The Dakota of the Canadian Northwest: Lessons for Survival

Michael Payne is head of the Research and Publications Program at the
Historic Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, and
the coauthor of A Narrative History of Fort Dunvegan.

This is a welcome reissue of a book first published in 1988.
Unfortunately, it has not been updated to incorporate the new research
on Aboriginal history since 1988 and to continue the story of individual
band communities.

The Dakota have never attracted the same attention as Cree, Ojibwa, or
Blackfoot-speaking groups in Western Canada. As a result, their history
is not well known, despite establishing communities in Manitoba and
Saskatchewan from Prince Albert to Portage La Prairie. As Elias notes,
much of what has been written about the Dakota is misleading or even
incorrect—starting with their name. Historically, they were often
called Sioux, but this was actually a derogatory term used by their
rivals meaning “snake” or “enemy.” The Dakota are one of three
major groups of Siouan-speaking peoples; the other two are the Nakota
(or Stoney/Assinboin) and Lakota. Most of the Dakota living in Canada
are descendants of Dakota who fled the United States after an uprising
in 1862. This enabled the Canadian government to claim for decades that
the Dakota were not a “Canadian” Aboriginal people, and they were
not included under the numbered treaties. Despite the position of the
Canadian government, Elias argues that the Dakota had close ties to the
British up to the War of 1812 and that they occupied areas north of the
49th parallel in the pre- and early postcontact periods.

In addition to detailing the early history of the Dakota, this book’s
other strength is its description of individual communities and the ways
they adapted to local conditions and economic circumstances. Chapters 8
through 12 detail the experiences of specific band communities and
highlight the way some specialized in agriculture and stock-rearing,
while others exploited opportunities as wage laborers. Subtitled
“Lessons for Survival,” this book suggests that these lessons took
many forms, but the Dakota adapted to them with commendable resilience
and over considerable obstacles.