Pressured from all sides: the February 1913 surrender of the northeast corner of the Tsuu T'ina Nation

摘要

The Sarcee Indian Reserve, now the Tsuu T'ina Nation, was established in 1882, near a small white settlement that in 1884 became the town of Calgary, Alberta. Pressure from the city to acquire reserve land for various purposes was incessant and eventually led to the surrender of the northeast corner in February 1913. Such land surrenders were also a common practice of the federal government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Desires of the municipal government, the military, oilmen, homesteaders, ranchers and businessmen worked collectively, if not in concert, to ensure the Tsuu T'ina were constantly pressured. The interplay of the many stakeholders reveals the complexity of the Nativeon-Native relations, and emphasizes the importance of local players, in addition to federal government policies and bureaucrats, in the dispossession of Native peoples. Moreover, the relationship between the Nation and the city is significant for what it reveals about the colonizing nature of Calgary's development and the quality of aboriginal citizenship as manifested on a day-to-day, local basis.