Southern Manitoba First Nation's ceremony connects youth with bison herd for education, community-building

A southwestern Manitoba First Nation is turning to its bison herd to help heal a community in crisis.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Chief Vincent Tacan says the First Nation wants to  reinforce positive messaging by connecting young people with traditions and ceremonies — and it's using its bison herd to do that.

The First Nation is experiencing a crisis related to substance use and addiction, he said.

"We need to do something," said Tacan. "This is just one part of the strategy … incorporating the buffalo, the teachings, the ceremonies, that sort of thing — making kids aware that there's other things that they can do."

On Tuesday, more than 100 people braved a winter storm for Sioux Valley's "Honouring the Buffalo" ceremony. The celebration saw students share leftover Halloween pumpkins with the bison, while learning traditional Dakota teachings about the animals.

The event is part of a strategic push to find healthy ways to deal with feelings like stress and loneliness through ceremony and traditional teachings, said Tacan.

"We have a shared history with the buffalo," he said. "We almost got wiped out, just like them. And so bringing them back is, in a way, like bringing our people back."

Sioux Valley media productions co-ordinator Daniza De Paola helped organize the event. It began as a way to find a use for Halloween pumpkins — offering them as a treat for the animals — but evolved into a celebration centred on education and community-building for youth.

"We've had like a rough year.… There's been, like, the meth crisis and all this other stuff," De Paola said. "We need something good."

Bison on the Prairies 

Sioux Valley's chief says working with the bison lets Sioux Valley members look to the future by turning to the past for guidance. For example, the animal can show how by standing together makes the herd strong, he said.

"They're very much like a family group.… Family is important. Protecting each other is important in, you know, surviving and facing the adversities," Tacan said.

"The buffalo, they deal with harsh weather, they deal with wolves, they deal with predation, that kind of thing — and they survive.

"That's what we need to do."

Da Paola says traditionally, the bison were critical for the Dakota. Every part of the animal was used for food, clothing, shelter and tools. 

But "back in the day they were hunted to almost mass extinction," she said.

Now the Dakota are trying to help the animals, with a largely ceremonial herd that was started in 2010 and was Sioux Valley's second herd. It now numbers just over 100.

"They had taken care of us, you know, and so now it's our turn to take care of them," said Da Paola.

That "brings home the point that … we should be protecting our land," she said.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Coun. Anthony Tacan says a new chapter in shared history of the Dakota people and the bison is helping bring the animal back to the Prairies.

There's motivation to keep the animals strong because of the spiritual significance they have for the Dakota, Nakoda and Lakota people, he said.

Coun. Tacan says he hopes more people will come to Sioux Valley's bison compound — just outside the townsite — and find peace. 

"We want our children to be safe here, to come and pray here and get hope here," he said.

"It offers me hope that my children, my sons and the family are still taking care of these buffalo, and hopefully going forward they'll be training other kids that are coming up."

Supporting future generations

Shayla Elk, a Grade 10 representative on Sioux Valley's Junior Chief and Council, shared teaching about the bison during Tuesday's ceremony. It's important to honour the animal because it has been such a critical part of their history, Elk says. 

She learned about the bison from her dad and is now passing her teachings on to her peers — something that's important because she and her contemporaries are the future of the First Nation, she said.

"When you're getting older, you're raised to be the next leaders. You're the next parents, you're the next teachers, you're the next elders," Elk said. "You gotta learn this stuff while you're young."

Chief Tacan says Sioux Valley wants to get more people involved in passing that knowledge down, while helping the community grow stronger.

"Hopefully we can keep progressing as we move along and develop the next generations that are going to carry forward with our culture, our beliefs," he said. "It's encouraging."