LESSONS FROM HISTORY
Colten Boushie’s uncle is calling for a First Nations museum to be built in North Battleford, saying more education could help combat racism.
Alvin Baptiste is calling on Parks Canada to build a First Nations museum in North Battleford to help combat racism in the area.
Baptiste began talking with Parks Canada representatives after his nephew, 22-year-old Colten Boushie, was fatally shot in farmer Gerald Stanley’s yard in August 2016.
The shooting of the young Cree man polarized the province and fuelled conversations — some productive, some hate-filled and offensive — about racism.
Baptiste said he believes much of the racism and hatred comes from misunderstanding, and he hopes more education about First Nations people — from the perspective of First Nations people themselves — will help.
“We’re not the boogeymen of the Prairies that we’re painted out to be, an ugly picture of us as savages, beggars, stealers,” he said. “This has to change. We’ve got to tell our side of the story.”
Kaylee Beck, the national historic site and visitor experience manager for the Fort Battleford National Historic Site, said Parks Canada is not presently looking at constructing a new museum in Battleford, but is working with First Nations partners “to review, reimagine and reshape Fort Battleford National Historic Site to create opportunities for Indigenous peoples to tell their own stories and allow visitors to learn more about Indigenous history.”
Some elements of this “renewed visitor experience” are expected to debut in 2020.
“This revamped offer may include interpretive programming, special events, educational programs, digital media and new exhibits or displays at Fort Battleford,” Beck said in an email.
Baptiste said that’s not enough. “I want a museum and something to do with our people, and there’s nothing around in North Battleford at all,” he said.
“It’s time that we do have a museum. There’s so much history in North Battleford that needs to come out and it needs to be our side of the story on the history of North Battleford ... We have so much artifacts, so much things that we can share with the world about who we are.”
The Fort Battleford Historic Site in the Town of Battleford, across the river from North Battleford, was established in 1876 by the North West Mounted Police, who would eventually come to be known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The NWMP wanted to aid the Canadian government in opening the west for settlement and were involved in negotiating and signing Treaty 6 with the surrounding First Nations, in which the First Nations gave up title to their lands in exchange for provisions from the federal government.
As the bison disappeared, Indigenous people were unable to make a living through traditional ways of life and the government was not meeting treaty promises to support them in times of famine.
In 1885, Poundmaker marched to Fort Battleford to demand overdue rations. After men who were en route to join him killed two men, citizens of the Town of Battleford, fearing more violence, took refuge in Fort Battleford. The militia marched to the fort to lift the siege and attacked Poundmaker’s men.
The government later prosecuted many Indigenous people for their role in what has been called the 1885 Rebellion. On Nov. 27, 1885, Fort Battleford became the site of the largest mass hanging in Canada since Confederation; six Cree men and two Assiniboine men were tried for murder and publicly hanged.
Baptiste said what’s showcased at Fort Battleford is just a “little glimpse” of First Nations history and a stand-alone museum dedicated to the topic is needed.
“We need to share this story with other non-Indigenous people, of how we have suffered and we are still survivors,” he said. “One of the things to prevent racism and hatred is to start to understand another person and your neighbour, to understand your neighbour — and we’re the neighbours.”
Baptiste said a revitalized Fort Battleford it would also help Indigenous people understand their own history.
“Our own people, our youth, will see this and have an understanding of who they are, where they come from,” he said. “They will be proud of who they are.”