“The whole portrayal of what happened during the Northwest Resistance, or rebellion, was one in which the government painted First Nations as if they were supporters of Riel and the Métis,” Stonechild said. “The whole thing was just a total fabrication. And it’s been proven to be so.”
…The Cree weren’t the aggressors that day, Waiser said. “They were attacked and so they counter-attacked.” In fact, things would have been much worse for the Canadian had Poundmaker not intervened. “He was a peacemaker,” said Tootoosis. “He was a diplomat.”
…When the Cree arrived at Battleford, however, they found the town abandoned. The locals, ginned up by press reports of angry savages bent on slaughter, had all holed up in the fort, the Indian agent alongside them.
Poundmaker’s people, hungry from the journey and a lean winter, spent the day waiting around, hoping for a meeting. Eventually, Waiser said, they helped themselves to the food and stores in the abandoned homes.
…Otter had been ordered to Battleford to secure the fort and protect the locals. He arrived to find a local populace terrified and furious at what they viewed as a siege and near sacking of their town.
…Poundmaker, who was both victorious and merciful, was put on trial in a Canadian court, convicted and sentenced, along with two other chiefs, to three years in the Stony Mountain Penitentiary. It was a brutal place. All three men would die within months of their release.
What happened? Enough for the Cree to be owed an apology and not anything that is implied in that headline…
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