Carry the Kettle Nakoda First Nation

Earliest relations with Canada

One of the earliest encounters that Canada had with the ancestors of the modern day Assiniboine 'Carry the Kettle' First Nations band/tribe was in 1875. It was shortly after the great march west, when the newly formed NWMP came west they avoided the Cypress Hills and went around the north side of the hills, on their way to set up Fort McLeod. But it was in 1875 when the NWMP ventured into the hills from the west end under the leadership of James Morrow Walsh and the 'F' Division to investigate the 'Cypress Hills Massacre', at time, the tribe was referred to and recognized as 'The Cypress Mountain Assiniboine'. Walsh and the 'F' division did eventually make their way into the hills and to the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre,that is when they built a fort and called it 'Fort Walsh', just a mile north of the massacre site in the summer of 1875.

Upon signing an adhesion to Treaty 4 in 1877, the Assiniboine wanted a reservation in their traditional home territory of the western end of the Cypress Hills. The Head of the Mountain (Hay He Pa) 18 miles west of Fort Walsh, was and is a place of great significance to the Assiniboine. Here just south of the Head of the Mountain is Medicine Lodge Coulee, this is where the Assiniboine would hold their annual Sundance and once even invited and hosted Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake) and his Lakota tribe for ceremony in 1877.

Plans for this reservation didn't get underway until 1879 when the newly appointed Indian Commissioner Edgar. E. Dewdney would make an appearance in the great North West at Fort Walsh that summer. That fall an Indian Affairs office was set up at Fort Walsh and the Indian Agent was Edwin Allen. The Department of Indian Affairs office also covered half of Dr. George Kittson's (Surgeon) salary that fall. Farm instructors as per the reserve home farm policy also filtered into the north west through Fort Walsh that fall as well. Individuals such as Norrish, Patterson, English and Setter would instruct the various First Nations bands on farming on their reservations throughout the treaty 4 and treaty 7 territories.

Head of the Mountain (Hey He Pa)

The Head of the Mountain (Elk Water Provincial Park-Alberta/SK Inter-provincial Cypress Hills Park) was and still is a very important place of spiritual significance for the Cypress Mountain Assiniboine (Carry the Kettle First Nations). Elder's on Carry the Kettle claimed Head of the Mountain is "an area where the reserve was established and is where many of the Nakota's ancestors were buried and it was the site of their Medicine Lodge Dance Ceremony (Sundance)".

First survey for Assiniboine

The DLS in charge of surveying the reservation for the Assiniboine in the Cypress Hills was Allan Ponytz Patrick. In 1880, after consultation with the chiefs of the Assiniboine bands, A.P. Patrick, surveyed a reserve for Man Who Took the Coat, Long Lodge and Lean Man. The size of the reserve was 340 square miles.^[2] Under the reserve creation process as per the Indian Act and Treaty 4 provisions, a reserve 340 square miles was enough for 1700 band members.

The farm instructor designated to teach the Assiniboine about farming on their reservation at Head of the Mountain was J.J. English.

Indian farming at Head of the Mountain

The Cypress Mountain Assiniboine (now Carry the Kettle of chiefs Man Who Takes the Coat and Long Lodge & Lean Man) planted their first crops at their home farm at Head of the Mountain in both 1880 and 1881. It was in May 1881 when Canada decided to reroute the new railway in a new southernly route instead of the initial route, which would have been where today's Yellow Head Highway is. After this decsicion was made, fortunes turned for all tribes in the Cypress Hills. The southern farm for the Assiniboine was located in Medicine Lodge coulee as J.J. English believed that potatoes and barley could survive in the coulees environment.

Removal from the Assiniboine Reserve in Cypress Hills

After 5 attempts by Indian Agent Edwin Allen to obtain a valid land surrender from the Assinboine Chiefs of Long Lodge, Takes the Coat and Lean Man for their Assiniboine Reserve at Head of the Mountain, they had no choice but to remove them as railway construction was fast approaching. On two occasions the Assiniboine led by Chiefs Man who takes the Coat and Long Lodge were removed from their reserve at Head of the Mountain once in 1882 and again for good in 1883.

The first time was in the spring of 1882, the Assiniboine Tribe arrived south of Indian Head to the surveyed reserve lands that were not consulted with by the Chiefs of the bands. The Chiefs decided to go back to their Cypress Hills Reserve in July of 1882. After a very harsh winter in which rations and treaty implements were not granted, the Assiniboine tribes suffered greatly in the Cypress Hills. In May of 1883, as the Canadian Pacific Railway was approaching their Assiniboine Reserve as the now modern day Alberta/Saskatchewan border, the band defended their lands. Defeated, the Assiniboine tribe of Long Lodge and Man Who Takes the Coat were loaded up on railway carts at the newly created Maple Creek town and shipped back east to these new Indian Head Reserves. Shortly after, the train derailed, leaders felt intentionally. Many died, the leaders instead walked the rest of the way to these new Reserves south of Qu'Appelle and Indian Head, SK.

Claims with Indian Claims Commission

In 2000 the Indian Claims Commission concluded that Canada did not owe a lawful obligation to Carry the Kettle and that there was no reservation established the Cypress Hills for the modern day descendants of the Assiniboine band back in 1879-1882.^[3]

In 2008 the band brought forward the 1905 surrender claim to the Indian Claims Commission and it was ruled that the Canada didn't breach any of its fiduciary obligations to the band on the 1905 surrender. However, in November 2015 the band submitted the claim for adjudication with the Specific Claims Tribunal.^[4]

As of September 2014, Carry the Kettle First Nation has their Cypress Hills Land Claim in federal court.^[5]

After Cypress Hills removal, new reserves

After being removed from their reserve in the Cypress Hills, the band was now led by Chiefs Man Who Takes the Coat and Long Lodge. Each chief had a reserve surveyed for them south of Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Each reserve was 72 square miles.

After the death of Chief Man Who Takes the Coat, the band was led by Carry the Kettle (CeghaKin).

Assiniboine Agency (1882-1888)

Upon settling on the new Assiniboine Agency, south of Indian Head, Sask in 1882 chiefs Piapot, Man Who Takes the Coat and Long Lodge were each allotted a reserve. By 1884 Piapot was dissatisfied with his reserve and requested to be moved elsewhere. Piapot First Nation is now west of the Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation in treaty 4.