Sturgeon County forged new bonds with its Indigenous neighbours last week as it raised the Treaty 6 flag for the first time in its history.
About 45 Sturgeon County, Alexander, and Michel Band dignitaries celebrated the inaugural raising of the Treaty 6 flag at the Sturgeon County Centre in Morinville on Friday.
The celebration, which featured prayers, First Nations drum songs, and a victory dance around the flagpoles, coincided with the start of the annual Alexander powwow on Aug. 23-25 and followed on the annual Aug. 21 Treaty Day celebration in Alexander.
Raising the flag were Alexander elder Ronald Arcand, Alexander Chief Kurt Burnstick, Michel Band elder Ernest Callihoo, and Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw.
“Today we honour and acknowledge that the ancestral and traditional lands on which we stand and gather on are Treaty 6 lands, a traditional meeting ground for many Indigenous peoples, in particular our neighbours Alexander First Nation and the Michel Band,” Hnatiw told the crowd.
“I am proud today to raise the Treaty 6 flag with you.”
In an interview, Hnatiw said she had made it a personal priority when she took office to improve relations with Indigenous peoples and reached out to Alexander council to do so. That led to Friday’s flag event.
“Understanding the respective cultures is what it takes to build trust,” she said, and that understanding would help council carry out the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Why treaties matter
Originally signed in 1876, Treaty 6 is one of the 11 numbered treaties negotiated in Canada from 1871 and 1921 between the federal government and Canada’s Indigenous peoples, and covers central Alberta and Saskatchewan. The treaty established land, monetary, medical, hunting, fishing, and agricultural rights for the Plain and Woodland Cree nations of central Alberta and Saskatchewan in exchange for the government’s right to settle their lands.
Treaty 6 is a peace treaty central to Alexander’s history, Burnstick said. Alexander’s first chief, Catchistahwayskum (also spelled as Katstaweskum), signed onto it on Aug. 21, 1877.
“That’s who we are as a people, Burnstick said. "That’s our lives. We live by treaty.”
Burnstick said raising the Treaty 6 flag honours the many elders who came before us who believed in the importance of the treaty, and was an important step in forging a new relationship with the county.
“Everything is growing, and (Alexander) needs to be a part of the discussion on what should be going on our lands and our traditional territories,” he said.
Burnstick said having that dialogue would open the door for potential partnerships between Alexander and the county.
“We can achieve some great things together.”
Hnatiw said the Treaty 6 flag would fly at the county office permanently, and that she planned to hold similar flag ceremonies with Alexander in the years ahead.
St. Albert and Morinville have for many years raised the Treaty 6 flag to mark community events such as National Indigenous Peoples Day.
