Robert Alexander Innes - Elder brother and the law of the people: contemporary kinship and Cowessess First Nation

That scholars have misinterpreted the cultural identities of Saskatchewans Aboriginal people is demonstrated by the experiences of members of Cowessess First Nation from the early reserve period to more recent times. When Cowessess First Nation members first settled on their reserve, the band was comprised of Plains Cree, Assiniboine, Saulteaux, English Halfbreeds, and Mtis, based on the Law of the People. In the early reserve period, members of Cowessess First Nation, as with all First Nations, faced tremendous pressures to alter their political, social, and economic culture to reflect Euro-Canadian cultural ideals. In many ways, Cowessess members adapted relatively smoothly to the changes, replacing aspects of their traditional cultural ways with Canadian cultural practices. For example, they had developed a fledgling but sound agricultural economy and were the first First Nation in Saskatchewan to adopt a democratically elected band government. However, after 1885, the federal government used the Indian Act and Indian Affairs to implement increasingly repressive policies intended to intensify pressure on First Nations to assimilate. Cowessess members resisted by both ignoring these demands and organizing politically to protest against them in ways that demonstrated determination to protect the authority of their band government. Even with the pressure to change, there were aspects of their pre-reserve culture that Cowessess members did not change. The band persisted in practising their customary form of inclusionary kinship as set out in the stories of Elder Brother, through marriage and adoption, thereby remaining a mixed-ancestry band into the twentieth century. This chapter, then, illustrates that the cultural boundaries drawn between Aboriginal groups is a fiction that has served the purposes of scholars and government officials, but has had no relevance to the actual lives of the people examined.

Adaptation and resistance in the face of the Canadian governments colonial efforts are central themes in Cowessess in the early to mid-reserve period, from the 1880s to 1945. Even in the midst of these turbulent times, traditional kinship practices, which the Elder Brothers stories emblemized, persisted. This chapter is divided into two sections. Both discuss the challenges the band faced due to government regulations, and to a lesser extent, the racism of everyday Canadians. The first section outlines the early reserve period, focusing primarily but not exclusively on the experiences of Louis OSoup, a Cowessess political figure whose influence was felt throughout southern Saskatchewan. OSoup is important, not only because of his leadership, but also, for our purposes here, because of the compelling evidence of the prominence kinship played in guiding his actions. The second section looks at conditions on the reserve from the 1920s to just after World War II. In this period, the prosperity Cowessess had enjoyed in earlier years declined and assimilation through the residential schools intensified. However, the band continued to resist government intervention into their lives. In addition, kinship practices are still exercised in accordance with the Law of the People in particular with regard to Cowessess relations with the Mtis living just off the reserve and with eastern European immigrants. Off-reserve migration of some members began after the war, with some losing touch with the home community.

From the brief biographical information available about the early life of Chief Cowessess, it is known that he was chief of a mixed band of Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine, Mtis, and Halfbreeds who hunted and trapped in the region between southwest Manitoba and the Cypress Hills. He is considered to have been of Saulteaux descent, and his band, identified as belonging to the Calling River People, was centred in the QuAppelle Valley. This is the same region in which the Cowessess band was based prior to taking treaty in 1874. Cowessess and his band were also among those who moved to the Cypress Hills in 1876.

More is known about Louis OSoup, a Cowessess headman. He was an important First Nations political figure for nearly forty years, notable for lobbying for treaty rights and economic and social improvement for First Nations people. OSoup was well regarded as an orator, and the esteem in which he was held is probably reflected in his name, OSoup, which means black fat in Saulteaux, referring to the choice meat of an animal that was reserved for men of prestige. OSoup, as Sarah Carter stated, was of Metis and Assiniboine ancestry, yet he identified himself, and was regarded as Saulteaux. Though it is uncertain whether Cowessess was Marcel Desjarlais or a blood relative of OSoup, what does become clear is that the two men lived in the same region and had close contact with each other.

While at Cypress Hills, OSoup was chosen to be spokesman for the First Nations in their efforts to lobby the government for assistance in farming and helping offset starvation. He requested that the Cypress Hills First Nations be provided with a blacksmith for each band, assistance to break the land once Indians had settled on a reserve, free movement between the U.S. and Canada, and that chiefs and headmen receive a log house, horse, and buggy.

At Cypress Hills, Chief Cowessess requested that a certain area be surveyed for his reserve. He had been persuaded to select another parcel of land, as Dewdney and John Setter, the newly appointed farm instructor, deemed his first choice unsuitable. He finally agreed on land next to Chief Piapot. His band was given two axes, four hoes, a spade, eight bushels of potatoes, and began to farm while waiting for the land to be surveyed. Although the governments Indian reserve surveyor, Allen Patrick, was commissioned to survey Cowessess reserve at Cypress Hills, this was not done because the government began to have second thoughts about the concentrated number of Indians in the region. The Cowessess bands initial experience with farming was considered promising, which was fortunate because the buffalo herds had all but disappeared from the region.

However, the Cowessess band faced internal troubles, as OSoup was attempting to replace Cowessess as chief.

In 1881, the governor general, the Marquis of Lorne, visited the Northwest Territories, meeting with First Nations leaders in Fort QuAppelle. OSoup was one of those leaders. Carter noted that, OSoup wore a magnificent outfit, now housed in the Museum of Mankind in London, which featured a beaded bulls eye chest-rosette characteristic of Plains Saulteaux ceremonial dress.

Meanwhile, back at the Cypress Hills, Cowessess and the other chiefs were facing pressure to leave the region. By 1881, Cowessess band was farming relatively successfully, but still had not had their reserve surveyed. At one point, Cowessess, angry over the issue, resigned as chief, but later changed his mind. At the same time, he was attempting to both gain more band members and persuade current members not to join OSoup at Crooked Lake. Another band, led by Zach Lerat (pronounced le- rah ), known as the Chief of the Half-Breeds, arrived from Turtle Mountain, seeking to unite with another band in the Cypress Hills. Harold Lerat stated that a French-Canadian missionary gave his great-grandfather Pitawewekijik the name Lerat in reference to his ability to swim as well as a muskrat. if Cowessess was Marcel Desjarlais, they may have shared some kinship connection. Regardless, Cowessess move to recruit members indicates that perhaps he was contemplating a move to Crooked Lake in response to a lack of rations available at Cypress Hills, and to a desire of some band members to reunite with OSoups members.