of the Creator—this doubly sacred place. The wind shifting in the wolf willow whispered his prayer back to him:
Trust the buffalo
. To face Whites he needed the resolute courage of that faith, and the wisdom of time to understand what The Only One wanted People to do. Out of three annual attempts to talk treaty and now threedays of deadlock with Laird at Sounding Lake grew a conviction, and a vow.
He told Laird he would watch for four Cree years to see how Government kept faith with those Cree who had signed Treaty Six. For four years his band, and every Person who wanted to join them, would watch and live the independence and freedom they had always had: with buffalo, without treaty.
Four years. Had Big Bear’s band been Blood or Siksika, an Elder would have focused his memory of those years in the cryptic oral code of the Blackfoot Winter Count. The Cree, however, had highly respected Old Men who were “professional rememberers” for their communities; they could recount, with practised accuracy, key tribal events of the near and distant past. The band’s Old Men might have remembered those four years with these happenings:
Year One: August (Buffalo Breeding Moon) 1878 to August 1879
When Little Pine and Lucky Man Signed
Saskatchewan Herald
, November 16: Government surveyors staking land near the Bow and Oldman rivers are confronted by Assiniboine, who tell them they “know of no one in Canada who has a right to take away theirland.” Big Bear is sent for, and a parley results in deadlock. When Police Commissioner Irvine arrives from Fort Walsh with twenty-six police, he finds three hundred Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Cree, and Sioux warriors waiting. Big Bear and Irvine agree that the surveyors will stop their work and the Indians and police will “leave the dispute to be settled between the Governor and Big Bear when the leaves come out.” There is no mention of Big Bear wearing his war Bear paw.
Few fall buffalo and early snow with weakened horses make hunting barely possible. The Eagle Hills People are so near starvation that they petition officials to give them next summer’s treaty payments in January. They receive nothing.
Father Lestanc with the Métis at The Forks writes to the
Herald
on March 24: “Very severe winter. All the tribes—the Sioux, Blackfoot, Bloods, Sarcees, Assiniboines, Stoneys, Cree and Saulteaux—now form but one party, having the same mind. Big Bear up to this time cannot be accused of uttering a single objectionable word, but the fact of his being the head and soul of all our Canadian plain Indians leaves room for conjecture. They also seem desirous of securing Sitting Bull’s assistance to obtain another, and better, treaty.” But on May 5, the
Herald
reports: “The great confederacy of which Big Bear was tobe the chief has come to nothing. The Blackfoot declined to give him their allegiance, actuated perhaps by a lingering remembrance of past enmity. The large party that wintered at The Forks has now dispersed.”
Prime Minister Macdonald appoints his friend Edgar Dewdney as the new Indian Commissioner. Arriving at Fort Walsh via Montana, Dewdney notes:
“July 2: Had an interview with some non-Treaty Cree Indians. They are said to have cut themselves off from Big Bear, although they deny it.
“July 3: Had interview with Big Bear and other Indians that promised to take the Treaty. Little Pine [270 persons] and Lucky Man [200 persons] did so, leaving Big Bear almost alone.
“July 4: Had long interview with Big Bear but no results. The same—talk but would not take the Treaty. Parted good friends.”
Dewdney writes to Macdonald confidentially: “I have not formed such a poor opinion of Big Bear as some appear to have done. He is a very independent character, self-reliant, and appears to know how to make his own living without begging from the government.”
Year Two: August 1879 to August 1880
When the Buffalo
Trust the buffalo
. To face Whites he needed the resolute courage of that faith, and the wisdom of time to understand what The Only One wanted People to do. Out of three annual attempts to talk treaty and now threedays of deadlock with Laird at Sounding Lake grew a conviction, and a vow.
He told Laird he would watch for four Cree years to see how Government kept faith with those Cree who had signed Treaty Six. For four years his band, and every Person who wanted to join them, would watch and live the independence and freedom they had always had: with buffalo, without treaty.
Four years. Had Big Bear’s band been Blood or Siksika, an Elder would have focused his memory of those years in the cryptic oral code of the Blackfoot Winter Count. The Cree, however, had highly respected Old Men who were “professional rememberers” for their communities; they could recount, with practised accuracy, key tribal events of the near and distant past. The band’s Old Men might have remembered those four years with these happenings:
Year One: August (Buffalo Breeding Moon) 1878 to August 1879
When Little Pine and Lucky Man Signed
Saskatchewan Herald
, November 16: Government surveyors staking land near the Bow and Oldman rivers are confronted by Assiniboine, who tell them they “know of no one in Canada who has a right to take away theirland.” Big Bear is sent for, and a parley results in deadlock. When Police Commissioner Irvine arrives from Fort Walsh with twenty-six police, he finds three hundred Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Cree, and Sioux warriors waiting. Big Bear and Irvine agree that the surveyors will stop their work and the Indians and police will “leave the dispute to be settled between the Governor and Big Bear when the leaves come out.” There is no mention of Big Bear wearing his war Bear paw.
Few fall buffalo and early snow with weakened horses make hunting barely possible. The Eagle Hills People are so near starvation that they petition officials to give them next summer’s treaty payments in January. They receive nothing.
Father Lestanc with the Métis at The Forks writes to the
Herald
on March 24: “Very severe winter. All the tribes—the Sioux, Blackfoot, Bloods, Sarcees, Assiniboines, Stoneys, Cree and Saulteaux—now form but one party, having the same mind. Big Bear up to this time cannot be accused of uttering a single objectionable word, but the fact of his being the head and soul of all our Canadian plain Indians leaves room for conjecture. They also seem desirous of securing Sitting Bull’s assistance to obtain another, and better, treaty.” But on May 5, the
Herald
reports: “The great confederacy of which Big Bear was tobe the chief has come to nothing. The Blackfoot declined to give him their allegiance, actuated perhaps by a lingering remembrance of past enmity. The large party that wintered at The Forks has now dispersed.”
Prime Minister Macdonald appoints his friend Edgar Dewdney as the new Indian Commissioner. Arriving at Fort Walsh via Montana, Dewdney notes:
“July 2: Had an interview with some non-Treaty Cree Indians. They are said to have cut themselves off from Big Bear, although they deny it.
“July 3: Had interview with Big Bear and other Indians that promised to take the Treaty. Little Pine [270 persons] and Lucky Man [200 persons] did so, leaving Big Bear almost alone.
“July 4: Had long interview with Big Bear but no results. The same—talk but would not take the Treaty. Parted good friends.”
Dewdney writes to Macdonald confidentially: “I have not formed such a poor opinion of Big Bear as some appear to have done. He is a very independent character, self-reliant, and appears to know how to make his own living without begging from the government.”
Year Two: August 1879 to August 1880
When the Buffalo
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