Ahtahkakoop First Nation

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The Ahtahkakoop First Nation is a Cree First Nation band government in Shell Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Ahtahkakoop First Nation government and community is located on Ahtahkakoop Indian Reserve No. 104, [1] 72 kilometers northwest of Prince Albert and is 17,347 hectares in size.

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America.

In Canada, the First Nations are the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle. Those in the Arctic area are distinct and known as Inuit. The Métis, another distinct ethnicity, developed after European contact and relations primarily between First Nations people and Europeans. There are 634 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all Status Indians are members of a band.

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Background

The name of this reserve originated from its first chief who was born about 1816 on the vast prairie region that was home to his people. He was named Ahtahkakoop, which in Cree means "Starblanket". He was a Head Chief of the Plains Cree who was part of the signing of Treaty Six in 1876. When the treaty was signed, the population of his band was 185 members. As of January 2003 the registered population of Ahtahkakoop is 2600 band members. The language spoken is Cree. [2] The community was formerly known as "Sandy Lake Indian Band".

Ahtahkakoop House Cree chief

Ahtahkakoop (c. 1816 – 1896) was a Chief of the House Cree (Wāskahikaniwiyiniwak) division of the Plains Cree, who led his people through the transition from hunter and warrior to farmer, and from traditional indigenous spiritualism to Christianity during the last third of the 19th century.

Plains Cree language

Plains Cree is a dialect of the Algonquian language, Cree, which is the most populous Canadian indigenous language. Plains Cree is sometimes considered a dialect of the Cree-Montagnais language, or sometimes a dialect of the Cree language, distinct from the Montagnais language. Plains Cree is one of five main dialects of Cree in this second sense, along with Woods Cree, Swampy Cree, Moose Cree, and Atikamekw. Although no single dialect of Cree is favored over another, Plains Cree is the most widely used. Out of the 80 thousand speakers of the Cree language, the Plains Cree dialect is spoken by about 34,000 people primarily in Saskatchewan and Alberta but also in Manitoba and Montana. This number is diminishing as social pressures increase to use English, leaving many Cree children without a fluent command of Cree. Monolingual Plains Cree speakers are still found, however, in the more rural Cree-speaking areas, such as the northern river communities in the Cree territories. These populations, nevertheless, are primarily composed of elders and are continuously shrinking in size.

See also

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Mistawasis born as Pierre Belanger was also known as “Piwaspiskomostos”, and “Mistahi Awas Asis, or Mistawasis”. He was a Chief of the Sak-kaw-wen-o-wak Plains Cree, notable for his role as the leader of his people during the signing of Treaty 6 in 1876. He was born circa 1796 to a French father, Bernard Belanger, and a Nakoda mother, Kakakewachin near Slave Lake in what is now the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Due to the dwindling buffalo population caused by excessive hunting, he was forced to look for new strategies to ensure the survival of his people and their culture. The loss of the buffalo threatened his people and he believed that the only way to save his people would be to negotiate with the Canadian Government. He held great influence over his people and it was due to this influence that he, and his close ally Ahtahkakoop, were able to argue successfully for the adoption of Treaty 6 by his fellow Cree. Mistawasis made history as the first signatory of Treaty 6. After the treaty was signed he remained an ally of the Canadian government until his death.

References

  1. ↑ Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, First Nations profile
  2. ↑ Ahtahkakoop First Nation
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