Part 6:
Notable People
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1. Duzahan Mani Win (Walks Fast Woman)
Elder Doris Pratt
Doris Pratt was born February 10, 1936 in what was then known as the
Oak River Indian Reserve now known as the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation or
as known by the Dakota people “Wipazoka Wakpa”, where she resided and
continues to work in the education field as the Elder advisor for the
Sioux Valley Schools until her passing in 2001.
Elder Pratt’s grandfather, One-Face (Ite Wanzida), was known as one of
the first Dakota men who returned with his family, along with other
families, to the North Country. Her parents were Bessie and Demas
Dowan, whom she proudly acknowledges provided the spiritualty, language
and cultural foundation that have been the guiding principles in all
that she has achieved in her lifetime.
Doris was is the youngest of nine children; at the age of 6 years
she attended Anglican Day School on the Oak River Reserve. The
following year they were moved to the Residential School in Elkhorn
Manitoba, she remained there until being moved to Portage la Prairie
Indian Residential School. Although her mother truly believed that
Doris should receive a formal education, at the age of 16 her mother
refused to send her back to Residential School. Elder Pratt
returned to live in her community, where as she stated, she “received
the best kind of education.” She was taught to work hard by making a
living and surviving off the land, helping her father with chores,
trapping, and working in the agricultural fields that surrounded their
community. She was a horse-woman, known for her excellent riding
skills. Elder Pratt treasures these memories, she believes the
teachings she received from her parents, extended family and community
molded her to becoming the strong Dakota woman she is.
In the early 1970’s, through the encouragement of the Kindergarten
teacher at the Sioux Valley School, she applied to the Indian Metis
Project and Careers Teacher Education (IMPACTE) Program at Brandon
University. She acknowledges the many people, such as the
Kindergarten Teacher, who believed in her, providing encouragement,
inspiration and support to achieve great things in her lifetime. She
practices this same model and has encouraged many young First Nation
people to pursue their dreams, many who have become Teachers like
her. She coordinated the BUNTEP Program in Winnipeg and started
the same Program in her own community in the early 2000’s.
Her post-secondary education includes a Bachelor of Teaching Degree,
Bachelor of Education (5-year) and Masters of Education Degree all from
Brandon University. Doris also spent five summers at the American
Language Institute Development Program at the University of Arizona and
achieved an Education, Culture & Language Specialist Degree in
December 2004. She considered her formal education challenging, and
promotes the philosophy that First Nations people can achieve their
goals through hard work, and that education is the key for success and
the advancement of First Nations.
Pratt devoted nearly 50 years to preserving the Dakota language
and dialects specific to Manitoba and Canada.
Doris told CNC News in 2018 that her work to preserve the language
formally started in 1972.
She said she felt she needed to do something to preserve the language,
which was her first language, after becoming frustrated with a lack of
resources.
"I felt nothing was done for Dakota language that I knew of in Canada,"
Pratt said
Informally, however, her work to save the language became while she was
attending residential school in Elkhorn, Man., when she said she would
have to translate English instructions into Dakota for students who
couldn't speak English.
She would continue her work in university, while attaining a teaching
degree and a master's in education. She was the recipient of a
lifetime achievement award from YWCA Brandon for her work.
Pratt also studied at the University of Arizona, home to the American
Indian Language Development Institute.
"I loved it," she said of her time there. "It was hot as blazes, but I
didn't care."
Pratt wrote her first dictionary on the Dakota language in Canada in
1982 and wrote several more books and glossaries over the years. She
was also an elder advisor for the school in Sioux Valley, which is
located about 40 kilometres west of Brandon, Man.
he also spent years translating documents, such as census forms and
documents from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, from English
into Dakota for the federal government.
However, one of her dreams was to see an institute like the American
Indian Language Development Institute created in Canada to preserve
Indigenous languages from across the country in one place.
"That's somebody else's bag of tricks now," Pratt said during the
November interview.
While she said at the time her work was largely done, she boasted about
still getting calls daily from people needing help translating words
into Dakota from English.
She said while residential schools may have suppressed traditional
languages, and in some cases driven them to extinction, there is time
to save those that are still being spoken, and hoped people in her
community stepped up after she died to keep them alive.
Puppet gives Manitoba First Nation kids a hand at learning Dakota
language.
"There's nothing stopping you from taking it back," Pratt said. "Learn
the language. It empowers people when they have their own.
"Your language, take it back."
