Full Description
This groundbreaking anthology from territory that is now Saskatchewan, isiskâciwan , includes rich oral narratives from Cree, Saulteaux, Nakoda, Dakota, Dene, and Metis cultures; early writings from Cree missionaries; speeches and letters by Treaty Chiefs; stories from elders; archival discoveries; and contemporary literary works in all genres. Historically and culturally comprehensive, voices include Big Bear, Thunderchild, Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Edward Ahenakew, Maria Campbell, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rita Bouvier, Harold Johnson, Gregory Scofield, Warren Cariou, Louise Halfe, and many more.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Saukamappee (Young Man)
Cree • c. 1700-1793
Life Among the Peigans
James Settee
Swampy Cree • c. 1809-1902
An Indian Camp at the Mouth of Nelson River Hudson's Bay
Wars between the Sioux and Saulteaux
Charles Pratt
Cree-Assiniboine • 1816-1888
CMS catechist meets Cha-wa-cis, Saulteaux Medicine Man
k?-kiš?w? (Loud Voice)
Plains Cree • c. 1796-1884
Speeches at Treaty Four (Morris)
atakawinin (The Gambler)
Saulteaux • c. 1842-1916
Speeches at Treaty Four (Morris)
kamooses
Plains Cree • c. 18??-??
Speeches at Treaty Four (Morris)
mistaw?sis (Big Child)
Plains Cree • c. 1813-1903
Speech at Treaty Six (Morris)
Speech at Treaty Six (Erasmus)
at?hkakohp (Star Blanket)
Plains Cree • c. 1816-1896
Speeches at Treaty Six (Morris)
Speech at Treaty Six (Erasmus)
payipw?t
Plains Cree (Sioux) • c. 1816-1908
To the Superior-General
Defending the Sundance
Response to Offer of Baptism
w?hkasko-kis?yin (Sweet Grass)
Plains Cree • 18?? -1877
Messages from the Cree Chiefs of the Plains
Speech at Treaty Six (Morris)
mistahi-maskwa (Big Bear)
Plains Cree • c. 1825-1888
To Rev. George McDougall
Speeches at Treaty Six (Morris)
Speech at the Council of Duck Lake
Letter to Sergeant Martin, N.W.M.P.
Address to the Court
k?-miy?staw?sit (Beardy)
Willow Cree • c. 1828-1889
Speeches at Treaty Six Special Meeting (Morris)
w?wikanihk k?-ot?mahoht (Strikes Him On The Back)
Cree • 1830-1884
Speech at Treaty Six NegotiationsBecome Farmers
tatanka iyotake (Sitting Bull)
Lakota • c. 1831-1890
Arriving at Wood Mountain
To the American Commissioners
To Major Walsh
peopeo kiskiok hihih (White Bird)
Nez Percé • 18??-1892
The Nez Percé War
Gabriel Dumont
Métis • 1837-1906
Batoche
The Fourth Day
p?htikwah?napiwiyin (Poundmaker)
Plains Cree • c. 1842-1886
Speeches at Treaty Six (Morris)
Letter to Riel
Letter to Middleton
Address to the Court
Louis Riel
Métis • 1844-1885
Message to the Métis of Battleford
Revolutionary Bill of Rights
Palpite! ô mon esprit!
Shudder, My Spirit
Margaret: be fair and good
Robert Gordon!
