Mistawasis
cree chief
Mistawasis (Cree: ᒥᐢᑕᐘᓯᐢ, meaning "Big Child"; born Pierre Belanger) was a Chief of the Sak-kaw-wen-o-wak Plains Cree, notable for his role as the leader of his people during the signing of Treaty 6 in 1876, to which he was the first signatory. Due to the dwindling buffalo population caused by excessive hunting, he was forced to look for new strategies to ensure the survival of his people and their culture. He believed the only way to save his people was to negotiate with the Canadian Government. As a result of his strong influence over the Cree people, he and his close ally, Ahtahkakoop, were able to argue successfully for the adoption of Treaty 6 by his fellow Cree. After the treaty was signed he remained an ally of the Canadian government until his death.
Early life
The exact date of Mistawasis’ birth is disputed. It is estimated that he may have been born sometime between 1796 and 1813. He was born to a French father by the name of Bernard Belanger and a Nakoda woman, Kakakewachin. His birth name was Pierre Belanger, though in his adulthood he generally went by his Cree name, Mistawasis. He had five siblings, one of whom went by the same name as their father, Bernard Belanger.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mistawasis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.