She said while residential schools may have suppressed traditional
languages, and in some cases driven them to extinction, there is time
to save those that are still being spoken, and hoped people in her
community stepped up after she died to keep them alive.
Puppet gives Manitoba First Nation kids a hand at learning Dakota
language
"There's nothing stopping you from taking it back," Pratt said. "Learn
the language. It empowers people when they have their own.
"Your language, take it back."
Elder Pratt has been involved with AMC since its inception –
• she participated at the Manitoba
First Nation Education Directors Meetings;
• then at the FAI Council of
Elders Table; and
• since 2006, at the AMC and TRCM
Council of Elders
Elder Pratt has received several awards recognizing her achievements
including:
• Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee
Medal – Knowledge Keepers
• Ka Ni Kanichihk – Keeping the
Fires Burning – Grandmothers Award
• Aboriginal Circle of Educators –
Trailblazers Award
• Manitoba First Nations Education
Centre – Dakota Language Recognition
• Women of Distinction Award –
Lifetime Achievement
• Nominated for Aboriginal
Achievement award in Education
Elder Pratt has dedicated her life to education and more importantly to
ensuring the Dakota language was preserved and promoted in the Dakota
communities she worked in as a teacher, principal, director of
education, and as a professor at the university level.
The Writings of Doris Pratt
Elder Pratt was the author of several books, including:
The Dakota Oyate (March 2016)
Echoes of Our Dakota Ancestors
"Echoes of Our Dakota Ancestors includes chapters based on the months
of the year, with each section featuring stories, poems, and other
resources in the Dakota Language. Doris Pratt, a long time Dakota
language teacher and material developer shares this illustrated Dakota
collection to help students learn and practice the language."--
Keeping
Baby Close: Making of a Moss Bag
The moss bags of the Plains Indians kept babies safe, content, and part
of daily life. This two-part book first explores the features and
purpose of moss bags, along with softly coloured illustrations. The
second part includes step-by-step directions for making a moss bag,
accompanied by explanatory photos. Discover more about moss bags, the
ingenious creation of early mothers and grandmothers living close to
Mother Earth.
At the time of her passing she was nominated for the Lieutenant
Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation and Promotion.
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Sitting Eagle was the Grandson of H'damani, the Chief who had led the
small band of Dakota Santee into the Turtle Mountain region in 1862. He
remained on IR#60 after the government bought out the rest of his band
and re-settled them at the Oak Lake Reserve. He lived by trapping and
selling handicrafts and by all accounts was well respected in that
region.
While many accounts from the Melita / Sourisford area see him as a
Pipestone Chief, those from the Deloraine area emphasize his roots on
Turtle Mountain.
Gordon Elliott, who knew him well, and in fact taught him to read using
an old “Sweat Pea” Reader, recalled that he was with the Pipestone
Band.
The Sitting Eagle spent considerable time in the Sourisford area where
he also maintained a small lean-to dwelling. He was a regular visitor,
a familiar and welcome figure to many farm families in the region.
His story begins in the 1890’s when the government set out to close
IR#60 in the Turtle Mountains. He and his Grandfather H'damani were
among the few who declined a $200 government pay-off to relocate to a
reserve near Pipestone. By 1909, only H’damani, his grandson Chaske
(later known as Sitting Eagle) and a few others remained.
Many residents of the Deloraine and Melita areas recall his habit of
dropping in at mealtimes, sharing stories, making the children bows and
arrows. He would exchange meat and fish for whatever the homemaker had
on hand, and accept a spot in the hay- loft for the night. He could be
spotted at the train station shipping furs. He attended fairs and
celebrations, in full traditional attire, and sold his hand- crafted
baskets and other items.
At some point he did relocate to the Canupawakpa reserve, but during
the final decades of his life he seems to have mainly lived in a small
log cabin on IR#60 trapping, hunting and travelling the area. Joseph
Sandy, a grandson of Sitting Eagle’s brother, remembers him journeying
from Canupawakpa to Turtle Mountain.
Sitting Eagle died alone in his log shack in April of 1944 and is
buried in an unmarked grave in the Deloraine Cemetery.
Remembering Sitting Eagle
Perhaps the way to get the most accurate portrayal of Sitting Eagle is
through the memories recorded in a series of interviews and writings
involving some of the many people who knew him. Although their memories
provide some conflicting information, a picture of the man does emerge.
Lois Teetaert, reminiscences from 1930-40’s
“In fact he used to come over to our place, oh for about May-June on
and stay there overnight, but he’d never stay in the house. He’d sleep
in the loft where the hay was. I remember him when we used to come to
Deloraine Fair. He used to help park cars sometimes.
