Grizzly Bears Head & Lean Man First Nation

Located about 30 kilometers or 18 miles south of Battleford, Saskatchewan, is the Saulteaux Ojibway Grizzly Bears Head and Lean Man First Nation. There are actually four Reserves which make up this Reserve. Others are Mosquito and Red Pheasant. All are connected. Excluding Red Pheasant, the Grizzly Bears Head, Lean Man and Mosquito Reserves cover an area of 17,622.3 hectares or 43,545 total acres. Including Red Pheasant the single Reserve covers 42,930 hectares or 106,082 acres. Below are google earth photos of this Reserve and also a map. This Reserve must be considered one Reserve. Classifying it as 4 Reserves is confusing people. The on-Reserve population of Grizzly Bears Head and Lean Man, is 81 according to the 2011 census. That does not include off-Reserve population. There are 20 housing units at the Grizzly Bears Head and Lean Man Reserve. Average household size is 4.0 persons per household. In 1877, 10,000s of Montana Ojibwa's fled up to the Cypress Hills of Alberta and Saskatchewan. English leaders did not want a large Indian population in the Cypress Hills region because of the regions productivity. In September of 1877, an adhesion to Treaty 4 was signed by Ojibway leaders in the Cypress Hills near or at Fort Walsh. Then in August of 1878, another adhesion was signed to Treaty 6, at Battleford. How do we know these people are Ojibway? Chiefs Red Pheasant and Wuttunee. To learn more about Grizzly Bears Head & Lean Man First Nation, we have to research Jacques Cardinal who was chiefs Okanese and St. Paul's father.

Chief Paul or Chief Okanese?

Neither. According to historians, chief Jean Baptiste Lolo (aka chief Paul or St. Paul) was an off-spring of chief Michael Ooskins Cardinal or chief Okanese. However, they reported that chief Paul was born in 1798. They reported that chief Michael Ooskins Cardinal or chief Okanese, was born sometime between 1795-1837. His father was Jacques Cardinal. He moved west in the late 18th century with Northwest Fur Company and Hudson Bay Fur Company. He settled down to live in what is now the Jasper National Park region of Alberta including land in British Columbia and along Bow River in Alberta and also where the O'Chiese Ojibwa's live, after migrating west. That includes land where Blood and Piikani Reserves are, in southern Alberta. After Northwest Fur Company went out of business, HBC then became attractive to chief Paul and chief Okanese. Chief Paul continued the westward migration and moved to near what is now Kamloops, British Columbia and was considered chief by HBC who used him or bought him. Chief Okanese moved from the Bow River region in Alberta with his Saulteaux Ojibwa subjects, to southwestern Manitoba (it was really southwest Alberta) and also was used by HBC in Montana and Saskatchewan. They settled down near what is now Riding Mountain (it's really Rocky Mountain House) National Park or Jasper National Park. He kept business with HBC or was bought by HBC. He was considered chief by HBC. However, Ojibway leaders did not recognize any of the off-spring of Jacques Cardinal as chiefs. Below are the off-spring of Jacques Cardinal:

Jean Baptiste Lolo (aka chief Paul or St. Paul, Lolo and Okanese)

Michael Ooskins Cardinal or chief Okanese (it means Little Bone in Ojibway)

Cowessess

Keeseekoowenin (HBC appointed chief of Valley River or Totinaowaziibeeng & Keeseekoowenin and Waywayseecappo)

Mekis

O'Soup

Red Pheasant (he led the Ojibwa's from Red Pheasant Reserve including Grizzly Bears Head, Lean Man and Mosquito)

Wuttunee (he was originally considered head chief by HBC yet he let his brother chief Red Pheasant, assume that role)

Yellowhead

As mentioned, none of them were recognized by Ojibway leaders as chiefs. What Ojibway leaders recognized, was each one worked for HBC or the whites who used them to corrupt the Ojibway Nation. Chief Paul was recognized as leader of the British Columbia Ojibwa's (the Shuswap) by HBC but not Ojibway leaders. Chief Paul's influence extended down to near what is now Lolo, Montana which is named after him. Chief Paul along with the other idiotic Paul's of Montana, are traitors. HBC considered chief Paul the leader of the Ojibwa's from California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia up to Yukon and Northwest Territory. Chief Okanese was considered chief of the Ojibwa's from Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba up to Northwest Territories, by HBC. Since each worked for the whites, they certainly did not fight the whites. Worse, they were strict Christians which enraged Ojibway Traditionalists. These idiotic Paul's actually signed treaties on behalf of HBC which means none of those treaties are valid.

Chief Yellow Quill or Chief Kinistin?

