neighbouring Pheasant Rump and Ocean Man Reserves which were merged with White Bear First Nations in 1901.

The Massacre

This conflict occurred on June 1, 1873, in the Cypress Hills region of Battle Creek, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan), involving a group of American bison hunters, American wolf hunters or 'wolfers', American and Canadian whisky traders, Métis cargo haulers or 'freighters', and a camp of Nakoda (Assiniboine) people (Hildebrandt, W., 2008).

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A large number of horses had been stolen from the wolfers just across the Montana territory border. Angry over their loss, the wolfers attempted to track the horse thieves into Canada, but soon lost their trail. Instead, the wolfers arrived in the Battle Creek Valley where the trading posts were located; opposite a camp of some 200 to 300 Nakota people. Tensions were already somewhat elevated. Alcohol had been flowing freely on all sides and a misunderstanding over a missing horse led to a mixed group of wolfers, whisky traders, and Métis freighters opening fire on the Nakota camp. This resulted in 23 confirmed Nakota deaths and the death of one wolfer, Ed LeGrace. Both trading posts were subsequently abandoned and burned (Hildebrandt, W., 2008).

This incident led the North-West Territories government of the day (Temporary North- West Council) to pass legislation advising Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald to speed up the growth and deployment of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). was then established in the Cypress Hills region. It served as the NWMP headquarters from 1878 until 1883, and is named after its NWMP (later RCMP) superintendent, James Morrow Walsh. Although all of the wolfers involved were arrested and tried, none were ever convicted. Battle of the Little Big Horn

In 1876, fourteen years after the Minnesota Massacre, and only three years after the , the Battle of the Little Big Horn took place (Powers, T., 2010). This battle is the most famous of the battles fought in the Great Sioux War. The Sioux wars were a series of battles fought between the plains peoples and the American Military and Militia during the last half of the 1800s. These battles were often reprisals from one side or the other because of violations of promises. The Battle of Little Big Horn was the second major battle won by the native peoples in this war. But by 1877 the Military had defeated the natives and was looking to capture the Chiefs. It is well known that Chief escaped to Canada after defeating Custer’s forces. Negotiations for Sitting Bull to return to the U.S. were long and drawn out. During that time, some of his people established permanent relationships and remained in southern Saskatchewan, living primarily among the Sioux and Assiniboine bands of that area.

32 LIEUTENANT COLONEL CUSTER SIOUX CHIEF SITTING BULL The Red River Resistance of 1869

Over the course of the 19th century the Métis played an increasing role in the fur trade and buffalo hunts. They would leave their permanent settlements, electing a provisional administration to conduct each buffalo hunt to make and enforce the traditional law of the hunt. In 1811 the Hudson's Bay Company made a land grant to Lord Selkirk of 116,000 square miles of land in the Red River Valley (southern ). This grant was for an agricultural settlement and would serve as a source of provisions for the fur trade. In response to the ongoing depletion of the bison herds, the Métis peoples had developed traditional hunting laws and continued to exercise what they knew to be their rights to hunt and trade. Efforts by these new settlers to restrict Métis hunting and trading practices eventually led to the Battle of Seven Oaks (Seven Oaks is now within the City of Winnipeg) in 1816 where the Métis successfully defended their rights.

Following the Battle of Seven Oakes, the Metis continued to demand their rights and the assertion of these demands resulted in the Red River Resistance. The Red River Resistance is perhaps one of the most important political and historical events in Canadian history and led eventually to the creation of the Province of Manitoba. This history embodies the essential tensions of the birth of Canada. It included land disputes between the Métis, Scottish, and English settlers. It was fueled by French/English and Catholic/Protestant differences; and included cultural conflicts like the defense of woman’s rights and the importance of the language and cultural rights of other minorities such as Métis and Aboriginal peoples. Also, it occurred in the midst of an attempt by the Americans to annex most of Canada into the US, and occurred only 250 miles from the Moose Mountains of White Bear.

In 1821, the amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company closed many fur trade posts and forced their employees and families to move to the Red River Settlement. Here the Métis joined forces to defend common interests against the governing Hudson's Bay Company. The Hudson's Bay Company recognized the land holding system of the Métis, where Métis parishes were divided into long narrow river lots as in Quebec, and the Métis tradition of settling these lots without formal legal title. But the Métis challenged the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly in the trading of furs, Métis free traders and merchants became the most articulate proponents of a growing Métis nationalism.

In 1845, they petitioned the Governor of the Red River Settlement for recognition of their special status. In 1849, they led an armed body of Métis horsemen who surrounded a court house where Guillaume Sayer was being convicted for trafficking in furs, prompting his release without sentence and obtaining a declaration of free trade ("La Commerce est libre") by the Métis. By 1869 the population of the Red River Settlement, one of the largest settlements west of the Mississippi and north of the Missouri, consisted of 5,720 francophone Métis, 4,080 Anglophone Métis and 1,600 non-aboriginals.

In 1869 when the Hudson Bay Company was transferring the settlement to the newly formed Government of Canada, the Métis established a provisional government to fill the

33 administrative void left by the Company. A violent reaction from elements of the non- aboriginal community resulted in the arrest of Thomas Scott, an Orangeman from Ontario who consistently threatened the life of Louis Riel. Scott was sentenced to death under the rules of the provisional government and was executed. Interestingly Scott was identified by traditional aboriginal people as a Windigo, an evil spirit. As a result of the demands of the provisional government which included representation from the non-aboriginal sector of the community, this new entity became the Province of Manitoba and many of the principles of equality, rights of the aboriginal peoples and French language rights were included within the creation of the Province of Manitoba.

North-West Rebellion of 1885

The North-West Rebellion of 1885, also referred to as the Riel Rebellion, was a Métis uprising in the Batoche area of Saskatchewan, led by Louis Riel and Gabrielle Dumont. Fifteen years after the Red River Resistance of 1869. The Métis people were again dissatisfied with their land rights. By 1885 the buffalo were almost entirely depleted by systematic massacre and the Métis people who had relied upon the buffalo did not have land set aside. They again demanded that their status be protected but by this time, the Canadian Government was secure in its control over the west and was building a railroad to foster western economic expansion. They were unwilling to listen to calls for Métis self-government or protection of minority rights. Instead the response of the Government was to send a military expedition to Saskatchewan to suppress any dissention.

There are different stories told about the sentiments of the people of the White Bear First Nations at the time of this conflict. Some say that Chief White Bear wished to join the rebellion with some of his young warriors. Some say that belligerent Métis recruiters came and threatened the people with death if they did not support the rebellion. Others say that members of the North-West Mounted Police came to talk to the Band, and the councilors were in favour of abiding by Treaty. In any case, the Band moved to the Turtle Mountains in and stayed for about three and half years until things quieted down, after which they returned to their Reserve in the Moose Mountains.

White Bear Elders shared their knowledge regarding the wars and conflicts of this time:

Used to go right across the states, because... they were fighting with...at Wounded Knee and where’s the other place, that place where the Sioux attacked Custer, Little Big Horn – in order to get away from the cavalry and stuff like that. So they fled up here. That’s where we get the Sioux and Sioux-Assiniboine from up in this region. Mostly that’s Sioux and Cree, mainly Cree though this region. From my understanding from way back a lot of them just came down from Cowessess Reserve up north because they were transferring some of the personnel or they were getting too big for the Reserves or something like that at that time they would transfer them down to different Reserves.

The Riel Rebellion – that is what sent quite a few of our people down across the state line. There wasn’t no 49th parallel to us. You know there was no

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