Pride and Dignity

Luminace: Aboriginal photographic portraits

The photograph of Big Bear in chains (Fig. 12) provides an illustration of the consequences of Big Bear's having taken a stand against the Canadian government to obtain better living conditions for his Cree people during the 1885 Riel Rebellion. Viewed in isolation, this image can easily be passed by with a quick glance, seen as just another photograph of an old Indian. The popular image from this era is of Riel and his men on trial. But a much larger image of the Rebellion emerges when photographs from several different collections are brought together giving a view that expands the role of Aboriginals in this Rebellion. Big Bear opens this sequence by showing "Big Bear trading at Fort Pitt" (Fig. 13) just one year before the Rebellion. Two other photographs show Chief White Cap who was a Dakota (Sioux) and Poundmaker in chains as well. The sequence is composed of 12 photographs and ends with a photograph of the Blackfoot leaders attending 1886 unveiling of the Joseph Brant Monument (Fig. 14)

Mohawk leader Joseph Brant was memorialized for his patriotic relationship to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War by the creation of a monument in the city of Brantford, Ontario, in 1886. The British government had offered Brant sanctuary in Canada if the Americans won the war. Consequently, Brant was given a tract of land along the Grand River in southern Ontario. One year after the Riel Rebellion, patriotic Blackfoot and Cree chiefs (who abstained from the Riel Rebellion) were brought east for the unveiling ceremonies of the Brant memorial. But Big Bear was imprisoned at the Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba serving a three-year sentence for treason-felony. This series of events sent a strong message to Aboriginals across Canada. It would not be until 1990 and the conflict of Mohawks at Oka and Kahnawake, Quebec, that Aboriginals would again make headlines by standing up for their rights in an armed confrontation with the Canadian government.

Source

Figure 12 - Mistahi maskwa (Big Bear, lived ca. 1825-1888), a Plains Cree chief. Photographer: Otto Buell. Albumen print. National Archives of Canada

Source

Figure 13 - Mistahi maskwa (Big Bear, lived ca. 1825-1888, (standing, fourth from the left) a Plains Cree chief trading at Fort Pitt, Northwest Territories, 1884. Photographer: Otto Buell. Albumen print. National Archives of Canada

Source

Figure 14 - Chief Joseph Brant Memorial, Brantford, Ontario, 1886. Photographer: Park & Co., Brantford, Ontario. Albumen print. National Archives of Canada

 

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