R. Anderson (1968: 30) who conducted research among Alexis people in the 1960s is of the opinion that this band is comprised largely remnants of the Wood or Swampy Ground Assiniboine described in various pre-reserve accounts of observers in the Edmonton area.

They are to be differentiated from the Strongwood Assiniboine of the Battle River area, and the Bearspaws Assiniboine or Stoney encountered in the Morley area. Hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering in the parkland along the North Saskatchewan River formed the basis of their economic system. According to some of Anderson's (1968) informants, the current reserve is located approximately central to their pre-reserve territory which stretched possibly as far north as Lac La Biche and west into the Jasper National Park.

Download Prereserve History (692 KB .pdf file)

Our history

I'm a member of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation also known as the Alexis Band; our reserve is located in the province of Alberta, Canada. I've been studying the history of our people for many years listening to the elders as they shared their stories. When I was very young we lived by Wakamne now known as Lac Ste. Anne. My grandfather chose an excellent location near the the lake to live. In the old days he could release his horses and did not have to worry about them. Most of the horses usually went to a small lake we called Horse Lake, just east of where we lived. As kids we were never hungry, this spot had blue berries raspberries, strawberries, saskatoons, chokecherries, and cranberries all within a square mile. There was also wild rice, hazel nuts and other edible plant life. The lake was only a hundred yards away so water was never a problem. The lake also provided water fowl their eggs, fish, muskrat, beaver and a plant that grew in it that we ate. In addition to this we always had a garden of vegetables and the Moose, Deer, Elk, and plenty of rabbits. There is plenty of medicine within walking distance of this location. As we sat by the fire smoking the fish from the lake and cooked bannock by the fire our vistors would tell stories. We always had someone new eating with us on many occasions; this was usually when we learned about our history. In our family we were thought to feed visitors even if they were strangers because our elders said you never know when God or one of his helpers might come to visit.

There are two sides to our history the one that was taught to us by the schools we attended and the history that was passed on to us by our parents, our grandfathers, and their grandfathers and so on. There are some things I should tell you before I continue. You will notice that when the elders talk about oral history there are some slight differences when they speak about our history. You must keep in mind that one person's history will be different at times because we were not together all the time. The different family groups lived apart. We came together for the sweat lodge and other ceremonies including the Sundance and the annual buffalo hunt. One other thing that brought us together was war. We are peaceful people but will fight when we have to, our people were left alone most of the time because of our large numbers. We were in control of the horses and the sources of the material used to make arrowheads and spears therefore we did not have to worry about war. Our ability to travel fast on horseback gave us plenty of advantages. We could gather large numbers of warriors to defend our people in a short period of time. Our people could travel throughout the plains in relative safety. 

Some people chose to travel during certain periods of the year, some stayed in the areas they were familiar with. Even today our people travel all over the world and throughout North America but they always come home. Among our people you will find that each family would have their own area that they preferred to hunt, pick berries or plants for food and medicine. After the Sundance which was usually at the end of June or early July each clan would head to their areas and start preparing for the coming seasons while some went on the annual buffalo hunt. 

The end of the Sundance marked the beginning of a cycle that repeated it self year after year. It started with the buffalo hunt. The buffalo was very important to our people because it provided us with food, clothing and shelter. As the buffalo came north during the summer we gathered to hunt them. Our lives depended on our success on the hunt and our ability to be ready for the coming seasons. When the buffalo were slaughtered by the new comers we adapted to hunting in the forests. Moose, Elk, Deer along with the few Wood Buffalo that were left became our main source of protein. 

Summers were spent preparing the hides for either teepees or clothing and some were used for bedding in the winter. While the hides for the teepees were sewn together in the summer to get a new family cover for the coming winter others were busy working at the skills they possessed. The ones with the knowledge to cure would travel about gathering medicines to dry and put away. These ones would take a selected young person who showed promising traits and might one day help cure the people. Some might be busy drying meat and making pemmican to put aside for winter or for traveling. Those skilled at making bows, arrows and spears would be out selecting choice woods for their craft. Young girls were thought by their female relatives about food gathering and were instructed on how they should carry themselves  as women. The boys were thought how to survive and care for their relatives as well as their own families. It was important to teach them to give to those in need within the tribe. Those that did not have anything at the moment might be the ones to help you in your time of need. Since there were so many people with different skills each would trade what they had for what they needed. The grandmothers were never far from the children in this way the old stories were told to the new generation so that they may know their history. Grandfathers thaught about the construction of the drum and the songs that they knew. They would also show how make snowshoes and other useful tools.

