The Michel Band is an
Indigenous nation of
central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
which the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
recognized as a nation and treaty partner from 1878 to 1958. The descendents of that historic band, now organized as an association called the Michel First Nation, are engaged in legal and political action to regain recognition.
The Michel Band was also referred to as the Michel Caillehoo, Michel Caillehouis, Michel Caillehow, Michel Calihoo, Michel Calistrois, or Michel Calliho Band, referring to the name of their chief at the time that they signed
Treaty 6
Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specifica ...
with the Canadian Crown by adhesion on September 3, 1878.
In 1880, a
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty,
that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band."
Ind ...
was surveyed as "Michel I.R. 132" on the Sturgeon River, about from the
Roman Catholic mission at
St. Albert, northwest of
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
near the present-day town site of
Villenevue. The reserve was described and surveyed in September 1880 by G.A. Simpsona as "to a post on the right bank of the Sturgeon River and thence easterly along the said bank of the river to the point of beginning, containing an area of forty square miles more or less." and formalized by
Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...
PC 1151 on May 17, 1889.
Like all First Nations in the
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
area, the Michel Band members came under government and settler pressure to surrender their agricultural land. Land sales marked by government corruption steadily eroded their land base through the next half-century. In 1959 the entire band was "enfranchised"—removed from
status as Indians in exchange for the right to vote in Canadian elections and removal from the strictures of the ''
Indian Act
The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...
'' on March 31, 1958, by Order in Council P.C. 375. The Michel Band was the only one in Canada to be enfranchised during the twentieth century.
The people of the modern-day Michel First Nation have ancestry primarily from the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
,
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
and
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
ethnic groups. In 1998, there were over 700 registered descendants.
History
Michel band, composed of Iroquois and their leader, called "Yellowhead", travelled from the east to avoid assassination because of a bounty offered by the American government for provable deaths of Iroquois people. Iroquois Yellowhead was rumoured to be a descendant of the French Crown from a period when the Iroquois were invited and visited the French King. He, Yellowhead, believed he had to leave the east to avoid being assassinated during the French Revolution, because of his rumored connection to the French aristocracy.
When Yellowhead came to St. Albert, in Alberta, he appealed to Father Lacombe to arrange a home for himself and his people; his family. Michel Reserve north of St. Albert, became their land base. Almost the entire band enfranchised; gave up their Reserve and Treaty rights, when Alberta became a province in 1905, because as Iroquois people, their style of government was based on voting,
merican democracy is based on the Iroquois style of government, each individual having the right to voteand when the colonial government decided that Indians on reserves, and Indigenous people who signed treaties, were not allowed to vote, most of Michel Band gave up their reserve, their treaty rights and moved into St. Albert so that they could vote.
In 1958, the Michel Band became the only First Nation in Canada in the 20th century to enfranchise.
In 1985 many descendants of the historic Michel Band regained
Indian status
The Indian Register is the official record of people registered under the ''Indian Act'' in Canada, called status Indians or ''registered Indians''. People registered under the ''Indian Act'' have rights and benefits that are not granted to othe ...
through
Bill C-31 Bill C-31 may refer to the following bills:
*" An Act to Amend the Indian Act", a 1985 act amending the Canadian ''Indian Act''
*''An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act and the Public Service Employment Act'', a 2007 act
*"Protecting Canada's Im ...
. They have since that time lobbied the federal government to once again recognize them as an Indian band with
Aboriginal and
treaty rights
In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States the term treaty rights specifically refers to rights for indigenous peoples enumerated in treaties with settler societies that arose from European colonization.
Exactly who is indigenou ...
.
Many Michel Band members trace their ancestry to Louis Callihoo, a name used by people who could not spell his Iroquois name. He was called "Yellowhead" and known as Kara Komptee, Kwarakwante. He was Mohawk (Mohawks are part of the Iroquois confederacy), born in 1782, Sault St. Louis, in what is now called
Kahnawake
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, C ...
, Quebec.
He was known as "Le Soleil Voyageur", which may be a reference to the rumored relationship to the French aristocracy; the French king,
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, known as "the Sun King".
In 1800, Louis Kwarkwante, Yellowhead, signed on as a voyageur with the
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
(a clerk changed his name to Caliheue) and travelled west from Montreal to Northern Alberta to work as a fur trader. He married three local women (a
Sekani
Sekani or Tse’khene are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in the Northern Interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The nei ...
Native and two French-Cree
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
sisters).
