This post is part of an educational campaign by Blackfoot Confederacy Tribal Council—separating fiction from fact, correcting misinformation, and protecting Blackfoot and First Nations’ rights.

Week 3 | MÉTIS PRESENCE IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA & THE 1876 BLACKFOOT PETITION

Fiction: “Métis people have maintained a continuous and deep connection to southern Alberta prior to Blackfoot Treaty 7, and their presence reflects longstanding belonging and identity across this region.”

Fact: The Niitsitapi, the Blackfoot People, are the first First Nations of these territories. Niitsitapi governed, protected, and sustained this land long before any newcomers arrived.

When the Blackfoot Confederacy’s “traditional enemies” mostly made up of Cree, began moving into Blackfoot Territory in significant numbers in the mid to late 1800s, they did not come as guests or allies. They came as competitors, seeking to consolidate their own power on the plains at a time when everyone could see that the large scale settling of the West was taking shape.

For generations, Blackfoot Elders have passed down accounts of enemies entering without permission, travelling deep into the centre of Blackfoot hunting grounds, being chased out, and refusing to follow the laws of this territory. These groups later used the growing settler state as a shield to move further into what the Métis themselves described as “enemy territory,” because they knew they had no kinship ties or shared political relationships with the Blackfoot.

These are not stories of kin-making or shared belonging. They are stories of possessiveness, of outsiders acting entitled to Blackfoot lands and disregarding the sacred relationships Niitsitapi have with the territory.

The 1875–1876 Blackfoot Petition: A call to stop an invasion

In 1875, the Blackfoot Confederacy Grand Council drafted a petition, translated by Jean L’Hérueux, to the Crown. It described exactly what was happening:

“The Half-breeds and Cree Indians in large camps are hunting buffalo, both summer and Winter, in the very centre of our lands.”

– HBC Archives, Alexander Morris Fonds, P5284.8

Our chiefs documented these encroachments as early as 1875, and they remain part of the political memory of Blackfoot Treaty 7. Claims of a “continuous and deep connection” to southern Alberta erase the record that they were never invited to be in the territory in the first place.

A pattern that continues today

Blackfoot knowledge keepers have long observed these patterns in Métis encroachment, especially in trespassing into Blackfoot territory and hunting buffalo without our permission.

We might understand these acts as a kind of insatiable hunger, a drive to take land, resources, and power without regard for the laws of the people who belong to that place. Blackfoot stories warn us about this kind of behaviour, and we know our Cree neighbours hold similar teachings. In Cree ways of knowing, Wîhtikow describes a being with a consuming appetite that ignores relationships, boundaries, and responsibilities. This is the word some Cree use to name conduct that devours without care.

The Blackfoot see similar patterns in how the Métis Nation of Alberta Association (MNA) acts today, particularly in their efforts to claim all of Alberta and western Canada as their “traditional homeland.” This is not only historically inaccurate, it reflects a continued pattern of bad relations that echoes earlier behaviours our ancestors confronted in the nineteenth century. MNA political projects, including district boundaries, harvesting claims, IPCAs, and flag raisings, continue to move as though they are entitled to the territories of all Nations, including ours here in Southern Alberta. 

This is why the historical record matters. These are not new conflicts; they are the same patterns our ancestors called out when the Métis and our other enemies fought when they attempted to enter into Blackfoot Territory. These are not the stories of shared belonging. They are the stories of outsiders acting entitled to our homelands and ignoring Blackfoot law and responsibility.

They attempt to overwrite Blackfoot truth with a version of history that serves someone else’s narrative, not what actually happened on these lands.

The Truth:

Claims that the Metis Nation of Alberta had a “continuous and deep connection” to all of southern Alberta erase everything our ancestors lived, witnessed, and fought to protect. They ignore our political record. They disregard our laws. And they attempt to overwrite Blackfoot truth with a version of history that serves someone else’s narrative, not what actually happened on these lands.

As Niitsitapi, we have a responsibility to speak clearly: southern Alberta is Blackfoot Territory. It has always been Blackfoot Territory. Our people negotiated, petitioned, protected, and stood firm so that future generations, including us today, would still know whose land this is.

We will not allow our history to be rewritten, minimized, or replaced.

The truth remains what it has always been: this is, and will always be, Niitsitapi Blackfoot Territory.