Big Bear (Mistahimusqua)

Michael Payne is head of the research and publications program, Historic
Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Develop- ment, and
co-author of A Narrative History of Fort Dunvegan.

Hugh Dempsey was one of the first Canadian authors to undertake full
biographical studies of individual Indians and Métis, and recent
editions of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography also include good,
thoughtful biographies of Native leaders. Nevertheless, such studies are
rare, so J.R. Miller’s biography of the often-maligned and
little-understood Plains Cree leader Big Bear is very welcome.

Along with Piapot and other leaders in the 1870s and early 1880s, Big
Bear tried to unite the scattered bands of Plains Indians in opposition
to the Government of Canada’s interpretation of treaties. In 1885, Big
Bear and his band were living at Frog Lake, sharing the land with a
group of Woods Cree. Big Bear had always argued for a kind of passive
resistance, but some younger members of his band wanted action to
redress their longstanding grievances. The skirmish between the Métis
and the Mounted Police at Duck Lake gave them the encouragement they
needed. Over Big Bear’s objections, they killed the Indian Agent and
several others at Frog Lake. Big Bear was quickly declared a rebel and
hunted down. Captured and tried on a charge of treason, Big Bear was
imprisoned at Stony Mountain Penitentiary. He soon fell ill and had to
be released; he died soon after that, in 1888.

Overall, Miller provides a sympathetic portrait of an honest and very
capable man struggling to help his people adjust to astonishing social,
economic, cultural, and political changes. Big Bear’s plans may not
have succeeded during his lifetime, but his views and example have great
significance today for anyone interested in issues of self-government,
treaty rights, and relations between First Nations peoples and other
Canadians.