Mohawk, an Iroquois language, may at one time have been the language of the band, but by the late 19th Century Father
Albert Lacombe
Albert Lacombe (28 February 1827 – 12 December 1916), commonly known in Alberta simply as Father Lacombe, was a French-Canadian Roman Catholic missionary who travelled among and evangelized the Cree and also visited the Blackfoot First Nations ...
wrote that most band members spoke
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
or French. It seems likely that
Michif
Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota
Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) ...
, a mixed Cree-French language, was used by the Michel Band.
Michel Band’s descendants still live across Canada. Descendants such as bassist, filmmaker, and photographer Tegan Armstrong number among them.
The Michel Band
emerged as a distinct cultural and kinship group during the
Canadian fur trade
The North American fur trade is the commercial trade in furs in North America. Various Indigenous peoples of the Americas traded furs with other tribes during the pre-Columbian era. Europeans started their participation in the North American fu ...
.
Daniel Garacontié
Daniel Garacontié (also spelled Garagonthie, Garakontie, and Garakontié) an
Onondaga Onondaga may refer to:
Native American/First Nations
* Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League
* Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
, chief and orator, first travelled northwest from the communities of
Caughnawaga and
St.Regis. Generations of Iroquois had been trapping furs for a living and had become proficient in the trading of goods to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in the
St.Lawrence River and
Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...
s.
![Iroquois_western_goods](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Iroquois_western_goods.jpg)
The Iroquois were politically governed by the traditional customs and governance of the
Great Law of Peace
Among the Haudenosaunee (the "Six Nations," comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples) the Great Law of Peace (Mohawk: ''Kaianere’kó:wa''), also known as Gayanashagowa, is the oral constitution of the Iroqu ...
. In 1645 Iroquois
headmen
The Headmen is a group of supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
The Headmen first appearance, first appeared (as a team) in ''The Defenders (comic book), The Defenders'' #21 (March 1975) a ...
began treating the
Frenchmen
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the nati ...
of
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...
, the
Hurons
The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. The Wyandot are Iroquoian Indigenous peoples of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of Lake Ontario wi ...
, and
Algonquins
The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawatomi, ...
. In their dealings with the French, Iroquois diplomats adapted the language and rituals of the Great Law of Peace to create the protocol for intercultural diplomacy. In 1654,
Daniel Garakontie or "The Moving Sun" was the
Great Sachem of the Iroquois Confederacy.
"Five whole Nations address thee through my mouth. I have in my heart the sentiments of all the Iroquois Nations - and my tongue is faithful to my heart." -Garakontie
Garakontie was known as ''Sagochiendagehte'' ("the name bearer") the Council name of the Onondaga - a status he occupied as its principal speaker. Garakontie was his family name and not his
hereditary
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...
title, thus his status as speaker and chief diplomat was achieved, not ascribed by his membership into th
Bear Clan The first references to Garakontié reveal him struggling to preserve the general peace of 1653.
While in Quebec Garakontie proclaimed his faith in Christianity.
Garakontié was baptized in the Cathedral of Quebec.
He announced he would no longer sponsor dream feasts and declared the Iroquois cosmology was a fable.
Traditionalist Iroquois headmen maintained that Garakontie had become French and untrustworthy
The Jesuits had not only created Catholic converts, but also strong Christian and Traditionalist factions that brought unprecedented disquiet to Iroquois communities.
By the late 1660s Jesuit missionaries encouraged increasing numbers of Catholic Iroquois to desert their homes for the
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
villages in Canada; by the mid 1670s over two-hundred had departed. The lack of pelts to trade and warfare created serious economic hardship in Iroquoia. In 1700, over 500 of their 2000 warriors had been killed, captured, or had deserted to Catholic missions.
Louis Kwarakwante
![Fur_traders_in_canada_1777](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Fur_traders_in_canada_1777.jpg)
Louis Kwarakwante ("The Sun Traveller") was born in 1782 near the Catholic Mission of Saul St. Louis of
Caughnawaga. It is speculated that Louis was
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
. The name Kwarakwante appears to be an incorrect translation of Garakontie. Records list his surname variously as "Karaconti. Karaquienthe, Caraquanti." Louis also went by the surname of Callihoo, which derived from "Karhioo" meaning "Tall Forest" in Iroquois. Many members of his family, especially those who went west with the Fur Trade, had the name Karakontie bestowed on them by the
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
. Louis Kwarakwante was likely a grandson of
Daniel Garakontie.