Our people and horses were never far from each other and children took to the horse at an early age. Riding skills were mastered during the summer and some were busy training for races or practicing shooting bow and arrow from horseback. Although horses were used for hunting on the plains our people adapted to the changes brought on by the europeans when the buffalo were slaughtered. Hunting in the woods on horse back was impossible at times. In these cases the people used the dogs to carry supplies until they made their kill than went back for the horses to pack the meat out. If you've ever been in the northern woods you would know why this so.

Toward the fall time people felt the change take place within the earth and a sense of urgency took hold. All at once the need for travel became overwhelming. Everyone knew they had to reach their wintering areas before the north winds started blowing. Even the migrating animals and birds started to move south signaling the turn toward winter. 

Our territory was large enough to support the whole tribe in this way. Before all the lines were drawn our people were going back and forth all over North America, sometimes to visit distant relatives, sometimes they went for the buffalo and sometimes on a pilgrimage to a sacred site or Sundance. Other reasons for travel would be to trade for medicines that don't grow in our area or for the stones that we used to make our tools and weapons. While some stone in this area was adequate, some still preferred the old sites within the Sioux territory in the south (U.S.) and would travel there to obtain them. At these times it was not the whole tribe that moved but a few families that wanted to travel for the various reasons mentioned. This is one reason the history might be different, depending on who was speaking. The Sioux nation had a territory that spanned both Canada and United States. This area we are now situated at, presently known as the Alexis reserve is about central to our tribes territory here in Alberta. Keep in mind that there were many tribes of Sioux before contact and they were spread out over the North American continent. Our people lived on this land and roamed about never over hunting or using all the resources. This area I speak of starts around the Jasper National Park and up towards Lesser Slave Lake than on toward Lac la Biche, from there south toward the Great Lakes region down around the head waters of the Mississippi River, then down on west side of the Mississippi at an angle towards Louisiana back up at an angle toward Nebraska west of the Black Hills to the Rockies, from there to Alberta and back toward Jasper National Park. On the U.S. side  its basically what became known as the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

This is a rough out line of our territory. There are many who would dispute this claim, especially those who look at just what they read in the history books. When the history books were written the people who wrote the history had an agenda. It seems their goal was to distort the history to work in their favor. They have published inaccurate and negative propaganda about our people to promote animosity toward us, or to justify some of the the actions they took. Even today this is a pretty common sight in the papers and on television. The history that you read in the books would have you believe that our territory was much smaller then I mentioned above. Its because the early explorers made it appear as if they were dealing with many different tribes when in fact they were dealing with our people, which was actually just one large nation. In the history books and papers our people are reffered to in roughly 30-40 different names. The early explorers were mostly traveling on the rivers so their movements were limited. In most cases they were usually lost and guessing their location.   

With the explorers came the trading posts followed by the establisment of the two new countries Canada and United States. This would lead to the new governments  signing of the treaties. This would eventually mean our people being put on "Reserves", small plots of land that we would never really own.

The Europeans have only been here for a little over four hundred years and in that time they've totally devastated us and are destroying the environment which we all need to survive. All that we had to live for had been taken from us and we had very little to live for. The Europeans took our land by having other tribes sign our land away. Here in Canada and down in United States the tribes that lived on the edges of Sioux territory were approached and made to sign treaty to give up our "Indian rights" to the land. Since it was not their territory they were signing away they had no problems with this.

We held off signing the treaties but lost the land anyway. In the past we did not have "Chiefs" just heads of families but people were appointing themselves Chiefs and selfishly signing treaty to gain the goods promised. To them this piece of paper didn't mean anything but if agreed to, presents would be had. They never understood they were giving up all rights to the land. As a matter of fact some of the old ones said the people were told the whites wanted to build a railroad through our land asked for only enough land for this and that the treaty was only a peace treaty to keep them safe while building their railroad. Our relatives from United States told us what happened there so our people were reluctant to sign. It was said that that over there it also started with a peace treaty and led to loss of land. Some of our people became corrupted by the alcohol and the goods the Europeans had, therefore they did what ever was necssary to gain these goods and alcohol. Some of our people moved west hoping to escape the darkness that was infecting our people. In the end they were not able to move any farther and small groups started to give in and eventually signed treaty.

