During much of the nineteenth century, what is now the Canadian province of Alberta was dominated by a three closely related tribes, known collectively as the Blackfoot Confederacy: Pikuni (also called Piegan or Peigan); Kainah (also called Blood); and Siksika (also called Northern Blackfoot, Blackfoot, or Blackfeet). The Blackfoot tribes were horse-mounted buffalo-hunters ranging over much of Alberta and northern Montana. Blackfoot warriors were also well-armed with guns obtained from the British and Canadian fur traders.
Politically, each tribe in the Blackfoot Confederacy was autonomous and each of the tribal bands had its own chief. The position of chief at both the band level and at the tribal level was not inherited but based on the individual’s war honors and reputation for generosity. One person who rose to prominence as a Siksika chief was a man called Crowfoot.
Crowfoot was born in 1830 at Blackfoot Crossing near present-day Calgary, Alberta. His father was Istowun-eh’pata (Packs a Knife) and his mother was Axkyahp-say-pi (Attacked Toward Home). His birthname was Asotxkomi (Shot Close). Both of his parents were Kainah (Bloods).
After Istowun-eh’pata was killed in a battle with the Crows, Axkyahp-say-pi took her two young sons and moved to her father Scabby Bull’s camp. While living in Scabby Bull’s camp, she met and married a Siksika warrior, Akay-nehka-simi (Many Names). The family then moved north into a Siksika camp and the two boys were adopted into the Siksika nation.
Here Asotxkomi acquired a youth name, Kyiah-sta-ah (Bear Ghost) and when he became an adult, he was named Isapo-muxika (Crow Indian’s Big Foot, or Crowfoot).
In his biographical sketch of Crowfoot in Notable Native Americans, Michael Turek writes:
“As a young man Crowfoot went on many raids, earning a reputation as a warrior and a leader. Fighting in 19 battles and being wounded six times, he suffered from his war injuries the rest of his life.”
In 1865, Crowfoot became a minor Siksika chief. When the smallpox epidemic of 1869-1870 killed several Siksika chiefs, he became one of the major chiefs.
Crowfoot first met Father Albert Lacomb (1827-1916), a Catholic Oblate missionary, in 1865. Michael Turek writes:
“Although Crowfoot showed no more interest in Christianity than he did in the Blackfeet’s Sundance, he allowed the priest to preach to his people.”
His reputation for bravery was enhanced in 1866 when, armed only with a spear, he killed a grizzly bear.
Michael Turek also writes:
“A great orator, with a reserved and quiet demeanor, he also had a quick and violent temper. He seldom joined in social activities and took no part in religious activities. Nonetheless, Crowfoot became recognized as a prominent Blackfeet chief thanks to his abilities as a warrior and leader.”
The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was the primary trading company that did business with the Blackfoot tribes. Michael Turek writes:
“The Hudson’s Bay Company traders were pleased that Crowfoot had become chief. Relations between the traders and Blackfeet were uneasy and Crowfoot had already shown a willingness to maintain the peace. He also developed a friendship with one of the chief traders, Richard Hardisty.”
North-West Mounted Police
In Alberta, one of the concerns was the illegal liquor trade to the Blackfoot and other Indians. The infamous Fort Whoop-up, located in Alberta, supplied whiskey to both Canadian and American Indians. The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was formed in 1873 to administer law and order in the Northwest Territories (present day Alberta and Saskatchewan). The Mounties, as they came to be called, used consultation and negotiation to avert conflict rather than seek it. Michael Turek writes:
“Crowfoot welcomed the coming of the redcoats. They cleared his country of the American whiskey trader.”
Shortly after the establishment of Fort Macleod in Alberta, five men were arrested and tried for having liquor in their possession. This resulted in fines and confiscation of their equipment and supply. The arrest of the whiskey traders had an immediate effect upon the relationship between the NWMP and the First Nations peoples. Within a year, the whiskey trade had stopped. With the sale of alcohol halted, the Indians made rapid strides in restoring order to their lives and replenishing their horse herds.
When the NWMP first arrived at the Oldman River in Alberta to establish Fort Macleod, the members of the Blackfoot Confederacy were a little concerned about their presence. They showed neither hostility nor friendship in the beginning. To establish friendly relations with the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Commissioner Macleod met with tribal members. Macleod and Chief Crowfoot reached a gentlemen’s agreement to work together to maintain peace in the area. Chief Crowfoot spoke:
“My brother, your words make me glad. I listened to them not only with my ears but with my heart also. In the coming of the Long Knives, with their firewater and quick-shooting guns, we were weak and our people have been woefully slain and impoverished. You say this will be stopped. We are glad to have it stopped. We want peace. What you tell us about this strong power which will govern good law and treat the Indian the same as the white man, makes us glad to hear. My brother, I believe you, and am thankful.”
