Treaty 7 flag rises over new era for First Nations
The Treaty 7 flag was raised at Calgary City Hall on Thursday, a symbol of the growing pride and resolve of southern Alberta’s First Nations.
The flag will fly permanently, alongside the Union Jack and the Maple Leaf, as well as the flags of Alberta and the City of Calgary.
On Friday, Premier Rachel Notley signs a protocol agreement at McDougall Centre with several chiefs of the Blackfoot Confederacy.
First Nations leaders watch warily to see if the spirit of such ceremonies is genuinely honoured, or casually betrayed, like the original Treaty 7 of 1877.
Thursday’s formalities were encouraging. Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the flag-raising “is a small gesture — but gestures matter.” Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox called Nenshi “a real and honest person.”
Flying the flag was recommended by the city’s White Goose Flying report, a moving document that came out of the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which called for more involvement by cities in recognizing and working with First Nations.
The city report tells of a 17-year-old Piikani Nation boy named Jack White Goose Flying, a resident at St. Dunstan’s Indian Industrial School in Ogden.
In 1899, he died in a shack on the grounds, where sick children were quarantined.
The boy was buried at a site overlooking the Bow River. His identity was lost for half a century, until the old Calgary Albertan newspaper asked readers to help name the person in the grave, as development threatened the site.
The mystery was finally solved by the great Alberta historian Hugh Dempsey and David Carter, archivist for the Anglican diocese who later became Speaker of the Alberta legislature.
“Hugh and I actually dug down to the casket,” Carter said Thursday. “We reburied the boy in Queen’s Park Cemetery. It was an enormously moving experience for both of us.”
Stories like this burn in the hearts of First Nations leaders as they watch a flag rise, or sign yet another agreement.
Some leaders say the Truth and Reconciliation catharsis, through all its agonizing revelations over six years, is bringing new resolve.
Albertans can expect First Nations to be more activist, outspoken and focused on both their economic interests and traditional values. They will be a larger part of the political landscape. They will be heard.
To me, no leader represents this spirit more eloquently than Tsuut’ina Chief Lee Crowchild, who was elected last year.
Crowchild has scolded the province for failing to talk chiefto-chief about the Springbank dry dam. He asserts Tsuut’ina moral sovereignty over land, air and water in a vast area surrounding the nation.
At the same time, Crowchild is a self-described warrior who prefers a peace treaty to a battle.
“The one thing about Tsuut’ina today is we’re really clear about what direction we’re going,” he said in a recent extended interview. “We’re always about finding the better solution. Everybody has their images of what a warrior is. But how I was raised is quite different from that. It’s about how we find peaceful resolution. It’s about how you manage a situation which could be very volatile, which could be very explosive.
“In the end being a warrior is not about going to war. It’s about resolving things so people can survive. Our nation is about the continuation of the generations of who we are — Tsuut’ina.”
Crowchild exudes determination when he says: “What little land we have left we have to take control over. It’s our sovereignty.
“It’s not about what the next policy is, or whichever government comes in next.
“It’s about our obligations of stewardship, about the environment, about the land, about the water, about the air. We’re the stewards of that, and it’s our obligation to make sure it’s protected in the best way possible.”
Crowchild wants to reach out to both the city and neighbouring rural areas. He praises Nenshi for maintaining a good relationship — “We know him very well.”
But Crowchild adds: “I think there’s still kind of a symbolic high fence that surrounds us ... we want to be overcoming barriers not just to the City of Calgary but to other southern Alberta municipalities.”
First Nation cultures are now in a healing phase, he adds.
“What the Indian Act did, what the residential schools did, they really worked hard at dividing us, at taking the Indian out of the Indian.
“Now we’re in this phase of recovering, of reclaiming our identity. Previous policies succeeded in trying to drive a stake between us. No reserves would be needed, we weren’t strong enough.
“But we say ‘No’ — despite everything, our obligation to the land, the water, the air, still remain strong.
“As long as there’s one person left, there will always be that.”