Chief Kinistin was pivotal in leading many Ojibway People from southern Manitoba including near Selkirk and Winnipeg, north and northwest to the caribou lands (from Alberta to Manitoba) of the Chipewyan. Chief Kinistin was apparently a sub-chief of chief Yellow Quill. During the late 1860s, chief Yellow Quill stationed many Ojibwa Soldiers at Portage la Prairie to prevent the whites and mixed bloods from Red River Colony, from expanding west. He wanted to negotiate a fair treaty. That happened in the late 1860s yet didn't become formal until August 3, 1871 and August 21, 1871, when treaties 1 and 2 were signed. It's very obvoius that chiefs Yellow Quill and Kinistin, did not accept treaty terms. They signed treaty yet after understanding they were lied to, they followed prophecy. Treaty 4 is actually a treaty that went further to violate treaties 1 and 2. After chief Okanese died in 1870 (chief Paul died in 1868), his son chief Mekis was appointed chief by HBC. Chief Mekis signed Treaty 2 on August 21, 1871. They were set aside land between Dauphin Lake, Duck Mountain National Park and Riding Mountain (aka Rocky Mountain House or Riding Mountain House) National Park or Jasper National Park. A very large Reserve chiefs Yellow Quill and Kinistin negotiated for. However, in response to Ojibway chiefs understanding they had been lied to, England used bribery to force another treaty. That treaty was Treaty 4. Chief Keeseekoowenin, who was chief Mekis brother, took money for that fraudulent treaty signed on September 9, 1875. Chief Mekis was dead before Treaty 4 was signed so HBC used his brother Keeseekoowenin. Chief Yellow Quill and chief Kinistin, obviously rejected English demands. Read Treaty 1 and 2 text. White policy was to bribe Indian leaders to cede Indian land. Many of those Indian leaders had some degree of white blood, as did chiefs Keeseekowenin and Mekis. Below is an excerpt from Treaty 1:

For each Chief who signed the treaty, a dress distinguishing him as Chief. (proof they were not chiefs)

For braves and for councillors of each Chief a dress; it being supposed that the braves and councillors will be two for each Chief.

For each Chief, except Yellow Quill, a buggy.

For the braves and councillors of each Chief, except Yellow Quill, a buggy.

In lieu of a yoke of oxen for each reserve, a bull for each, and a cow for each Chief; a boar for each reserve and a sow for each Chief, and a male and female of each kind of animal raised by farmers, these when the Indians are prepared to receive them.

A plough and a harrow for each settler cultivating the ground.

These animals and their issue to be Government property, but to be allowed for the use of the Indians, under the superintendence and control of the Indian Commissioner.

The buggies to be the property of the Indians to whom they are given.

The above contains an inventory of the terms concluded with the Indians.

So you can detect deceit when deceit is visible. Neither chief Keeseekoowenin nor his brother chief Mekis, had any power to act on behalf of any district of the Ojibwa's of southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan. What happened in 1871, was England agreeing to set aside a large area of land in southwestern Manitoba and adjacent southeastern Saskatchewan, to be an Ojibway Reserve. White surveyors already knew what the productivity of the land in those locations was. They knew the regions where Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain National Park are, were not suited to agriculture.

Kinistin Band of Ojibway
Cote (Keeseekoose Reserve)

Ebb & Flow

Carry The Kettle (aka Piapot)

Cowessess (Crooked Lakes Reserve)

Crane River (aka O'Chi-chak-ko-sippi)

Day Star (Touchwood Hills Reserve)

Gamblers

Gordon (Touchwood Hills Reserve)

Grizzlys Bears Head

James Smith (originally lived at St. Peters Reserve)

Kahkewistahaw (Crooked Lakes Reserve)

Kawacatoose (Touchwood Hills Reserve)

Keeseekoose (Keeseekoose Reserve)

Keeseekoowenin

Lean Man

Little Black Bear (File Hills Reserve)

Long Plain

Mosquito

Muscowpetung (Qu'Appele Lakes Reserve)

Muskoday (originally lived at St. Peters Reserve)

Muskowekwan or Mus-skow-i-gan (Touchwood Hills Reserve)

Ochapowace (Crooked Lakes Reserve)

Okanese (File Hills Reserve)

Pasqua (Qu'Appelle Lakes Reserve)

Peepeekisis (File Hills Reserve)

Peguis (originally lived at St. Peters Reserve)

Piapot (aka Carry The Kettle - Qu'Appelle Lakes Reserve)

Pine Creek

Red Pheasant

Rolling River

Sakimay (Crooked Lakes Reserve)

Sandy Bay

Swan Lake

The Key (Keeseekoose Reserve)

Tootinaowaziibeeng (aka Valley River)

Sapotaweyak (originally a part of Swan River Reserve or Keeseekoose)

Standing Buffalo (Qu'Appelle Lakes Reserve)

Wuskwi Sipihk (originally a part of Swan River Reserve or Keeseekoose)

Fishing Lake

Kinistin

White Bear

Yellow Quill