Kainai Nation

The Kainai (pronounced g-ai-nah) Nation is a First Nation located in the Canadian province of Alberta with a membership of over 13,000 officially registered Indigenous peoples in the twenty-first century. They are also known as the Blood Tribe, the Kainah, or the Káínawa. Their lands encompass an area of 549.7 square miles (1,423.7 square kilometers) that are bordered by the Belly, Oldman, and St. Mary Rivers in southern Alberta near the border with the American state of Montana. They are one of three Nations that constitute the Blackfoot Confederacy, along with the Siksika and Piikani.

The name of Blood Tribe was given to the Kainai by settlers due to their use of red ochre for face and body painting. This term echoes the origins of the name Blackfoot, which recognized their use of black moccasins. The name Kainai, in turn, means "many chief people" in their native language.

Brief History

The Blackfoot people are believed to be among the earliest inhabitants of the upper Plains region of Canada and the United States. Based on linguistic analyses, it is thought that the collective Blackfoot Nations migrated from eastern North America before arriving in the Plains. Archaeological evidence suggests they have lived in the area for at least 11,000 years. The Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy (called Niitsítapi in the Blackfoot language, meaning "real people") originally shared a large territory that ranged from the Saskatchewan River in the north to the Yellowstone River in the south, and was surrounded by the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Sand Hills of Saskatchewan to the east.

Among their first interactions with Europeans was with members of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. This led to a brief, violent confrontation with a small band of Blackfoot. Later settlers largely avoided direct contact with the Blackfoot peoples due to their reputed ferociousness.

They were highly dependent on the buffalo for food and hides. Collectively, the Blackfoot Nations were renowned for the methods they used to hunt buffalo, which involved chasing herds off cliffs. Many Blackfoot people sold beaver pelts to the Hudson's Bay Company to trade for European goods. The company's trading outposts were both helpful and disastrous to the Kainai. While the interaction provided them with access to horses and guns that transformed the way they hunted buffalo, it also exposed the Kainai to new diseases, such as smallpox, that devastated their population. In addition, as they were so dependent on the buffalo, its near extinction at the end of the nineteenth century caused the Kainai and other Blackfoot peoples great distress.

The joint Blackfoot Confederacy was fiercely resistant to European settlers' encroachment in Canada and the United States. They were among the last Indigenous peoples to sign a peace agreement with either the United States or British-controlled Canada. In 1855, with the buffalo in great decline and the US government pursuing more aggressive tactics against Plains Indian Nations, the Blackfoot Confederacy signed the Lame Bull Treaty, agreeing to move onto a reservation in exchange for government-provided goods and services. In Canada, the Blackfoot agreed to similar terms with the British through Treaty 7 in 1877. Under the language of this treaty, the Kainai and other Nations moved onto reserves (the Canadian equivalent of reservations), where they were granted exclusive hunting rights. The Kainai received an area of 50,000 square miles (130,000 square kilometers) south of the Red Deer River to share with the Siksika and Tsuutʼina people (formerly known as Saahsi, Sarcee, or Sarsi), where they established the two reserves Blood 148 and Blood 148A.

Kainai leader Red Crow had not agreed to the Treaty 7 terms, however, and instead requested an area within their traditional homelands. After government surveys of the requested area, the Kainai were granted 708.4 square miles (1834.75 square kilometers) of land; however, this area was reduced to 547.5 square miles (1418 square kilometers) a year later without explanation.

The loss of the buffalo and the repression of their traditional culture had severe and lasting adverse effects on the Kainai people. Many modern Kainai who live on the Nation's reserve require government assistance. The few jobs that exist on Kainai lands typically were provided through Indigenous groups.

In 2011, the Kainai Nation asked for a temporary moratorium on oil fracking on their lands. A Kainai-owned company called Kainaiwa Resources Inc. (KRI) had previously signed a cooperative deal with energy companies to allow the increasingly controversial practice of fracking on their lands. The initial deal guaranteed fifty million Canadian dollars to the Kainai in exchange for exclusive rights to roughly half of the Kainai reserve lands for energy development. However, Kainai leaders expressed concern that chemicals used in fracking may negatively affect the health of their people and lands. Nonetheless, the possible loss of this income had the potential to heighten the existing economic struggles of the reserve's residents.

Overview

The Kainai language is among the westernmost examples of the broader Algonquian language family. Within the Algonquian group, the Kainai language is defined as part of the Blackfoot branch of Plains Algonquian. It is mutually intelligible with the Siksika and Piegan dialects of Blackfoot.

While their homelands have been greatly diminished since the arrival of European settlers, the Kainai reserve remains the largest in Canada. It is about 124 miles (200 kilometers) south of Calgary. The primary towns within the reserve include Stand Off, Moses Lake, Old Agency, Fish Creek, and Fort Whoop-Up.

The Kainai hold certain ceremonial objects in particular esteem. Among these are medicine pipe bundles, beaver bundles, and sun dance bundles. These bundles traditionally contained an assortment of small ceremonial objects believed to be important by their respective owners. While the contents were meant to be kept secret, they typically included such materials as rocks, arrowheads, seeds, animal teeth, bones, tobacco, eagle-bone whistles, beads, and other objects that had special symbolism unique to the individual. These objects were used in ceremonial rituals and composed a central part of the Kainai's religious traditions. The bundles of shamans often included a larger collection of materials that might be used as medicine. It was important that these objects never touch the ground, so the Kainai secured them in ornamental bags or bundles that were passed down through successive generations. The Kainai sun dance ritual is also among their most important religious ceremonies.

In 2014, the Kainai Nation signed the Iinii Treaty or Buffalo Treaty. This agreement was signed by many other Northern Plains Indigenous nations aiming to conserve the lands and animals of the region, including buffalo conservation efforts. In 2019, the Kainai were awarded $150 million from the Canadian government for the mismanagement of Kainai cattle from 1894 to 1923.

Bibliography

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Dempsey, Hugh A. "Kainai (Blood)." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 25 Aug. 2023, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/blood-kainai. Accessed 15 Mar. 2017.

Hanes, Matthew C., and Matthew T. Pifer. "Blackfoot." Countries and Their Cultures, www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Blackfoot.html. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Kennedy, Paul. "Legends of the Kainai." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 19 Apr. 2013, www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/legends-of-the-kainai-1.2913405. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Minahan, James B. "Blackfoot." Ethnic Groups of the Americas: An Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio, 2013, pp. 60–64.

"Native Languages of the Americas: Blackfoot (Siksika, Peigan, Piegan, Kainai, Blackfeet)." Native Languages, www.native-languages.org/blackfoot.htm. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Peers, Laura, and Alison K. Brown. "Colonial Photographs and Postcolonial Relationships: The Kainai-Oxford Photographic Histories Project." First Nations, First Thoughts: The Impact of Indigenous Thought in Canada, edited by Annis May Timpson, U of British Columbia P, 2009, pp. 123–43.

Schertow, John Ahni. "Blood Tribe Members Call for Moratorium on Hydro Fracking." Intercontinental Cry, 11 Mar. 2011, intercontinentalcry.org/blood-tribe-members-call-for-moratorium-on-hydro-fracking. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Weasel Head, Frank. "Repatriation Experiences of the Kainai." We Are Coming Home: Repatriation and the Restoration of Blackfoot Cultural Confidence, edited by Gerald T. Conaty, Athabasca UP, 2015, pp. 151–81.