Nation to Nation collaboration sees Yellowstone bison come to Canada for the 1st time
CBC
A caravan of people pull up over the Montana hills as the sun is about to rise. People get out of their vehicles to see about a dozen bison crowded together in a corral.
Four men from Blackfeet Nation pull up in trailers prepared with hay, ready to transfer the bison to their new home over 700 kilometres away in Canada.
As people stood still in awe of the bison, a woman was going back and forth non-stop to make sure everything would go right once they hit the border and cheered happily as the veterinarian gave her the approval papers needed.
Last month Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, an original signatory of the Buffalo Treaty, a growing partnership of First Nations to return bison to Plains communities, gave Mosquito-Grizzly Bear's Head-Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM) in Saskatchewan 11 plains bison from the Yellowstone National Park herd.
It was the first time bison from the Yellowstone herd were going to Canada.
The night before the transfer, Fort Peck's Pte Group, a volunteer group dedicated to upholding the Buffalo Treaty, held a welcoming feast to send prayers for the travellers. As people from the two nations gathered at Wolf Point's community centre to feast on cow heart stew and fresh bannock, stories of the buffalo were shared and gifts were exchanged.
Jonny Bearcub-Stiffarm, part of the Pte Group, said people on both sides of the border worked together to agree on a process to get the animals over the border.
"Our old prophecies say that when the buffalo returns, our people will become strong once again," said Bearcub-Stiffarm.
"We felt so strongly that we needed to share our buffalo. Here in the United States, we've been doing that for several years, but two and a half years ago we were saying it would be nice to share with our relatives up north. It's critical for our health of the buffalo ... that we have genetic diversity."
Bearcub-Stiffarm said she remembers hearing stories about buffalo from her grandparents, but now today's generation will experience seeing them in their communities.
"To see that transition has really been amazing and has really been exciting because we know that that's a part of our healing," said Bearcub-Stiffarm.
"We've been through so much trauma the last couple of 100 years, that bringing back the buffalo is a way for us to take a look at that hurt right in its face and say with the help of the spirit of the buffalo, we can overcome this."
She said many people remember going up to Canada to visit relatives but over the years those visits stopped due to a variety of issues. Information wasn't shared about the animals like it was before, but a renewed relationship between First Nations brings her hope.
"This renewal of opening up those relationships gives us an opportunity to find our relatives and if we can't find them, we have that privilege within our culture to make new relatives," said Bearcub-Stiffarm.
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