Interview includes stories about the power of the medicine man and the abilities to foretell the future. It also includes information regarding traditional attitudes toward education, marriage and lifestyle.
Antoine Lonesinger discusses different methods of earning a living that included making charcoal and lime. Also included is the story of a boy saved a camp from starvation with the help of the raven spirit.
Interview includes stories about a ghost priest and a non-existent camp. Also included is a story of how a lame boy's skill as a medicine man won him a chieftainship and a wife.
Interview includes a story of a woman, who when captured by enemy warriors betrays her husband and brothers to her captors and so brings about her death.
Interview with Mr Lonesinger who tells stories of Indian agents both good and bad. He also tells of the Battle of the Cut Knife Hill and the banning of the Sundance.
Interview includes stories of attacks on women by Blackfoot and Cree raiders. It also includes the story of the acquisition of the Sioux Dance (or Grass Dance) from the bone grass spirits.
This file contains excerpts from Reginald Beatty's diary, correspondence about his encounters with Cree people, and letters home to his parents detailing his experience in the 1885 Riel Rebellion. Mr. Beatty was a farmer and fur trader in what is now known as the Melfort area of Saskatchewan.
Bill Wilson was born in Lac La Biche, Alberta in 1934 and raised by Indian people west of Calgary. His father was 3/4 Sioux from the U.S. but his parents broke up when he was little. He discusses his negative attitude toward the RCMP.
Interview of Charlie Chief who discusses the a Grass Dance, Round Dance and Sioux Dance (including songs). Also included are songs. The discusses the difference between old and new ways. Alphonse Littlepoplar is the intterpreter
Discussion by Elders who express regrets at loss of traditional customs and values and desire a return of schools on reserves ; a need to preserve Indian ceremonies and Indian medicines ; concerns about problems with alcohol recur throughout.
Wide-ranging discussion among elders touching on many topics including kinship; illegitimate children; ceremonialism; therole of the elder; financing the elder who incurs some costs associated with the organization of a ceremony.
Elders discuss a variety of matters relating to Indian culture and traditions and what can be done to retain or regain these. Most topics are touched on only briefly
Loss of Indianism through white education.Founding of White Fish Lake Reserve. Problems on reserves as a result of electing 'young' chiefs. Loss of Indian ceremonies and healing.
Elders discuss contemporary problems. Recurring themes are: problems with alcohol; education by whites from an early age; need to return to traditional teaching by elders in combination with white education.
Elders discuss concerns regarding: loss of Indian culture and traditions; failure to educate young Indians in traditionalways; young well-educated chiefs who will not take advice from elders.
Elders speak of their concerns regarding leadership on the reserves; new young leaders with education but no experience who ignore the elders and their advice; the failure to educate the young in traditional Indian ways.
Discussion of the educational system: relative merits of day schools, residential schools, integrated schools, etc.; need for inclusion of Indian culture into the curriculum at all levels ; the role of the elder as teacher.
Discussion of Indian ceremonies: how these are passed on from generation to generation; the role of women. Tipis: particular kinds of tipis; decorated tipis; tipis inrelation to death customs. No date given but probably January 1974, same as the others in this series.
Discussion of: Role of elders in setting young people on the right road ; Importance of breast-feeding and giving up alcohol ; Need for a tipi on each reserve, to be kept for prayer, pipe ceremonies and the counselling of the young.
Report - 1885 on the north-western tribes of the Dominion of Canada
E-Books
Author/Creator
Committee on North-Western Tribes of the Dominion of Canada of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
Horatio Hale
Description
"Reports on the physical characters, languages, industrial and social condition of the North-western tribes of the Dominion of Canada," focuses on Blackfoot, Cree and Ojibwe/Ojibway, 1885 era.
Mr. Paulhus is of French descent, not Metis. He is married to a Metis and has lived most of his life in a Metis community in the Duck Lake/Batoche area. He gives his impression of the Riel Rebellion, the causes, the battles and views of Riel and Dumont.
Mr. Ledoux, aged 99 at the time of the interview is of mixed French and Indian ancestry but is registered as a treaty Indian. He was present during the Riel Rebellion of 1885 and gives an account of what he saw in the Rebellion; views of the rebellion and the people involved.
Interview of the grandsons of Little Bear who discuss lifestyle. They tell stories about Cree raids on Blackfoot;the hanging of Little Bear and murder of a storekeeper's son by a medicine man. Interpreter by Alphonse Littlepoplar.
The interview includes a story of the Grandson of Little Bear who was hung for his part in the Frog Lake massacre. Other stories included the tale of Chuh Chuh,a warrior who scalped a Blackfoot Chief; stories of medicine men; a gambling tale involving a Cree and Blackfoot.
Mr. Belly tells four stories during the interview. He first describes the origins of his name. The following two stories are animal tales: the first is about the illegal killing of moose and the second describes how a coyote stole an axe. The last is a christian tale of a man who came to life in a coffin.
Ms. Youens is a Metis, born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. She was brought up in a series of foster homes and is now active in both the Women's Movement and with native groups. She talks about how the Metis are treated by outside groups, her childhood, and attitudes towards women among native societies.
An interview with the grandson of Misihew and great-grandson of Seekaskootch, Mr. Lloyd Chief. During the interview, Mr. Chief discusses a variety of subjects including: leadership qualities; intertribal wars of the Cree and Blackfoot; the power of dreams; the significance of the Northern Lights; and the powers of Cannibals.