By Angela Brown

Indigenous history

Poundmaker planning to establish new cultural museum

Feb 14, 2019 | 12:00 PM

It may be a long way off but Milton Tootoosis imagines himself waking up one day to see a beautiful new landmark of Poundmaker Cree Nation’s past created by the Poundmaker people, so the true history of the Battlefords can finally be told fully, from an Indigenous perspective.

Tootoosis and fellow band members are looking into the possibility of having an Indigenous cultural museum established at Poundmaker or in the town of Battleford to recognize Indigenous people’s history in the area.

Poundmaker Headman Tootoosis said respected Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal visited the reserve last fall to take part in a four-day visioning session with the community, to look at the possibility of building the cultural-historical museum there.

“From what we heard from the community, there is a desire to have one on the reserve, on the hill, at the site of the Battle from 1885,” said Tootoosis. “Others have also expressed an interest in having a facility at Fort Battleford, in the town of Battleford.”

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He said the next step will be to start a feasibility study for the proposed project.

A big part of the project will be paying tribute to the legacy of Chief Poundmaker.

The community leaders are currently waiting to see Chief Poundmaker’s name officially exonerated by the federal government. Chief Poundmaker was wrongfully convicted of treason in 1885 and imprisoned for three years.

Tootoosis said it will be good to see the truth finally told, “that Chief Poundmaker should never have been charged and imprisoned to begin with.”

Tootoosis said the exoneration project has been a long- standing effort by previous leaders to have Poundmaker’s “tarnished reputation changed,” and restore his image as the peacemaker.

“In this era, under the current federal government’s commitment to truth and reconciliation, it was good timing to reintroduce the concept, and here we are,” Tootoosis said. “I think the community is very excited. It’s long overdue. It will add a new chapter to the development of Western Canada.”

“Poundmaker should have gone down in history as a hero, versus a traitor,” added Tootoosis.

On May 2, Poundmaker reserve is planning to have a formal celebration to recognize the occasion of the exoneration. Historically, the date also marks the anniversary of the Battle of Cut Knife Hill which took place on May 2, 1885.

Plans are also in place for the Poundmaker community to repatriate Chief Poundmaker’s historical artifacts so they can be displayed in the new museum once it is eventually completed.

There is currently a very small interpretive museum at Poundmaker, however Tootoosis said it is essentially only a temporary site.

Tootoosis noted that when the new museum is completed it would be much larger, as well as more modern and comprehensive, and meet national and international museum standards.

The project is currently in the early stages of the planning process.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow