The Cree leaders Piapot, Big Bear, and Little Pine met with the Blackfoot leaders and Sitting Bull of the Teton-Sioux in an attempt to reach an agreement about the buffalo hunting and to have the treaties revised. The non-native population became fearful of the forming of an Indian confederation that would wage war if the native requests were denied. Nothing was agreed upon due to the age old animosities between the tribes.
In 1879 Big Bear and Little Pine took their bands south to the buffalo ranges of the Milk and Missouri rivers, and many of the other Cree and Assiniboine bands went with them. The Cree who remained in Canada faced starvation waiting for the government to survey their lands and provide the farming equipment and supplies that had been promised. Aware that the native population were beginning to die of starvation, the government decided that those who had taken treaty should be provided rations.
Also at this time, the government appointed Edgar Dewdney as the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the North-West Territory, to introduce a farming policy for the western reserves, survey the Cree reserves, and hire twelve farming instructors to teach the natives how to farm.[1]
Dewdney Sets Control Over Treaty Natives
Dewdney implemented rations as a means of controlling the Cree, and in late 1879, he indicated that only treaty natives would be provided the rations for service to the government. Dewdney adopted a Hudson’s Bay Company incentive of recognizing only one native leader within a hundred individuals. To show his control over them, Dewdney allowed the aged, sick and orphans to receive rations without providing a service to the government in the West.
When Big Bear and Little Pine returned from an unsuccessful hunt half of their followers joined Lucky Man or Thunderchild to form new bands to obtain the rations from the government.
Dewdney was able to prevent the Cree from traveling from their reserves to others by implementing a passport system of obtaining permission from the government.
In 1883 Piapot and Big Bear were able to organize an Indian council in the Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 reserves to assist in renegotiating the treaties. Dewdney assumed that the activities of Piapot, Big Bear and Little Pine were a prelude to a Cree project for 1884. The Canadian government was concerned over the cost of the policies Dewdney wanted. The Deputy-Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Lawrence Vankoughnet, ordered a reduction in the level of assistance provided to the Cree and the number of employees working with them. This, in turn, deprived Dewdney of his internal intelligence of the Cree and their plans. By reducing the rations, Dewdney was unable to placate the Cree who co-operated.
Crees Face Starvation
The economy measures alienated the Crees, and with starvation looming over the shortage of rations, farming instructors were assaulted and storehouses were broken into. A serious incident on the Sakemay Reserve occurred, and when the NWMP came to arrest those guilty of the assault, the natives surrounded and threatened them with death if the orders were carried out. Assistant Indian Commissioner, Hayter Reed, agreed to restore assistance to the Sakemay Reserve to the 1883 levels and that the accused would not be imprisoned when the police took their prisoners.
The violent measures taken by the Cree when their rations were reduced convinced Dewdney that starving them was not the way to control them. He preferred coercion which would require the numbers of NWMP to be increased. Dewdney had seen the effects of prison sentences on the natives and he worked to ensure that arrested natives were given jail sentences to keep the Cree leaders under control. To ensure that jail sentences were given, Dewdney needed trial judges who understood the native nature.
Government Places Stronger Controls on Natives
When Dewdney had trouble in getting Big Bear and Little Pine to accept reserves away from the other Cree, he had the Canadian government implement an order-in-council to make it a criminal offence for a band to refuse a reserve the Commissioner had suggested. Despite Dewdney's interventions in preventing Big Bear from reaching Battleford, Big Bear and his band eluded the police, reached Battleford and held their Thirst Dance (also known as the Sun Dance). Efforts to break up the Thirst Dance by refusing rations resulted in an assault on a farm instructor. "When the NWMP came to arrest
the farm instructor's assailant on 17 June 1884, they were intimidated to leave without a prisoner."[2] The next day the police arrived with larger numbers unable to make an arrest for fear of provoking armed hostilities. On 20 June 1884, when the Thirst Dance had ended, the NWMP forcibly removed the suspect from the Cree camp. NWMP Superintendent, Crozier, attributed the non-violence to his disciplined men and the efforts made by Big Bear and Little Pine to discourage attacks on the police.
Sources:
[1] [2] The American Indian: past and present (1991), Roger L Nichols, p.192-205 [1-p.195], [2-p.201], 206.
Broken Treaties: United States and Canadian relations with Lakotas and Plains Cree (2009), Jill St. Germain, p. 313-314.
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