Minahikosis (Little Pine)

Minahikosis (Little Pine) was born around 1830 in the Fort Pitt region of present day Saskatchewan to a Blackfoot mother and a Plains Cree father. Little Pine rose to prominence as a warrior in the 1860s in battles with the Blackfoot, the enemies of the Plains Cree. Little Pine led Cree forces in one final battle against the Blackfoot in 1870, in the Battle of Belly River near Lethbridge. By the end of the 1860s, Little Pine was the chief of his own band, which numbered around 300 people.

Little Pine did not attend the Treaty 6 negotiations at Fort Carlton. Little Pine, along with Big Bear, felt that the Treaties did not do enough to protect the Cree from Canadian laws. As well, Little Pine wanted protection for his people's way of life, especially the protection of the buffalo. Little Pine finally adhered to Treaty 6 on July 2, 1879 at Fort Walsh, as his people were starving and needed rations from the government in order to survive.

Even after Little Pine took Treaty, his people continued to roam the prairies in search of buffalo, namely in the Cypress Hills. The rest of Little Pine's life would be dedicated to trying to create a unified Cree territory in South-West Saskatchewan. Little Pine even managed to bring the Blackfoot, the Cree's traditional enemies, into an alliance with the Cree so that the two groups could present a united front to the government in their attempts to get their Treaty grievances met. Little Pine's efforts were met with success when in the Fall of 1884, Little Pine returned with 5 horses from a meeting with the Blackfoot chief Crowfoot and the chief's pledge that they would attend a council with the Cree in the summer of 1885.

Little Pine never saw his hard work and determination come to fruition, as he died on March 26, 1885 on Poundmaker's reservation, the same day as the battle of Duck Lake between the Metis and the Canadian Militia. The Cree would never see their dream of a unified territory come to pass as the North-West Resistance and its aftermath brought an end to the Cree's attempts to get their Treaty grievances met.

Sources - Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume XI, pp. 596-597.