![Canoe_Manned_by_Voyageurs_Passing_a_Waterfall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Canoe_Manned_by_Voyageurs_Passing_a_Waterfall.jpg)
As early as 1800, the
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
began to employ Iroquois
voyagers.
Colin Robertson said he preferred the Iroquois voyageurs to French-Canadians in a rapid or dangerous river crossing "for their calmness and presence of mind which never forsakes them in the greatest danger."
This was still a common trend even up until 1872, when George Grant remarked:
"Our crews were chiefly Iroquois Indians from Caugh-naw-aga, near Montreal, the best voyagers known, according to the testimony of everyone who has tried them. The Iroquois made the engagement for the trip, and hired a few Ojibways bear the Shebandowan and Fort Francis to make up the necessary number. They were as fine-looking, clean-limbed men as one's eye could desire to rest on, punctual, diligent, uncomplaining, and reserving their chief affection for their canoes. As a jockey cherishes his horse and shepherd his dog, so do they care for their canoe."
The NWC undoubtedly hired Iroquois from Caughnawaga not only for their experience, but also their familiarity with the Catholic clergy and th
habitant seigneurieswho had land holdings in the Missions. The Regardless, the bark
longhouses
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
Many were built from timber and often rep ...
still resembled those of in Mohawk Valley, and
traditional agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
was still practiced. In this Mission, Louis Callihoo learned his
catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
and his
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
s in his
native tongue. He spoke French and later many other languages as well, which no doubt made his commercial dealings easier. He was contracted as a canoemen on November 23, 1800 by McTavish, Frobisher & Company, agents of the NWC.
Enfranchisement and legal dispute
The Michel First Nation's position is summarized though testimony at the
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 9, 2008, by Chief Rosalind Callihoo:
I am the great-great-granddaughter of Michel Callihoo, who signed treaty in 1878 by an adhesion to Treaty No. 6. I'm here today on behalf of over 700 members of the Michel First Nation who were reinstated under Bill C-31.
I would like to present to the committee today the issue of discrimination throughout the Michel history. The whole band was enfranchised in 1958 under section 112 of the ''Indian Act'', which was later repealed because it was deemed to be discriminatory.
Bill C-31 was also discriminatory. I stated that 700-plus members have been reinstated. However, there are probably approximately the same number who were not reinstated because they were enfranchised under the band enfranchisement. Bill C-31 did not address that. They only addressed individual enfranchisement.
My third comment regarding discrimination is the specific claims policy and access to it. In 1998 we had concluded an inquiry from the Indian Claims Commission. That inquiry made a recommendation to Canada that Canada should grant the Michel First Nation special standing to file a specific claim. In 2002, after four years, the Minister of Indian Affairs of the day refused to give us that special standing, and the recommendation was not adopted.
Our sole recommendation here today to this committee is to propose an amendment to the definition of first nation in Bill C-30. In order to bring a claim before the Specific Claims Tribunal, a first nation must meet the first nation definition under section 2 of the ''Indian Act''. This defines first nation to mean a band as defined under the act. This definition needs to be expanded to include the Michel First Nation, which would be a first nation if not for Canada's breach of lawful obligation, because Canada's breach goes directly to the status of the Michel First Nation.
The Indian Claims Commission did note that Canada should not benefit because of a technicality. In our case, Canada is still benefiting from its own wrongful act; it points to its own discrimination as the justification for not granting us status as standing under the policy. Parliament would continue this wrong by enacting Bill C-30 without the requested amendment.
One of the purposes of Bill C-30, and the reason why it was endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations, is that it removes the non-binding status of recommendations under the former Indian Claims Commission. Bill C-30 is a positive step, and we endorse it. However, the benefits of Bill C-30, as it is currently drafted, exclude us because of the catch-22 position we are in. We are not recognized as a band, but we say we should be a band. We can't argue that we should be a band.
The basic principles and values of Canadian society are reflected in the constitutional provisions designed to protect the rights of aboriginal peoples, to abolish discrimination. These basic principles and values need to be applied to our situation. We have the same issues before us as all the other first nations in Canada; however, we have no platform to bring them forward.
We respectfully urge the committee to recommend that Bill C-30 be amended so we may have equal access to the legal processes that Bill C-30 set out.
References
{{authority control
First Nations history in the District of Alberta
Métis in Alberta
*
*
*
Franco-Albertan culture
Government agencies disestablished in 1958
1958 disestablishments in Canada
First Nations in Alberta
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