Unlike the American military approach to Indians which relied on hard power (i.e. the use of superior numbers of fighters and firepower) to force Indians to their will, the NWMP sought a semblance of fairness in their dealings with the tribes. Unlike the situation south of the border, the NWMP administered justice for both Native peoples and non-Native peoples. While crimes against Indians in the United States were ignored by authorities, the NWMP sought justice regardless of whether the victim was Native or non-Native.
Treaty Number Seven
Between 1871 and 1877 the Canadian government negotiated seven treaties with the First Nations of the southern part of the Northwest Territories. From the viewpoint of the government, the purpose of the treaties was to extinguish Native title to the land. In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13, Part 1: Plains, David McCrady writes:
“To what degree native leaders and government commissioners held the same understanding of the concepts embodied in these European documents has long been a matter of debate.”
In 1877 the Canadian government brought together representatives from the Kainah (Blood), Siksika (Blackfeet), North Piegan, Stoney, and Sarcee tribes to negotiate Treaty Number Seven. The Sarcees, an Athabaskan-speaking group, were often allied with the Blackfoot Confederacy. The Stoneys (Assiniboines) are a Siouan-speaking group.
The government had originally called for the treaty conference to meet at Fort Macleod, a NWMP post, but Crowfoot disagreed. In his book The Mounties March West: The Epic Trek and Early Adventures of the Mounted Police, Tony Hollihan reports:
“At Crowfoot’s insistence, the treaty council was moved from Fort Macleod to the neutral setting of Blackfoot Crossing on the Bow River.”
At the council, Crowfoot refused all gifts and rations until he had heard the terms of the treaty. He was given a prominent role in the treaty negotiations and the government negotiators spoke primarily with him. Crowfoot was then tasked with gaining the support of the other chiefs.
The Kainah (Bloods) arrived after the council had started and Kainah chief Red Crow agreed to make treaty if Crowfoot and his people did so.
The treaty assigned geographic areas to: (1) the Siksika, Kainah, and Sarcees; (2) the Stoneys; and (3) the Northern Piegan.
In the treaty document, three Siksika (Blackfeet) head chiefs are acknowledged: Crowfoot was listed as Head Chief of the South Blackfeet; Old Sun was listed as Head Chief of the North Blackfeet; and Heavy Shield was listed as Head Chief of the Middle Blackfeet.
Riel Rebellion
In 1885, the Riel Rebellion broke out in Saskatchewan. The Métis, angered by the refusal of the Canadian government to confirm their river lot claims along the Qu’Appelle and South Saskatchewan Rivers, organized their own provisional government with Pierre Parenteau, Sr. as president, Gabriel Dumont as military adjunct, and Louis Riel as people’s council. The rebellion lasted only two months.
At the Battle of Duck Lake, the Crees under the leadership of Asiyiwin joined the Métis in their rebellion.
In Alberta, the Siksika and the Kainah were asked to join with the Crees in their rebellion against the Canadian government. Both Siksika chief Crowfoot and Kainah chief Red Crow refused to join the rebellion. Crowfoot, however, indicated that Cree refugees would be welcome in his camp.
The Reserve
In the years following Treaty Seven, the buffalo became scarce. Increasingly, hunting parties journeyed south into Montana in their attempt to harvest buffalo, but even here they were often unsuccessful. David McCrady reports:
“By the close of 1879 the bison was all but extinct in Canada, and the last remnants of the northern herd in the United States failed as an exploitable resource for Indians and hide-hunters alike.”
The Sioux, who had sought refuge in Canada to escape American oppression, were often blamed for the disappearance of the buffalo. When Crowfoot met with Indian commissioner Edgar Dewdney in 1879, he told him:
“If you drive away the Sioux and make a hole so that the buffalo may come in, we will not trouble you for food; if you don’t do that, you must feed us or show us how to live.”
The government’s solution to the loss of buffalo as a food source was to implement a program of Euro-style agriculture on the reserves. Regarding Crowfoot’s response to this program, David McCrady reports:
“While his followers were generally willing in principle to take up farming, he insisted that sufficient rations be provided to allow them to commit themselves fully to agricultural pursuits.”
By 1881, most of the Siksika had settled on the reserve and were developing a new way of life. Michael Turek writes:
“After the Blackfeet settled on their reserve, Crowfoot’s role as chief evolved into that of a mediator and magistrate. He gave counsel, confronted government officials when they attempted to swindle his people, and succeeded in maintaining harmony in the camps.”
Crowfoot was sick during much of the last decade of his life. When he was close to death, he has been quoted as saying:
"A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we come, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
Michael Turek writes:
“Although Crowfoot did not fully understand the white men, he did not see them as a threat to his people. They traded guns, iron kettles, beads, and woolens for buffalo hides, horses, and dried meat. As long as the white men treated him fairly, Crowfoot did the same. He expected justice from the whites, and demanded it for them from his own people.”
Crowfoot died in 1890.
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