different cultures . . . prairie neighbours
2019 MOVING FORWARD WITH RECONCILIATION
The partnership of Clayton McLain Memorial Museum, Little Pine First Nation, and Lucky Man Cree Nation was awarded funding from the National Indian Brotherhood Trust for “Moving Forward with Reconciliation.” The project involved a series of three events marking 140 years since Chief Minahequosis (Little Pine) and Chief Papaway (Lucky Man) added their names as Treaty 6 signatories. At the time, their people were experiencing starvation following the extermination of the buffalo.
Chief Wayne Semagnis and Councilor Richard Checkosis of Little Pine First Nation initiated the project. The Museum holds in trust many sacred artifacts originally collected by Clayton McLain. These items are not on public display; they remain separate and are cared for by elders following sacred protocols.
“Jacob Pete spoke on behalf of the project saying the collaboration gave them the opportunity to share history, which didn’t always include good stories. Their band, due to starvation and other issues, were forced to migrate hundreds of miles to where they are now. “If it were not for Clayton McLain, who gathered and preserved all of the artifacts, they would have been lost,” Pete said.”
– from “Area Museums Rewarded” by Sherri Solomko, Unity-Wilkie Press-Herald
Recipients of the 2020 Museums Association of Saskatchewan Award of Merit
2010 TRAILS OF 1885
Trails of 1885 was a tourism initiative that spanned Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Museums, historic sites and communities joined together to commemorate the events that occurred in 1885 during the Northwest Resistance. Local involvement included guest speaker, historian Bill Waiser, at the Cut Knife Elks Theatre and a re-enactment of the Battle of Cut Knife Hill.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum 