Keepers of our language run

Some of our local youth Blackfeet runners will be running relay-style from the Siksika Nation to Piikani, where we will run the Buffalo staff into the 60th Annual Piikani Powwow, Saturday the 5th at 2:00pm.

The 1st Keepers of our language run was started 4 years ago in 2014, by William and Owna Big Bull, with help from each Blackfoot Nation, running from Piikani, Alberta, to Browning Montana, USA.

In 2015 running from Browning Montana, USA, to Standoff, AB.

2016 running from Standoff, AB, to Siksika, AB, and now making a full circle back to Piikani in 2017. They are running today (Thursday) August 3, 2017, and would love if people would join.

August 2nd, 2017, about 15 runners came into the small village of Carmangay Alberta. It was their first time stopping in Carmangay, they were welcomed by the mayor of the village as they ran into the campgrounds Wednesday evening. Exhausted, they set their tents up, made themselves some good food, relaxed and got some well-deserved sleep.

The Keepers of our language run is to raise awareness of the Blackfoot language and culture. Starting in Standoff on the Blood reserve, with runners and in vehicles headed towards Fort MacLeod. They camped overnight in Carmangay Alberta on August 2nd. They will end their run in Blackfoot crossing historical park on the Siksika Nation.

They want to raise awareness of losing their language, culture and traditions.

Sassy girl freelance writing staff went to the campgrounds the morning of August 3rd before 9 am to wish the runners well and see them off. They opened their arms to our staff offering us food and drink, some supplied by the kind people of Carmangay Alberta.

It's important to continue raising awareness of the traditions, culture and language of the nations. They have a deep history in Alberta and all over Canada. It's so important to keep the traditions and language alive, it's the basis of their existence. They promote language and culture in their schools to keep their culture alive. They would love to see the Blackfoot language and culture offered in all Alberta schools.

The youngest member running is an adorable and friendly four-year-old girl they call "Fefe". She is so enthusiastic and eager to be part of this run! She had on her shirt that hung well below her knees, a feather in her hair and smiled as she was one of the many children leading the run.

She was such a lovely spirit to meet and have the chance to get to know; as were every single one of the members of the runners. They aren't people you quickly forget or get the chance to meet every day. The Sassy Girl Freelance staff were more than honoured to meet them.

BLACKFOOT PEOPLE:

The Blackfoot Confederacy sometimes referred to as the Blackfoot Nation or Siksikaitsitapi, is comprised of three Indigenous nations, the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika. People of the Blackfoot Nation refer to themselves as Niitsitapi, meaning “the real people,” a generic term for all Indigenous people, or Siksikaitsitapi, meaning “Blackfoot-speaking real people.”

The traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy has been described as roughly the southern half of Alberta and Saskatchewan and the northern portion of Montana. In the west, the confederacy was bounded by the Rocky Mountains and its eastern limits stretched past the Great Sand Hills of eastern Saskatchewan. Their hunting area included the rich buffalo ranges of southern Alberta and northern Montana.

TRADITIONAL LIFE:

Traditional Blackfoot culture is based on the buffalo hunt, intrinsically linking them to the Plains. They lived freely on the land, following buffalo across the plains to hunting grounds where they would utilize buffalo jumps and runs. Because of their portability, Blackfoot people lived in camps sheltering in tipis. They also hunted other large game such as deer, supplementing their diet with nuts, fruits and vegetables. The buffalo remained the most important element of their economy, diet and way of life.

The Blackfoot were also known for being fierce warriors with a powerful alliance system that included not only the nations of the confederacy but other Athabaskan nations, such as the Tsuut’ina. Warriors were revered among the people and belonged to sacred societies that honoured and tested their courage and skill. Despite significant population loss as a result of warfare, the Blackfoot Confederacy remained one of the most powerful Indigenous groups on the Northern Plains, temporarily impeding the westward expansion of European settlers.

Society, Culture and Religion

During the summer, groups would converge to hunt buffalo, and celebrate with elaborate feasts and dances. The Sun Dance, a communal celebration held annually in mid-summer, was the central aspect of Blackfoot cultural life. European settlers and missionaries opposed the Blackfoot’s complex and well-established traditions. Assimilatory laws and policies were implemented in order to eradicate the expression of traditional culture (see Indian Act; residential schools). However, Blackfoot oral histories passed cultural traditions on to future generations, including participating in sweat lodges and sacred societies (such as the Horn Society), using medicine bundles, and other means of purifying the body and soul.

Although creation stories differ across the Blackfoot nations, they generally believe that the Creator (also known as Old Man or N’api) was believed to be light personified, and was therefore also considered to be the beginning of the day, the beginning of life. As in other Indigenous religions, the Creator is non-human and non-gendered. Old Man created and is eternally part of all the living people, creature and life forms on the earth.

Language

The Blackfoot language is part of the Algonquian linguistic group. It is spoken by the three nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy with only slight variations in dialect.