“He’d always pat you on the shoulder or something like that. No, I was
never scared of him.”
Hattie VanMackelberg
“One night he brought me a chicken and asked me if I would cook it for
him.
“He said the Indians believed that for every new baby that’s born, that
is the spirit of a person who has died. The spirit comes back in the
form of a new baby.”
Sitting
Eagle in Melita ca. 1935
“Sitting
Eagle’ is a title, like Pastor, or Doctor. But, here lies the
puzzle. He covered a lot of territory as he moved between Turtle
Mountain and Pipestone – Canupawakpa Reserves. Always alone - on foot.
Carrying his needs for the day. He makes miniature bows and arrows for
the children.
He surprised some by spoking of world affairs, mentioning the treaty
signed to end WW1, and his fascination with the League of Nations.
He was a totally unexpected person.
Adapted from a story written for Vantage Points 4 and from a Radio
Broadcast by David Neufeld.
(1920-2005)
Eva McKay a Traditional Elder, Sweat-Lodge holder and Healer from Sioux
Valley Dakota Nation spent her life serving her people and her
community.
Born in 1920, Eva grew up two miles south of Portage la Prairie. In
1934 she moved to Sioux Valley First Nation. There, she was the first
woman elected to the Band Council, where she served four terms.
Among her life’s accomplishments is the establishment of the Brandon
Friendship Centre in 1964 and the Manitoba Indian Women’s Association
in 1969. She, among others, brought education under local control with
the completion of the Tatiyopa Maze School at Sioux Valley in 1979. She
served on the National Parole Board in 1996, and was actively involved
with the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women.
Eva McKay was a cultural worker for 10 years with the Dakota Ojibway
Tribal Council. Also active with the Dakota Ojibway Child and Family
Services agency, she served as a foster parent for teenagers for many
years—this alongside raising 12 children of her own. A respected elder,
Eva was on the Self-Government Advisory Committee for Sioux Valley. For
30 years she was a member of the Advisory Elders Panel at the Brandon
University. Eva McKay died in 2005.
Eva McKay was one of the co-founders of the Brandon
Friendship Centre,
established in 1964. She also helped establish the Manitoba Indian
Women's Association in 1969.
The efforts of Eva and her colleagues for local control of education in
Sioux Valley resulted in the 1979 completion of the Tatiyopa Maze
School. Eva was very active locally and in 1973 she organized a women's
group called Ladies Owoju Club. Their objective was to have an Elders
complex built. The Dakota Lodge was completed in 1983.
She was a foster parent for teenagers for many years. The YMCA of
Brandon presented Eva with the Woman of Distinction Award in 1988. She
also received the Canada 125th Commemorative Award for public service
in 1993.
Eva served on the National Parole Board in 1996. She was actively
involved with the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women. She is on
the Self-Government Advisory Committee for Sioux Valley. Eva has been a
member of the Advisory Elders Panel at Brandon University for over 30
years.
Eva was an elder adviser at the beginning of the Aboriginal Justice
Inquiry process of 1991.
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4. Tatanka Yotanka (Sitting Bull)
& Canada
This Monument to Sitting Bull placed on the Standing Rock Indian
Reservation near Mobridge, South Dakota, in 1953 is a tribute to a
complicated and accomplished Dakota leader, with a strong connection to
Canada and links to Dakota people in Manitoba.
The sculpture by Korczak Ziolkowski was created in 1953, long
after the events for which we remember him.
Sitting Bull was born in 1831 near Grand River, Dakota Territory in
what is today South Dakota. He was the son of Returns-Again, a renowned
Sioux warrior who named his son “Jumping Badger” at birth. The young
boy killed his first buffalo at age 10 and by 14, joined his father and
uncle on a raid of a Crow camp. After the raid, his father renamed him
Tatanka Yotanka, or Sitting Bull, for his bravery.
Sitting Bull soon joined the Strong Heart warrior society and the
Silent Eaters, a group that ensured the welfare of the tribe. He led
the expansion of Sioux hunting grounds into westward territories
previously inhabited by the Assiniboine, Crow and Shoshone, among
others.
Sitting Bull first battled the U.S. Army in June of 1863, when they
came after the Santee Sioux (not the Dakota) in retaliation for the
Minnesota Uprising,
He faced the U.S. military again at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain on
July 28, 1864, when U.S. forces under General Alfred Sully surrounded
an Indian trading village, eventually forcing the Sioux to retreat.
