On the way to work last week, I caught part of a CBC interview with a First Nation person about the Buffalo Treaty. The treaty and the interview was all about what the buffalo mean to the culture, education, stories and songs of Indigenous peoples in North America. I thought I would check it out online with the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in mind.
The original treaty was signed 10 years ago on Sept. 24, 2014 on Blackfeet territory in Montana with many more First Nations including Frog Lake First Nation joining in subsequent years.
On YouTube, Leroy Little Bear from the Kainai First Nation (Blood Tribe) in Southern Alberta explained the treaty came from discussions with elders in Blackfoot country being concerned about the loss of meaning of their culture to the younger generation.
The elders said the buffalo is out of sight and out of mind and they need young people to see the buffalo on a daily basis to make the connection to their culture with that keystone animal.
That resulted in buffalo dialogues that brought grassroots people to elders together to work on having the buffalo come back to Blackfoot territory.
The idea was to sign a buffalo treaty so they could all work together again as nations.
“We use to trade we used to go through peoples territory,” said Little Bear. “It’s also about reviving the land again. It seemed like the land was also missing the presence of the buffalo.”
It’s hard to imagine at one time these animals numbered up to 60 million before they were nearly wiped out.
Little Bear went on to say, “Let’s use the buffalo as a portal for bringing our children together to learn about their culture, the land, the environment. Let’s use the buffalo for teaching our children our ceremonies, our stories and our songs.”
Maybe that’s the direction reconciliation needs to take, for all of us to do our part to restore the buffalo. I was choked up listening to the interview and received an inspiring and hopeful message of reconciliation many people can relate to.
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