John William Tims, an Anglican missionary, created the Blackfoot syllabary (writing system) while he lived among the Blackfoot from 1883 to 1895. Today, the syllabary is rarely used. In 1975, the Blackfoot writing system officially changed to better reflect the sounds and words of the language. The orthography (spelling system) typically uses the following:

Alphabet Sequences

12 English letters: a, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, s, t, w, y

Glottal Stop (the sound of making a consonant by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract)

Represented by a single quotation mark (’)

Vowels

English letters: a, i, o

Semi-vowels

English letters w and y, which occur between vowels

There are a few linguistic differences among the Blackfoot dialects. Lexical differences (i.e., uses of different words for the same reference, or different meanings assigned to the same word) involve words that are not part of Indigenous culture. For example, the word for “ice cream” in Kainai is sstónniki (literally “cold milk”) and áísstoyi in Siksika (literally “that which is cold”). Dialectal grammars also have different gender divisions (i.e., masculine/feminine/neutral and animate/inanimate). For example, the word for an ashtray in Kainai — iitáísapahtsimao'p — is of animate gender; in Piikani, the same word is of inanimate gender. The phonology (systems of sounds) also differs between tribes, but generally speaking, Siksika, Kainai and Piikani peoples can understand one another.

Residential schools and other cultural assimilation policies eroded traditional language usage and cultural practices. In 2011, Statistics Canada enumerated approximately 3,250 Blackfoot speakers (including people from all Blackfoot nations) and, though the language is in danger, several language programs exist to promote its resurgence. Indeed, the Alberta Ministry of Education, through consultation with Blackfoot elders and educators, provides full curriculum support for Blackfoot language education from kindergarten to grade 12, for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

Colonial History

The influence of Europeans in North America preceded contact with the Blackfoot Confederacy. Though the first European traders did not encounter Blackfoot peoples until the mid-18th century, horses — brought to North America by the Spanish — probably reached them via trade from the west between 1725 and 1731. Around the same time, they received firearms from neighbouring Cree and Assiniboinetraders. Throughout most of the 18th and 19th centuries, the equestrian Blackfoot dominated their hunting area and were almost constantly at war with the Cree, Assiniboine, Crow, Nez Percé, Shoshone and other nations. They frequented the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company posts on the North Saskatchewan River but fought with US trappers and free traders in the south until 1870 when American troops massacred about 173 Piikani people at Fort Ellis in present-day Montana, according to a US Military officer. Piikani witnesses claimed the dead numbered about 220 people.

The confederacy’s population varied over this period, with estimates ranging from as high as 20,000 in 1833 and as low as 6,350 after the 1837 smallpox epidemic. From the late 18th to mid-19th century, both the Tsuut’ina and the Gros Ventre people, though culturally and linguistically distinct from the other Blackfoot nations, were allies of the confederacy for political reasons.

Facing the reality of dwindling buffalo herds and increased European settlement — both encouraged by opportunistic settler governments — the Blackfoot were faced with minimal options, and sought cultural and political protection in their homelands.

Treaty-Making and Its Impact

The Blackfoot signed a treaty with the American government in 1855, and in 1877 signed Treaty 7 with the Canadian government. Most of the Piikani settled on a reserve in Montana — in 2010, the Indigenous population of this reserve was more than 9,000 — while the Siksika, Kainai and North Piikani nations each established reserves in southern Alberta.

By the end of the 1800s, the buffalo were disappearing on the plains. In addition, the reserves effectively put an end to traditional ways of life, including the buffalo hunt. The confederacy struggled to survive on reserves without the ability to hunt buffalo. Historians commonly refer to the winter of 1883–84 as the “starvation winter” because of the widespread hunger that plagued the confederacy that season.

Contemporary Life

The Blackfoot nations have been able to retain much of their traditional culture in the face of adversity. Today, the Blackfoot nations are vibrant communities that emphasize traditional culture in education, wellness and healing programs, and in other aspects of daily life. Many Blackfoot people rely upon ranching and farming, but also operate Indigenous-owned businesses in areas like tourism, and resource extraction and management.

Politically, the Blackfoot nations are represented through elected chiefs and councils, as well as through the Treaty 7 Management Corporation, which provides advocacy and advisory services. The Blackfoot Confederacy itself is the source of some political momentum, with yearly conferences held among member nations that aim to facilitate greater collective organization and influence. Member nations have also independently negotiated and achieved victories with provincial and federal governments with respect to self-governance, self-determination and land claims, among other issues.

In 2014, the confederacy joined other First Nations in signing the Iinii Treaty or Buffalo Treaty, including the Blackfeet Nation (American band), Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of Fort Belknap Reservation, Assiniboine and Oyate (Sioux/Dakota) Tribes of Fort Peck Reservation, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the Tsuut'ina Nation. In 2015, the Stoney Nakoda Nation and the Samson Cree Nation also signed this “open treaty,” which is open to other First Nations from Canada and the US. Among other issues, the signatories agreed to unite the political power of Northern Plains Indigenous nations, work towards bison conservation and strengthen traditional relationships to the land.

Here are some more amazing photos I was able to take today August 3rd, 2017 at the Carmangay Alberta campgrounds of the Keepers of our language run. If ever you get the chance to meet these wonderful, spirited people, I can't recommend higher that you take time to get to know them. With such a rich culture and deep history, you can learn so much from them. I know I intend to!

Thank you runners, hope to see you again soon! Best of luck on your run.

Sassy Girl Freelancing ~

As an interesting side note, there was a hawk flying above the campgrounds as the Keepers of our language were leaving town, as if the hawk was also seeing them off...