140 years after Frog Lake Massacre, Cree community hopes to reshape tale of 1885 resistance

The 140th anniversary of the Frog Lake Massacre will be commemorated this weekend in St. Paul, Alta., and Cree storytellers will tell their community's involvement in one of the pivotal events of the Northwest Resistance. 

"It was 140 years ago on April 2, 1885, where there was an incident," said Leah Redcrow, a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation, and CEO of Acimowin Opaspiw Society, who is helping organize the weekend event. 

That incident, a violent confrontation over food rations, was led by Cree leader Wandering Spirit, originally from Saddle Lake's Snake Band. It resulted in the death of nine men — the Indian agent, priests and settlers — from the Frog Lake settlement. 

Eight First Nations people were later hanged for their involvement in the Northwest Resistance and their burial site is at what's now Fort Battleford National Historic Site. At some point, a grave marker was placed there with names inscribed, and includes Wandering Spirit.

Redcrow does not known who was involved in getting it installed. The problem, Redcrow says, is that at least one of the people commemorated on it wasn't hanged.

"What we're finding out now is a lot of the so-called historical records of what happened [are] grossly incorrect," said Redcrow. 

Parks Canada didn't respond to a request for comment before time of publishing. 

Correcting the record 

According to Redcrow, Wandering Spirit was never hanged. 

"My band, the Saddle Lake Snake Hills band, we were blamed … for the entire rebellion because of what happened at Frog Lake," said Redcrow. 

"It's been well known in our community that they didn't kill him, and that he escaped to the United States."

Redcrow said about 500 people from her band fled to the United States and set up the Rocky Boy reservation in Montana. 

"If he got hung, I wouldn't be here," said Jonathan Windy Boy, a Montana state senator from Montana, who is a descendant of Wandering Spirit. 

"Not only was Wandering Spirit one of the original members of Saddle Lake … he was one of the original members that was enrolled in Rocky Boy." 

Windy Boy said once he arrived in Montana, he changed his name to Big Wind, helping him escape extradition back to Canada. 

Changing the narrative

For Cree elder Eric Tootoosis, the anniversary is a time to celebrate survival. 

"We commemorate [the resistance] to give thanks for survival," said Eric Tootoosis from Poundmaker Cree Nation. 

"We're still here today." 

He said a lot has changed over the years, including an exoneration and apology for Chief Poundmaker, who was convicted and jailed for "treason-felony," but was not part of the resistance. 

While much of how the resistance is viewed by Canadians has changed, there's still lots of work to be done — including correcting the fact that Wandering Spirit wasn't hanged in Battleford. 

"All these people who wrote about the 1885 rebellion, all of these people that wrote about Wandering Spirit, none of those people ever came to my reserve and asked for information," said Redcrow. 

For Tootoosis, history needs to include the Indigenous perspective. 

"All along it has been one-sided," said Tootoosis, who said the writers of the time were mostly not Indigenous.

He says that kind of history can "inspire more hatred, more discrimination," toward Indigenous people.