Old alliances are celebrated

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The day he received his song is one ceremony that Tony Belcourt will never forget.

During a traditional Elders and Youth circle gathering held last month in North Dakota, the keeper of the song, Elder Francis Eagle Heart Cree, taught the song to the president of the Metis Nation of Ontario.

The gathering was held to commemorate an 1820s alliance of Assiniboine, Cree, Chippewa and Michif peoples at Buffalo Lodge Lake, in present-day northwest North Dakota.

Belcourt had spent years looking for a traditional Michif song for a special purpose. He wanted to take it to another ceremony celebrating the forging of a relationship between the Metis Nation and the Anishinabek Nation. Eventually he found the right song. What was shared with Belcourt on Aug. 11 is the Many Eagle Set Thirsty Dance Song, a sun dance song that was passed down to Francis Eagle Heart Cree from his great-grandfather, Many Eagle Set, who got it in a dream.

For two days this summer, stories were told about the origins of the song. During the gathering, Cree taught the song to Belcourt and members of the Provisional Council of the Metis Nation of Ontario; to Deputy Grand Council Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, Nelson Toulouse; to National Metis Women's Secretariat representative Rosemary MacPherson, and to Elders and representatives of the Manitoba Metis Federation.

"We had about 20 of our people there in total," Belcourt said. He pointed out that there would have been a greater representation from the Anishinabek Nation, but for "some political events going on" at home.

"It was quite a journey of discovery for all of us," said Belcourt. "The thing that struck me the most was the history in the early 1800s and the late 1700s that we're just completely unaware of. And that history has a lot to do with the song-you need to know about the history. And the Elders are keepers of that history. They tell these stories. We don't often get a chance to hear them, though."

They brought a film crew, to ensure the stories aren't lost.

"The Elder, Francis Cree, was very anxious that everything be recorded. He is fully cognizant of the fact that a lot of the stories and so on are being lost. And he really wanted to see a lot of the stories and the songs-and he had many of them-that they be recorded."

Belcourt shared some history. In the late 1700s around the area's largest fur trading post, Drummond Island near present-day Sault Ste. Marie, the Iroquois began to move in and displace a lot of Ojibway people, "particularly southern Lake Huron area ... and there was also the border issue, after the War of 1812." Belcourt related that these pressures caused some Michif and Anishinabek to migrate West around the Red River area.

The Michif and Ojibway, who became known as Chippewas in the West, moved and settled together and developed alliances with the Cree and Assiniboine against the Dakota and the Sioux. As they moved in on Dakota buffalo hunting territory, skirmishes, battles and raids were inevitable. The Michif, Chippewa, Cree and Assiniboine called a council of war to form an alliance in 1821 or 1822 at Buffalo Lodge Lake, about 100 miles south of the Manitoba-Dakota border. A sun dance was held to give offerings to the Great Spirit and ask for protection and strength within their alliance. The leader of the sun dance was Many Eagle Set, "a great warrior and spiritual leader." Belcourt said Many Eagle Set had asked for and sought a vision ... "and this is the song that came to him. And he brought that song to the drum for the ceremony.

"And it was felt by the present-day Elders ... that this would be the song that would be best for the Metis Nation, for the Michif, because here we are in modern day creating an alliance with the descendants of the people who formed an alliance back then, the Ojibway and Metis of Ontario.

"It was quite an honour, obviously, that it would be decided that this song could be given to us, so we went tere to have it actually given to us. And now we are keepers of the song too. It is something to share, but also to make sure we preserve in its exact form, and to pass it on.

"It's the first of its kind as far as I'm concerned for the Metis people in modern history."