Western Canada’s native peoples knew their way around the Rocky Mountains long before European explorers even began building the boats that carried them to North America. That’s no secret. Just as native guides helped white explorers 'discover' special places in the western mountains, their descendents continue to inhabit southern Alberta’s foothills and surrounding areas, sharing their rich culture, nature and human history.
Through any one of several native cultural programs, you can learn about basic Blackfoot culture, focusing on the delicate balance between man and man, man and nature and the foundations for native religion and social ceremonies. Native hosts from the Athapascan-speaking Tsuu T’ina and the Blackfoot-speaking Peigan help promote cultural understanding through native dance, hand games and sweat lodges.
Embark on a preservation tour through the Tsuu T’ina native reserve where you’ll hike to a teepee camp, participate in a welcoming ceremony, set up teepees following tradition and gather firewood. You’ll learn about native spirituality and listen to stories passed between generations. Join interpretive hikes and learn how to identify wildlife tracks. Dinner at the camp can include drumming, singing and storytelling and overnight accommodations in a teepee.
Visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, to learn about the traditional buffalo hunt in a two-day program. Or learn about the Metis Nation, its history rooted in the Canadian Northwest before evolving into a distinct aboriginal nation.
The Blackfoot considered the Rockies as the world’s backbone. Locally, the first natives encountered by Euro-Canadian explorers were among a Sioux Confederation tribe. Originally called the Assinibione, Nakoda or Dakota, these people became known as the Stoneys – taken from the Assiniboine word meaning for “those who cook by placing hot rocks in water”.
The Stoneys originally came from Ontario’s Lake of the Woods area but fled west to escape Euro-Canadians and smallpox. In doing so, they displaced the Kutenai people to the Rockies’ western slopes, while maintaining an uneasy truce with the hostile Blackfoot tribes to the south.
With the Treaty #6 signing in 1876 and Treaty #7 in 1877, the Stoneys were placed on reserves at Morley and along the Highwood River to Calgary’s southwest. Stoney natives were instrumental in Europeans’ Rockies exploration, acting as guides and advisors to Tom Wilson, Walter Wilcox and Captain John Palliser, whose party explored and mapped many mountains and passes in the Kananaskis ranges as well as the Waterton, Kootenay, Banff and Yoho national parks regions.
Native tours can range from $69 for a half day to $510 for two days and two nights. Some tours are available on a daily basis while others require reservations in advance. Adventures range from winter to summer incorporating various themes including a western or sports emphasis.