Around 1869, he was made supreme leader of the autonomous bands of
Lakota Sioux—the first person to ever hold such a title.
In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, a place sacred to the
Sioux and within the boundaries of the Great Sioux Reservation. The
U.S. government reneged on a treaty, moved the reservation to a spot
240 miles distant, and insisted that those who dared resist move
to the redrawn reservation lines by January 31, 1876 or be considered
an enemy of the United States. Sitting Bull was expected to move
everyone in his village an impossible 240 miles in the bitter
cold.
Defiant, Sitting Bull refused to back down. He mustered a force that
included the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux and faced off against General
George Crook on June 17, 1876, winning victory in the Battle of the
Rosebud. From there, his forces moved to the valley of the Little
Bighorn River.
But that victory was short-lived and facing a choice between inevitable
extermination, and being allocated a Reserve by a Government they had
to reason to trust, Sitting Bull and many of his followers opted to
take refuge in Canada.
The move to Canada, coming as it did alongside the dramatic destruction
of the bison herds, caused controversy and hardship. Perhaps inevitably
the people opted to return and take their chances on a US Reseve.
Sitting
Bull, famously toured the World with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
Show before returning to his Pine Ridge Reservation where before long
he again became involved in controversy,
He had been making some trouble, related to his association with the
Ghost Dance Movement which authorities found threatening, and the army
finally decided to place him under arrest.
Early
in the morning of December 15, 1890, the Sioux police entered
Sitting Bull’s log cabin and dragged the old chief from his bed.
“Catch the Bear,” leader of Sitting Bull’s bodyguard reacted and before
the dust had settled, Sittine Bull and twelve were dead and three were
wounded.
Sources:
RCMP Quarterly Vol. 42, No.
3 Summer 1977 p. 41 - 45
When Sitting Bull Left Canada
By Dr. George Shepherd
OM: That’s the famous statement that Sitting Bull made, I think
he made it before the battle. “Let us put our minds together and
see what life we can make for our children.” From when he made
that statement, seven generations later, a renewed way of thinking, a
new way of life is supposed to happen from when he made that
statement 7th generation see what happens from
there. That’s what there going to use as a model. I think
people are saying, how true it is I don’t know, but we are in the 7th
generation. The 7th generation is coming up. What kind of
life are we going to make for our children? So when he made that
statement and all the things that happened in between that until today
should give us a good idea of what we make for our children and peace
isn’t one of them. There is no peace yet as long as the Indian is
still on the reservation. There is no peace because that is a
prisoner of war camp,
LD: It’s a..?
OM: Prisoner of war camp, that’s what it is, basically . It’s a
pogrom what pogrom really means: they select a place where they want to
put certain people and they are going to keep them there until they
die.
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5.
WAKANHDI OHITIKA WICASTA Chief Franklin Brown
Excerpts
from on an Interview.
Franklin Brown was born in 1953 in Sioux Valley. It wasn’t called
Sioux Valley then, it was Oak River Reserve.
For the original people of America, the United States and Canada do not
exist under the Creator’s instruction or creation. Our issue
today is that the Buffalo Nation People, the Dakota, never surrendered
their land over to anyone.
There were negotiations or talks that were held with not just the
Dakota but the Cree and Ojibwa. They did not understand what the
Europeans were saying and that’s the problem today. They never
had an understanding of what they were signing.
The Dakota never surrendered their rights and title. Under
their constitution, and by their natural law they could not sell or
surrender their land because God had created it.
The Cree and Ojibwa have a different territory. The language
identifies the nation’s territory. How can you say your land is
my land? We need to understand specifically where your territory
lies and my territory lies. I know where my territory lies.
But I’m not going to tell you to get off my land. You should know
better than that. You should ask my permission, and I will give
it to you.
In times before the European, there were no boundary lines but we knew
how far you can go.
Language identifies the nation
In 1998-99 I was the chief administrator for Canupawkpa. All the
Manitoba chiefs went to meet the Minister of Indian Affairs, Robert
Nault in Winnipeg
Each chief had an opportunity to talk. When it was my turn to
speak, I said that I didn’t want to talk about what everybody was
talking about
I said, “What I want is for you to compensate back what you took away
from us. You guys give my people 2000 head of buffalo and 50
sections of land. We’ll go from there, sustain ourselves and look
after ourselves.
Minister Nault was shocked at how I introduced myself. “I’ll tell
you what,” he said, “I’ll give you that IR60.”
