Ahtahkakoop: inspired leadership for difficult times

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It was a clear night on the great prairies of what is now western Canada when, in 1816, a young boy was born to a family of Plains Cree, or Nehiyawak.

The sky above was thick with stars, and so the boy was given the name Star Blanket. In Cree, he was called Ahtahkakoop.

As Ahtahkakoop grew from boy to man, he learned the traditions of his people, the way things had always been done. He learned to hunt and the ways of battle. He learned the stories and the ceremonies. And he learned respect for the Creator and for all living things.

His physical presence?he stood over six feet tall-combined with his calm nature, his intelligence, his knowledge of the spiritual beliefs and traditions of his people, and his skills in battle made him a natural leader. He was chosen to become a Worthy Young Man, a designation given to those who had demonstrated skill and bravery during battle, and soon after was asked to join the Warrior society, whose members were second in rank only to the chief.

While his prowess on the hunt and on the battlefield were recognized by his people, Ahtahkakoop was also recognized for his connections to the spiritual world, and his success in battle was credited in part to his powerful spirit helpers. He was instructed in healing and learned the sacred ceremonies of his people, and eventually became a respected medicine man.

It wasn't long before Ahtahkakoop was chosen as chief, taking on the leadership role at a time when his people were facing great upheaval.

Even before Ahtahkakoop became chief, changes were coming to the west. The buffalo, on which Indian people across the prairie relied so heavily for their existence, were becoming fewer and fewer, and were moving out of the traditional hunting areas. Ahtahkakoop had heard stories about the way the white people lived in cities and farms across the United States and in the east. He saw the gardens tended at Fort Carleton and the food these gardens provided. And he met traders and others coming to settle the west that could read and write, and he wanted his children and grandchildren to learn these skills to help ensure their future.

It wasn't long before the changes Ahtahkakoop foresaw began to take shape. In the 1860s and 70s, white settlements began to spring up around the area, and groups of Metis also began to settle in the area, chasing the buffalo as they headed west. And in 1867, the traditional territory of Ahtahkakoop and his people was among the land sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada, and the leaders of the Plains Cree began to talk about the need for a treaty to protect their rights within this new country.

By 1872, Ahtahkakoop and some of his band members had taken the first step toward adopting a new way of life by building cabins near Fir Lake-a change from the more nomadic life they lived that allowed them to follow the buffalo. They also made their first attempts at gardening.

The next big change would happen a few years later when, in 1874, a young Anglican missionary from England named John Hines would arrive to set up a mission and a model farm.

Ahtahkakoop, seeing the missionary's arrival as a chance to finally have someone who could teach the children of his community, invited him to settle at Sandy Lake, a traditional camping ground of his people where the band members quickly settled.

Ahtahkakoop was convinced the best way to ensure the survival of future generations of his people was to adopt the white ways, including the white man's religion. While it wasn't easy for Ahtahkakoop and his people to turn their backs on the spiritual beliefs that had been such a big part of their lives, Ahtahkakoop looked on this new religion as just another way of having a relationship with the Creator. Band members began attending church, and soon the children began their education at the mission school. Some students went on to study at Emmanuel College, which was established in Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) in 1879 to povide training for Indian students wanting to become teachers or ministers.

On Aug. 23, 1876, Ahtahkakoop and the other leaders finally got the treaty they had been seeking to protect the rights of their people.

Ahtahkakoop joined a dozen other chiefs and 44 head men in signing Treaty 6. Ahtahkakoop chose the land around Sandy Lake as his band's reserve, and continued the transition to a new way of life for his people.

From the beginning, things did not go well for the fledgling farmers. The first growing season was hit by an early frost. Crops in subsequent years didn't fair much better, affected by the elements and by delays in receiving seeds and equipment from the government.

The dismal farming situation was matched by a lack of game in the area, making the winters difficult. Constant hunger combined with the cold weather resulted in much sickness among the people, and each year in Ahtahkakoop's band, the number of people dying was greater than the number being born, sometimes by threefold. Many of those dying were the very children who's lives Ahtahkakoop was working to improve.

All the problems they were facing made many leaders begin to lose faith in the treaties they had signed, but it was not only within the Indian communities that unrest was beginning to build. The Metis, under the leadership of Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont, were also losing patience with the government, and were trying to rally support among the Indians. But Ahtahkakoop would have no part in it. When, in 1885, the North West Rebellion began, Ahtahkakoop chose to stay neutral, and loyal to the treaty he had signed. And when it looked as if Riel and his forces were coming towards their reserve, Ahtahkakoop and his people left the community rather than get involved in the uprising.

Because of his loyalty, Ahtahkakoop and others who had remained neutral continued to receive the same treatment from the government they had received before the rebellion had taken place. Those who had sied against the government had their treaty payments suspended and their access to food, guns, horses and off-reserve travel restricted.

Some of the new policies affected Ahtahkakoop and his people as well, including restrictions on the sale of produce grown by Indians, and on selling, trading or slaughtering livestock without approval of the Indian agent. But even with these new restrictions, the band managed to produce sizeable crops when the weather co-operated. And while the efforts to become self-sufficient farmers slowly met with success, progress was also evident in the area closest to Ahtahkakoop's heart-the education of the children.

The mission school on reserve continued to do well. In the winter of 1883, some students also traveled to the new Battleford industrial school.

Despite all the hurdles thrown at them by the government and by nature, by the mid-1890s, Ahtahkakoop and his people were beginning to see their efforts finally bear fruit. The band was the largest in the area and was attracting new members. The people were finally able to support themselves through farming, supplemented by hunting and trapping and obtaining some work off reserve.

On Dec. 4, 1896, while walking with his grandson on the way to a feast, Ahtahkakoop collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack. But his dream for his children and grandchildren-that they obtain the education they needed to succeed in a new world-continued to live on after he was gone. In 1995, almost a century after his death, Ahtahkakoop's name was given to a new high school, the first ever on the Ahtahkakoop reserve. A mural painted on a wall of the school pays tribute to the wise chief who made hard choices for his people, always with an eye to the future. The mural features the image of a man on horseback, hunting a buffalo. Above the painting is a quote from Ahtahkakoop that captures his motivation for making the decisions he made as leader of his people.

"Let us not think of ourselves but of or children's children."