The rest of our people held out not wanting any part of what was coming. As far as our people were concerned God put us here and gave us all that was here so that we might live. What the old ones predicted was something these ones kept in mind and they tried very hard to keep our way of life. To give in and embrace this change was a quick way to death, not only for us but the whole world as well. We all know why our Warriors, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Gull and our Cheyenne brothers tried to stop time and hold back what was coming. When men give up their freedom and allow others to make decisions for them they give up their right to live as God intended and are forced to accept a way that goes against that gift of free will. Our people always held their own destiny in their hands and to give that up and follow a people with no foresight that were bent on destroying all of Gods creartion was insane. The battle at Little Bighorn was a valiant effort and will be remembered forever. This event marked the beginning of the end for our people. 

After the battle was fought at Little Bighorn the Canadian government made its move to secure our land by signing Treaty Six (1876), which was said to include our Traditional Sioux Territory. Our land here in Alberta and Saskatchewan was signed away by our Cree neighbors to the North and East. The Government didn't seem to care that this was not their territory, and as far as the Cree were concerned it was not their territory that they signed away.

The land was secured by the following events, in 1670 King Charles the II of England gave most of what is Canada to Prince Rupert and his Company of Adventures.

This area (Ruperts Land) covered most of what became Canada with the exception of the province of British Columbia and Alaska and the area that was already settled in the east. This Company of Adventures became the Hudson Bay Company.

The Hudson Bay Company sold this area "Rupert's Land" to Canada for money and some land concessions in 1869.

Canada started to sign the Numbered Treaties in 1870's never once verifying that the tribes signing the treaties were the original inhabitants of these areas. Most of the Sioux Territory in Canada was lost in this way. The following 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 ,7 and 8 were treaties that were signed which included Sioux Territory here in Canada. Some of these treaties had "X's" in place of signatures of our people but history shows none of them had interpreters that could speak the Sioux language.

After the signing of these treaties Canada started to work on trying to subdue us and went to extreme measures to accomplish this goal.

The "British North American Act of 1867" gave jurisdiction over the "Indians and Land reserved for Indians" to the government Canada. This would lead to every aspect of our lives being totally controlled by the government of Canada. It was said that it was established to protect our rights and from being taken advantage of by other people. The government reserve this right for themselves and did take everything for themselves.

The "Indian Act of 1876" was created to farther control our lives. When the adhesion to Treaty Six was finally signed by some of our relatives in 1877 one year after Treaty Six was signed by the Cree. It is said that more then half of the people inhabiting this area were out hunting and therefore had no knowledge of this until the next time they came back to the Lac Ste. Anne area.

The land that Treaty Six is said to be given up by said "Indians" was all Sioux Territory that Cree people signed away. They were given reserves on land that once belonged to the Sioux Nation. Our people were completely ignored in the east with the Cree, Ojibwa and Salteaux signing away Sioux land. While it is true that in this area in the northern half the provinces (east from Saskatchewan to Quebec) were actually Cree, Ojibwa and Salteaux land the southern portion of these were inhabited by Sioux. There are many facts that are not mentioned when the history of Canada is discussed, especially those facts having to do with our people the Sioux Nation. We were ostracized and resented because we fought for what we believed belonged to us. We were called by many different names by those that wrote the history and our side of the story was never told so the lies were perpetuated by the educators of the time. It is only now with the help from those who have educated themselves and the ones that still remember the old stories that we are able to piece together what would otherwise have been lost. We  will finally be able to tell our side of the story.

Our story would have to start from the first time we were affected by the coming of these foreigners and it would be hard not to include the whole Sioux Nation here in Canada and down in United States. These two countries basically started by buying the land from those that had no business selling our land.

In the United States the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 covers what is basically the entire Sioux Territory there. (U.S.) This land went from Spanish possession to France who sold it to United States. The treaties there were first signed in1805 and led to the Sioux Nation losing most of what belonged to us in the U.S. 

Canada did the same thing here with the purchase of "Rupert's Land" in 1869 and followed this by signing the numbered treaties.

In the end we were forced on to the reserves because we had no way to keep our land with the powers that be using divided and conquer tactics. When this did not work they simply had our neighboring tribes sign treaty and took our land. There were many protests but who would listen. Some family groups gave in to salvage a small plot for  themselves, while others thought there was no way they could take our land.