“No, I don’t want it,” I said. “You should go see that
land. We can’t survive on it.”
I turned down IR60
”OK. Maybe we need to sit down and discuss this further.
We’ll see what we can do.” We were both serious because something had
to be done.
But then, two months later, I lost my election.
Even when I lost my election, the minister still agreed to see me
again. He said, “You know I would like to work with you.
You need to go back and claim that seat again and come
back. We will work on something.”
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One of
the more interesting aspects of the relationships between the
first Eurosettlers, and the Dakota people who lived here, is the
difference a border could make.
In pre- Euro-Settlement days, the border was theoretical at best, and
ignored in practice.
That worked for a long time, until the advent of European settlement
and the conflict that was destined to ensue. South of the border that
conflict escalated into warfare and Canada often became a haven for
Dakota people fleeing from the
U.S. Army.
Somehow tribes and individuals, who south of the border had the
reputation of being fierce warriors, were on this side of the border,
peaceful citizens.
If ever a native warrior came to our region with a bad reputation,
though, that would be the Inkpaduta. He was a Chief of the Wahpekuta, a
band of Santee Dakota.
To
settlers south of our border he was notorious for being the leader
of the bloody Spirit Lake Massacre in Iowa in 1857, and a participant
in the Dakota War in Minnesota in 1862. He became known as the “scourge
of the Plains.” For a time the popular press blamed him for every
altercation involving the Dakota. Even some of his own people turned
away from him for fear of European retributions on their villages
when he was in the vicinity. His image as an elusive outlaw was
bolstered by the fact he was never captured and never surrendered.
Recently, however, historical reinterpretation places more emphasis on
his uncompromising resistance to the European takeover of Indian lands.
And more stress is placed on his long record of peaceful co-existence
with settlers until provocations and hardships caused him to rebel.
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An
artist’s conception
It is true that in 1857 he lead about a dozen or so warriors in attacks
on settlers in the aforementioned Spirit Lake Massacre, actually a
series of attacks, in which about 40 deaths were recorded and four
women were taken hostage. It is likely also true that these raids were
in retaliation for the murders of members of his family and the ongoing
encroachment of settlers on Sioux hunting grounds.
Inkpaduta was in Minnesota during the Dakota Uprising, and although he
didn’t play a large role in that conflict, he was pursued aggressively
by General Scully in the aftermath. After suffering two losses in
battle he crossed into Canada where he spent time on Turtle Mountain
before heading to the Montana Territory where he participated in the
ongoing struggle between the Dakota and the U.S. Army.
He is credited by some with being an ally of Sitting Bull and Crazy
Horse, and with being part of the large coalition of forces that dealt
General Custer a devastating defeat in 1876. These reports are likely
exaggerated, as he was by that time an old man and quite blind. His
sons and followers, however, did participate in that battle. Inkpaduta
returned with some followers soon afterwards to the safety of the north
side of Turtle Mountain. A newspaper report has him crossing into
Canada with Sitting Bull. He and members of his family lived out the
rest of their life in Canada.
We may never be sure which way to see Inkpaduta, but we can be fairly
certain that while in Canada, he lived a peaceful life.
Both the Morton and Turtle Mountain local histories note his presence
in the region. Other reports have him as part of a group of Wahpekuta
Sioux who settled on the Canupawakpa Reserve near Pipestone. Most
sources say he died in 1879 or 1881. U.S. sources cite, “the Brandon
area” as his place of death. In 1934, two of his sons, Little Spirit
(Wanagi Ciquana) and Charley Maku, and also a daughter, were living in
the Pipestone region.
All reports from the north side of the border agree that there was no
trouble, from Inkpaduta or his followers.
Sources
Reflections - Turtle Mountain Municipality and Killarney, 1882- 1982.
Inter-collegiate Press of Canada, 1982
Deloraine History Book Committee. Deloraine Scans a Century 1880 -
1980: Altona. Friesen Printers, 1980
Diedrich, Mark. Famous Chiefs of the Eastern Sioux. Coyote Books 1987
“Indian Battles in North Dakota.” 2015. <http://
indianbattles.weebly.com>
Larson, Peggy Rodina. A New Look at the Elusive Inkpa- duata. Minnesota
History Magazine, Spring 1982
Manitoba Free Press. The Sioux Indians. 21 July, 1877. pp6
Photos: Sacco, Cristiano. “Inkpaduta.” 2014. Farwest Italy.
<http://www.farwest.it/?p=72
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