On July 2, people gathered outside Fort Walsh to commemorate 140 years since Chief Luckyman and Chief Little Pine signed their Treaty.

The event called “Moving forward with reconciliation,” was hosted by Clayton Mclain Memorial Museum, Little Pine First Nation, Luckyman Cree Nation, and Parks Canada.

“It was so nice to be back in my ancestors’ traditional lands. Listening to the chief say it was time for us to return home was moving,” said Trish Greyeyes, executive director of the Office of the Treaty Commissioner.

“Chief Alvin Francis from Nekaneet Frist Nation talked about how he had been telling the ranchers in the area how First Nations people would start returning to this land.”

During the event band members stayed in tipis outside the fort and shared stories. They spoke of how their ancestors would come to the area to pick medicine, and how communities would come together. There were also sad moments, as people talked about the Cypress Hills Massacre, when more than 20 people died in a mass murder.