Michel Band society looks for scattered descendants as it pushes to re-establish First Nation

The Michel Callihoo Nation Society (MCNS) is looking for descendants of the former Michel Band in Alberta as they make a push for Canada to recognize the First Nation that gave up its Indian status more than 60 years ago. 

The Michel Band's enfranchisement when members were desperate to get out from under the control of Indian agents was all part of the assimilation tactics used by the Canadian government, said Kim Beaudin, an MCNS board member.

"It was really genocide policy," said Beaudin. 

"They were starving people out, wouldn't give them the tools to work on their own land. They [would] throw them in jail if they cut down a tree to keep warm."

Until 1985 under the Indian Act, First Nations people could enfranchise, which meant they would surrender their Indian status to receive the same rights as non-Indigenous Canadians, like voting, land ownership and freedom to travel. Typically enfranchisement was a decision made as an individual. But in 1958, the entire Michel Band enfranchised as a collective — the only community in Canadian history to do so.

Through his work with the MCNS, Beaudin said he's encountered relatives he never knew existed. 

"When they [eliminated] the reserve and kicked everybody off and everybody lost their Indian treaty status, then families became divided and you didn't know who was who," he said.

Now the MCNS is working to get families on the path toward reclaiming community. Registering the band is a key step in that process, according to Brandy Callihoo, director of the MCNS. 

"When we lost the band, we really lost everything," she said.

"When you lose the land, you lose the people, you lose the language, you lose the culture."

Around 1800, a group of North West Company voyageurs from the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawà:ke, south of Montreal, settled in the Jasper, Alta., area alongside local Cree and Métis people, according to Callihoo.

Louis Kwarakwante (Callihoo) was one of the voyageurs who moved to the area; his son Michel Callihoo signed Treaty 6 in 1878. The Michel Band reserve was established just outside Edmonton in 1880. 

While the band included Cree, Haudenosaunee and some Métis, Beaudin said the customs, culture and language of the community were primarily Cree. 

The decision to enfranchise came after decades of government pressure and a strong desire to escape the oppression of the Indian Act, he said.