The Nakoda (also known as Stoney, , or Stoney Nakoda) are an

Indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Their territory used to be large parts of what is now

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, but their reserves are now in Alberta and in Saskatchewan, where they are rarely differentiated from the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

. They refer to themselves in their language as , meaning 'friend, ally'. The name ''Stoney'' was given to them by Anglophone explorers, because of their technique of using fire-heated rocks to boil broth in rawhide bowls. They are very closely related to the Assiniboine, who are also known as Stone Sioux (from ). The Nakoda First Nation in Alberta comprises three bands: Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney. The Stoney were "excluded" from

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

between 1890 and 1920. In 2010 they were officially "welcomed back".

Nakoda groups

Stoney Nakoda high moccasins - Royal Ontario Museum

The Nakoda are descendants of individual bands of the Assiniboine, from whom they spun out as an independent group in about 1744. The Nakoda was divided geographically and culturally into two tribal groups or divisions with different dialects, which in turn were further divided into several bands: Wood Stoney ( – 'Big Woods People', often called ''Swampy Ground Assiniboine'', northern tribal group) * Alexis' band (Stoney, Métis, Woodland Cree) * Paul's band ( Danezaa, Stoney, Woodland Cree,

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

) Mountain Stoney ( or ''Hebina'' – 'Rock Mountain People', often called ''Strong Wood Assiniboine'', ''Thickwood Assiniboine'', southern tribal group) * Sharphead's band (, ''Wolf Creek Stoney,'' or ''Pigeon Lake Stoney'', often called ''Plains Assiniboine'') (Stoney, Métis) * Stoney Nakoda First Nation, Comprising the three following bands: *# Wesley's (Goodstoney's) band (Stoney, Plains Cree, Métis) *# Chiniki's band (

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

, Stoney, Plains Cree) *# Bearspaw's band (Stoney, Cree)

Treaties

Members of the Nakoda nations of

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

and Alexis signed an adhesion to

Treaty 6 Treaty 6 is the sixth of the numbered treaties that were signed by the Canadian Crown and various First Nations between 1871 and 1877. It is one of a total of 11 numbered treaties signed between the Canadian Crown and First Nations. Specifi ...

in 1877. In 1877, representatives of the Nakoda Nations of Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney met with representatives of the

British Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

to discuss the terms of Treaty 7. In exchange for the use of traditional lands, the Crown agreed to honour their right to self-government and an ancestral way of life. They were also promised reserve lands, 279 km² situated along the

Bow River The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...

between the

Kananaskis River The Kananaskis River is a mountain river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Bow River, crossing the length of Kananaskis Country. The river was named by John Palliser in 1858 after a Cree. Course The Kananaskis originates in th ...

and the Ghost River, which became the Big Horn, Stoney, and Eden Valley reserves, shared between the Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney tribes.

Notes

{{authority control Plains tribes First Nations in Alberta Native American tribes in Montana

Nakoda groups

Treaties

See also

Further reading

Notes