k?-pap?mahcahkw?w (Wandering Spirit)
Plains Cree • 1845-1885
Council Speech
Speech to Warriors
ac?hkosa k?-otakohpit (Star Blanket)
Plains Cree • c. 1845-1917
Letter to Governor General
k?-miyo-k?sikw?w (Fine Day)
Plains Cree • c. 1847-1941
Song for Returning Warriors
Big Bear's Last Thirst Dance
The First Person
piy?siw-aw?sis (Thunderchild)
Plains Cree • 1849-1927
A Winter of Hardship
A Fight with the Sarcee
The Sun Dance
Sacred Stories Of The Sweet Grass Cree
n?h-namiskw?k?paw (Louis Moosomin)
The Birth of Wisahketchahk and the Origin of Mankind
Burnt-Stick
k?-k?sik?w-p?htuk?w (Coming-Day)
The Shut-Eye Dancers
k?-w?hkaskusahk (Maggie Achenam)
Thunderbird and Winter
Hell-Diver
The Foolish Maiden
Plains Cree Texts
n?h-namiskw?k?paw (Louis Moosomin)
Ancient Life. The Sun-Dance
k?-k?sik?w-p?htuk?w (Coming-Day)
How Sweet-Grass Became Chief
A Great Herd
A Buffalo in Human Form
k?-w?hkaskusahk (Maggie Achenam)
How Women Were Treated
How the Blackfoot Killed Their Wives
Abel Watetch
Cree • c. 1878-1964
The Meaning of the Rain Dance
Edward Ahenakew
Cree • 1885-1961
That Fatal Day at Frog Lake (No. 5)
Michel Benjamin
Dene • 1888-19??
The Story of Thanadelthur
Charlie Janvier
Dene • 1889-1984
A Man and a Wolf
Charles Ryder
Nakoda • 1889-19??
The Pipe of Peace
A Bear Story
Peter Vandall
Plains Cree • 1899-1985
Social Control
Marie Merasty
Woods Cree • c. 1900s-1983
The Wetiko Mother
A Race for Life
The Last Laugh
Experience as a Medium
Eleanor Brass
Cree-Saulteaux • 1905-1992
Medicine Boy
Legend of Qu'Appelle
Excerpt from I Walk in Two Worlds
nêhiyaw (Glecia Bear)
Cree • 1912-1998
Lost and Found
John F. Cote
Saulteaux • 1912-1999
N?napohš and the Shut-eye Dancing Ducks
N?napohš Makes Red Willows
Alice Ahenakew
Plains Cree • 1912-2007
The Priest's Bear Medicine
Bertha O'Watch
Nakoda • 1914-2012
Big Snake
?któmi and Fox
Arsene Fontaine
Dene • 1918-1993
The Story of the Bear
Howard Adams
Métis • 1921-2001
Excerpt from Prison of Grass
Annie Benonie
Dene • 1925-2011
A Person That Always Stays Alone
George Klyne
Métis • 1925-2015
The Trapper and the Snare
Alexander Wolfe
Saulteaux • 1927-2002
The Sound of Dancing
Jim Kâ-Nîpitêhtêw
Plains Cree • 19??-1996
The Pipestem and the Making of Treaty Six
Augie Merasty
Woods Cree • 1930-2017
Excerpts from The Education of Augie Merasty br/>
Helen Francis
Métis • b. 1931
Life on the Trapline
Bombardier
Herbert Walker
Nakoda • 1931-2012
Mink and Coyote
Freda Ahenakew
Plains Cree • 1932-2011
Excerpt from kinêhiyâwiwininaw nêhiyawêwin
Hubert Gunn
Saulteaux • 1933-1995
A Lamp to Read By
Vicki Wilson
Dakota-Cree
It was to me like we had lost our childhood
You'd be exposing yourself
Bernelda Wheeler
Cree-Nakoda-Saulteaux • 1937-2005
Our Beloved Land and You
Maria Campbell
Métis • b. 1940
Jacob
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Plains Cree • b. 1941
Now That the Buffalo's Gone
My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying
Gloria Mehlmann
Cree-Saulteaux
Pin Cherry Morning
Doug Cuthand
Cree • b. 1946
On Canada Day, Remember That Canada Was Built on the Treaties
Is 125 Years Such a Long Time?
An Indian University: Why Not?
