Yorkton Sun Dance

This provides an example of the inconsistency in the enforcement of laws that prohibited the Sun Dance and other cultural/religious ceremonies. The Sun Dance was perceived to be a pagan ritual and an illegitimate expression of spirituality that perpetuated Indigenous "barbarism," thus impeding the spread of Christianity and its moral norms amongst Indigenous peoples. The official prohibition of the Sun Dance, therefore, was representative of the government's attempt to assimilate Indigenous people into the values of mainstream Euro-Canadian society.