Voices of the Plains Cree

Richard W. Parker is an associate professor and chair of the Classics
Department at Brock University in St. Catharines.

“Voice” is a term likely to turn up in discussions on the
presentation of the experiences of persons and groups whose perspective
has been traditionally portrayed by “outsiders.” So, it is timely
and appropriate that this book has been reprinted; composed in 1923, its
voices languished until 1973, 12 years after the author’s death.

Edward Ahenakew, a Cree educated at a prairie mission school, entered
the Anglican clergy and served his people and church throughout his
lifetime. He comes across as deferential to Anglo authority, but
unconvinced that it knew best. The introduction to the 1995 edition, by
Stan Cuthand, is especially helpful in putting into sympathetic
perspective Ahenakew’s conflicting attitudes.

The book has two sections: the oral histories related to Ahenakew by
Cree Chief Thunderchild, and “Old Keyam,” homilies of a
semi-autobiographical character. In structure and ethos the two sections
are quite distinct from one another. “Old Keyam” is a series of
philosophical musings on contemporary problems of Native people. They
are first-person speeches embroidered with the device of narrative and
occasional interlocutors whereby the speaker’s distinctive personality
is depicted. That speaker is “Old [=Wise] Man” offering counsel to
his people; his name, ironically, is “Keyam,” which means “I
don’t care” in Cree. This embroidery links the speeches together and
gives life to Old Keyam by portraying him within his community and
allowing him to be the source and object of gentle humor. It provides
effective relief from the increasingly serious, sad, and painful tenor
of the counsel he gives.

In the Thunderchild stories, Ahenakew sagely avoids any intrusion.
These 20 stories told by or handed down to Chief Thunderchild include
tales of hunting, war (and peacemaking), feuds, friendship, love, and
legend. Most of the events related by Thunderchild date to the middle of
the 19th century, some to a still earlier era—a time when his people
roamed freely across the plains. The short, powerful stories capture and
convey an exquisite sense of triumph, tragedy, pathos, and the pride of
freedom. Readers will find them too short and too few.