Margaret Reynolds
Dene • b. 1947
The Snow Man
The One Who CrossedCrowhead
Tom Jackson
Cree • b. 1948
Blue Water
Vacation
Elder
Priscilla Settee
Cree • b. 1948
Introduction to The Strength of Women
Beth Cuthand
Cree • b. 1949
Were You There
For All the Settlers Who Secretly Sing
Blair Stonechild
Cree-Saulteaux • b. 1950
Excerpt from The New Buffalo
Rita Bouvier
Métis • b. 1951
Running Dream
bannock and oranges
Riel is dead, and I am alive
songs to sing
little lemon yellow sailboat
SkyBlue Mary Morin
Métis-Cree • b. 1951
As You Lie Sleeping
Legacy of Residential Schools
Jo-Ann Episkenew
Métis • 1952-2016
Excerpt from Taking Back Our Spirits
Erroll Kinistino
Cree • b. 1952
Kokom's Kaddillac
Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe
Cree • b. 1953
Crying for Voice
N?hkom, Medicine Bear
Der Poop
Excerpt from Blue Marrow
tipiyaw?wis?w—ownership of one's self
?nisk?st?w—connecting
John Cuthand
Plains Cree • b. 1953
Naska
The Search for Chief Lucky Man
Solomon Ratt
Woods Cree • b. 1954
Grandmother's Bay
Buffalo Wings
Janice Acoose
Saulteaux • b. 1954
Paul Acoose: Man Standing Above Ground
Joseph Naytowhow
Plains-Woodland Cree
Subtle Energy as Seen through the Eyes of a Nêhiyo (Cree Person)
Kim Soo Goodtrack
Lakota • b. 1955
Joe Flyingby's Tape Recorded History
Harold Johnson
Cree • b. 1957
Excerpts from Charlie Muskrat
Bevann Fox
Cree • b. 1958
Excerpts from Abstract Love
Paul Seesequasis
Cree-Dakota-Ukrainian-German • b. 1958
Republic of Tricksterism
Winona Wheeler
Cree-Nakoda-Saulteaux-English-Irish • b. 1958
Calling Badger and the Symbols of the Spirit Language
Connie Fife
Cree • 1961-2017
i have become so many mountains
the knowing
Berries and Ripened Poems
Yvette Nolan
Algonquin-Irish • b. 1961
Excerpts from Medicine Shows
Ernie Louttit
Cree • b. 1961
Excerpts from "Young Man Frozen"
James Tyman
Métis • 1963-2001
Excerpts from Inside Out
Carol Daniels
Cree-Chipewyan • b. 1963
Lori
Floyd Favel Starr
Plains Cree • b. 1964
Master of the Dew
Gregory Scofield
Cree-Scottish-English-French • b. 1966
Not All Halfbreed Mothers
I've Been Told
Women Who Forgot the Taste of Limes
The Sewing Circle
Gabriel's Letter
Warren Cariou
Métis • b. 1966
An Athabasca Story
Satan Rouses his Legions on the Shores of Syncrude Tailings Pond #4
Louis Speaks to Gabriel Through the Ground
Randy Lundy
Cree-Irish-Norwegian • b. 1967
deer-sleep
Bear
For Kohkum, Reta
Son
Creation Story
Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway
Nakoda-Cree • b. 1969
Obsidian Stone Wiya
Andrea Menard
Métis • b. 1971
The Halfbreed Blues
Lift
Jesse Archibald-Barber
Métis-Cree-Scottish-German • b. 1972
The Bowl Game
Lisa Bird-Wilson
Métis
Blood Memory
Merelda Fiddler
Métis • b. 1976
Powerful Women, Powerful Stories
Kevin Wesaquate
Cree • b. 1977
Like a Scene from a Movie
Drop a Pound on My Table, Brother
That Picture in Black and White
Brad Bellegarde (InfoRed)
Nakoda-Cree • b. 1978
Running from Existence
Old Wood Bridge
I Remember
Thomas Roussin
Métis • b. 1979
Cutarm Creek
All Those Years of Heart (1867-1905)
The Gift
Mika Lafond
Cree • b. 1981
sipwêtêyani - when I die
itâpi - look
kâ-wâpamiyin - when you see me
Tenille Campbell
Dene-Métis • b. 1984
love poem #98
love poem #58
love poem #7
Shannon McNabb
Cree • b. 1987
Little Red School House
Earthly Womb
Permissions and Sources
Index of Authors
Index of Topics
