Termination of Contiguous Plains Cree Reserves

After the signing of Treaties 4 and 6 many Plains Cree moved to the Cypress Hills region of Saskatchewan establishing a string of connected Cree reserves in the late 1870s. These reserves allowed for a strong, united Cree presence impeding the Canadian government’s control. As a result, Indian Commissioner Edgar Dewdney aspired to disrupt this string of reserves. He used the Cree disarmament and hunger crisis to drive the Cree out of Cypress Hills, withholding rations from Indigenous people who remained in the area in a decision called the Starvation Polic.y