HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Piikani Nation (, formerly the Peigan Nation) ( bla, Piikáni) is a
First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
(or an Indian band as defined by the '' Indian Act''), representing the
Indigenous people in Canada In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fal ...
known as the Northern Piikani ( bla, script=Latn, Aapátohsipikáni) or simply the Peigan ( or ).


History

Historically speaking the Blackfoot language and members of the
Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
(), the Peigan people occupied territory before the 1870s on both sides of what is now the Canada–United States border. The
Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
signed several treaties with the US and received the Great Northern Reservation, an initially vast reservation in present-day Montana. However, 220 Peigans were massacred by the US Army in 1870 and American authorities pressured the Blackfoot to give up more and more lands to settlers ( were ceded in 1887), leading some Peigans to relocate to Canada and sign
Treaty 7 Treaty 7 is an agreement between the Crown and several, mainly Blackfoot, First Nation band governments in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. The idea of developing treaties for Blackfoot lands was brought to Blackfoot chief Cro ...
with the Canadian government in 1877. The Peigan are now divided between the
Blackfeet Nation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...
( or "Southern Piikani") based on the
Blackfeet Indian Reservation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Mon ...
in
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, and the Piikani Nation ( or "Northern Piikani") in
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 ...
. The other members of the Confederacy are the Blackfoot-speaking or Blood and the or Blackfoot, as well as the or Sarcee who only became allied later and spoke an unrelated language. At the time the treaties were signed, the Northern Peigan were situated on the
Oldman River The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the Bow River to form the South Saskatchew ...
, west of Lethbridge, Alberta,
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 ...
, to the west of the tribe. With its headquarters in Brocket, Alberta, the Piikani Nation controls two parcels of land, Peigan Timber Limit "B" and the Piikani 147
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." In ...
(on which Brocket is located). the band had a registered population of 3,638 members, of whom 2,358 lived on Piikani Nation reserves. The band is a member of the Treaty 7 Management Corporation. The Piikani Nation has a history of firsts. It was the first band in Alberta to demand a vote in provincial elections, the first to allow liquor onto a reserve, the first to assume administration of their reserve, and the first to host Indian Day Celebrations as a means of retaining and maintaining their culture.Piikani (Peigan) Nation
Education has been controlled by the band since 1986 when a high school was built on the reserve. This is managed by the Peigan Board of Education, a non-profit society registered under the ''Societies Act of Alberta'', comprising six trustees elected at large by the band's membership and one appointed by the band council. Scholarships and bursaries are provided by the Piikani Youth & Education Foundation with monies from the Piikani Trust Agreement (see below). The band is governed by a council comprising a chief and twelve councilors elected according to custom rather than the provisions of the Indian Act. To this end, in 2002, the Piikani Nation implemented the ''Piikani Nation Election By-law'' and ''Regulations'' (collectively referred to as the "Election Code"). This code includes a reference in its preamble to , the traditional teachings of the Piikani, and allows for councillors to be dismissed if they are found to be in violation of the tenets of . A court case in 2008 also allowed for the principles of to be invoked to ''prevent'' a candidate from running from office, rather than to remove them once in office. The court found that the elders of the community functioned like a senate, and that they were the proper body to advise the Piikani Nation Election Removals Board and the Chief Electoral Officer. The court ruled that the Election Code did not include such powers for the elders as written, however, and so it gave the band six months to clarify the code. The principles of were invoked once again when on December 13, 2013 Gayle Strikes With A Gun was removed as chief by the Piikani Nation Removal Appeals Board because she "failed to maintain a standard of conduct expected of a member of the Piikani Nation Council, as set out in the Election Bylaws and in keeping with the principles of ." In 2002 the voters of Piikani Nation approved a C$64.3 million settlement with the governments of Alberta and Canada over Piikani water rights impacted by the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation Headworks on the Oldman River. The monies were deposited in the Piikani Trust governed by the Piikani Trust Agreement. The agreement also allowed the Nation to acquire of new reserve land. The band later took out loans against the trust to invest in industrial developments, and were then sued by a band member alleging mismanagement. The band then filed suit against a Calgary-based investment broker for defrauding it of $23 million from the settlement. In 2012, the band's investment company, Piikani Investment Corporation, was restructured in the bankruptcy courts. The alleged mismanagement became part of a
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
investigation in 2013.Brocket RCMP launch investigation into alleged money mismanagement
/ref>


References


External links


Nation's website

Introduction to photo essay, ''Nitsitapiisinni: Our Way of Life''
Glenbow Museum
Concise description of the Blackfoot tribes
{{Numbertreaty, treaty=7 Blackfoot tribe First Nations governments in Alberta