Assiniboine Indians in Canada

The Assiniboine are speakers of a Siouan language of the Plains. So despite it's similarity to Stony language they can't understand each other. They have about 200 people in Montana and Saskatchewan. Their name is received from an Ojibwa word. for their practice of boiling food by dropping heated rocks into water. Prior to 1640 they split off from the Sioux prior to 1640. From a homeland around the Mississippi river they moved north to the Lake of the Woods to Winnepeg. At the peak of their territory they ranged around Saskatchewan in Canada.

They were first contacted by settlers called Henry Kelsey in the 1690's who hunted the buffalo. Kelsey met Assiniboine trading parties from the trading parties from the James Bay Post west along the canoe route into present day Saskatchewan. They ensured that the fur pelts went to the Hudson Bay company in trade for metal utensils, fires, arms, beads and cloth, tobacco and liquor.

In 1730's other traders confirmed the location of the Assiniboine throughout the western plains their cultural perspective was recorded by the early settlers. Their trails became major trade routes. The anglos valued them for their ability to trap fur bearing animals. Their traditional campsites became centers for the distribution of trading posts on the network of rivers from the Rocky Mountain to the Hudson Bay.

By late 17th century they were noted for pemmican production. They traded European goods to distant Plains groups. After 1730's when they got horses the Assiniboine also had access to guns and metal trade goods and enhanced their role in the fur trade economy. They were allied with the Cree in the 1800's.

They were intermittently in conflict with the Blackfeet, Gros Ventura, and their Sioux relatives. They suffered from European diseases and smallpox. They had a population of over 10,000 in the late 18th century. Their numbers declined catastrophically to 2100 by 1890. By the 1920's they began to increase because of improved health.

Their culture exhibited most of the Plains native traits. Their expertise was in constructing buffalo pounds. They made a greater use of dogs to load their tipis, hides, and personal possessions as they followed the buffalo, deer, elk, moose, and small tanned hides.

Their most sacred ceremony was the sun dance. It was held in early summer after the spring buffalo hunts. They also hunted the other furry animals. The men and women honored the Great Spirit through sacred ceremonies - praying, singing, drumming, dancing, fasting, and they had a feast. Young men would goon a vision quest to sacred grounds. in order to observe their guardian spirits and sacred songs.

On special occasions they had leaders who were chosen for a war chief to lead a battle , or a hunting chief for buffalo hunts. People of wisdom or talent were heard at council to reach consensus on on issues. Today these nations are of aboriginal self government through elected Band Councils., but within the constraints of an Indian Act.. The Constitution of 1982 makes decisions. The Assiniboine reserve is located near Regina and covers 41,000 acres. Their population in 1996 numbered about 981.

NATIVE-LANGUAGES.ORG