Summary
In 1857, Cree leaders attended a council at Fort Qu'Appelle, demanding that traders procure bison meat from Cree hunters instead of hunting it for themselves.
Implications
This was an attempt by Cree leaders to regulate the use of bison, as herds began to dwindle with an increasing Euro-Canadian presence in the Northwest. However, with the increased presence of settlers, and settler-altered migration patterns of the bison, bison numbers would dwindle devastatingly low and Indigenous peoples on the plains would be without a keystone resource integral to their ways of life.
Sources
Irene Spry, "The Tragedy of the Loss of the Commons in Western Canada," in As Long As the Sun Shines and Water Flows, ed. Getty and Lussier
Sub Event
Proactive measures proposed by Cree council to prevent buffalo near-extinction in 1857.
Date
1857-00-00
Theme(s)