Miniseries retells tale of Cypress Hills massacre

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An important and tragic piece of Canadian history is being recreated this summer in the Qu'Appelle Valley, as cast and crew work on a miniseries based on Saskatchewan author Guy Vanderhaeghe's award-winning novel, The Englishman's Boy.

Set in the early 1870s, the story follows a young American boy venturing west with his English employer. When the Englishman dies unexpectedly in the midst of their travels, the boy is left to fend for himself. He falls in with a group of American wolf hunters who are tracking a group of Indians they claim stole their horses. The men follow the trail north and cross over into Canada.

On June 1, 1873, fueled by anger and alcohol, they happen upon an Assiniboine encampment and believe these are the people responsible for taking their horses. The wolf hunters, armed with repeating rifles, overwhelm the Assiniboine, killing at least 20 of them.

The massacre has been cited as the reason for the formation of the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of today's Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The fledgling police force travelled to Montana in an unsuccessful attempt to extradite the men responsible and, although another three men involved in the killings were eventually arrested in Canada, they were acquitted of all charges.

The four-hour adaptation of The Englishman's Boy will air as a two-part mini-series on the CBC. It stars R.H. Thompson as Tom Hardwick, the wolf hunters' leader, and Michael Eisner in the role of the Englishman's boy. It also stars Saskatchewan's own Tyrone Tootoosis in the role of Chief Little Soldier, leader of the ill-fated Assiniboine camp.

Tootoosis is no stranger to the small screen. He's appeared in two previous miniseries-portraying Poundmaker in Gil Cardinal's production of Big Bear in 1998, and playing Whirlwind Dreamer in Hallmark Entertainment's Emmy Award-winning production of DreamKeeper in 2003. He's leant his voice to the stop motion animation film Christmas at Wapos Bay, and played Cree Guy #1 in an episode of Corner Gas.

Tootoosis also provides his voice talents to other projects, including radio programs, commercials and multi-media programs. The part-time actor said he prefers working as a narrator to appearing on-screen, but admits the on-screen jobs offer much better pay.

For Tootoosis, playing Chief Little Soldier is more than just another role. It's important to him that the chief's true leadership abilities come across on film.

"I wanted to show the leadership of that time, that he carried himself with strength, dignity, honour and pride," said the actor from Poundmaker First Nation. "The people that were leaders were people who had been chosen, had been asked. And it's that quality that I believe is something that I need to convey through my role because there was a lot of trust and a sacred responsibility."

Throughout the filming, he has worked to ensure the character he plays reflects the reality of the time in which he existed.

"I wanted to show that these people were chosen and a heavy burden was placed upon them to be chiefs. And they took tremendous pride in carrying out the best way they could of leading the people," said the father of seven. "These people of that time who were chiefs were selected, whereas now they're elected. And I think there's a huge difference and understanding of this."

The miniseries is being produced by Kevin DeWalt, founder of Minds Eye Entertainment, the Regina-based company behind such successful projects as the Incredible Story Studio, Mentors, Prairie Berry Pie and, most recently, the television miniseries Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story.

Several months before the shooting began, DeWalt had a unique opportunity to learn more about the story he was about to portray when he and project's casting director went out to Carry The Kettle First Nation and spent several hours with some of the Elders of the community.

"They told us their recollection of the stories that were sort of passed downto them and that was very interesting and worthwhile," said DeWalt. "The Elders told us was that many, many more were killed than the 23 that were recorded in history," said DeWalt.

"Once the massacre started many of them were injured and then went up to the hills and dispersed from there. And according to the Elders, many more died and it was never recorded."

A couple of the Elders were also invited out to the location where the film was being shot and a feast was held. During their visit, one of the Elders gave a blessing to the production.

DeWalt said the blessing meant a lot.

"It was special not only for the First Nations cast but also for everybody involved in the show," said DeWalt. "It was a very moving feast."

DeWalt said the most challenging aspect of the project so far has been re-creation of the massacre itself "because of the scope of the actual event."

Part of the challenge was finding 80 First Nation extras for those scenes.

"They need to look and feel real in terms of the time period," said DeWalt. "In the 1870s, this was the time the Nakota had an encampment in Cypress Hill. And they had just come off of a couple of years of not being able to find buffalo and they were basically starving, so we needed to find 80 extras that would basically look and feel for the particular period and event."

The casting director visited about 17 First Nation reserves and did 26 casting calls in an attempt to find the people needed.

"We saw over 850 people and from that we picked 80 folks," DeWalt said. "I can tell you they pulled it off like you wouldn't believe. They just looked terrific."

DeWalt was pleased that about a quarter of the extras came from Carry the Kettle.

"It was great to have them involved and I know it was a special meaning for that group," he said. During the time period where the story took place, the ancestors of today's Carry the Kettle members lived in the Cypress Hills.

"I think it's important to Carry The Kettle and to us that ths was a vicious massacre and really a turning point in Canadian history," said DeWalt. "It was a helpless troop of starving First Nations people and these American wolfers just simply came in and destroyed the camp and burnt it down."

The Englishman's Boy is expected to hit the airwaves in late 2007 or early 2008.