Ray Lavalee

À travers le Créateur, le bison s’est offert en cadeau au peuple cri des Plaines pour lui procurer nourriture et assurer sa survie. Autrefois, le plus imposant mammifère terrestre d’Amérique du Nord parcourait les vastes plaines au nombre de 30 à 50 millions. Il a fourni abri, nourriture, vêtements, outils, équipement de chasse, objets cérémoniels et plusieurs autres nécessités aux habitants des Plaines.

Mais vers 1889, il ne restait plus qu’un millier de bisons et la vie des Cris des Plaines a changé. Encore de nos jours, on voue un grand respect au bison en souvenir de la vie harmonieuse qui a déjà existé.

Cette histoire relate la façon dont le bison s’est donné sans compter.

Educator Information
This resource is also available in English and Plains Cree y-dialect: Honouring the Buffalo: A Plains Cree Legend

Additional Information
50 pages | 11.00" x 8.50"

"A long time ago, Our People came from the Northern Woodlands to the Great Plains looking for food," Grandfather said. "They saw that the Buffalo lived in harmony with Mother Earth the same as Our People did."

Through the Creator, the buffalo gave themselves as a gift for the sustenance and survival of the Plains Cree people. The largest land animal in North America once thundered across the Great Plains in numbers of 30 to 50 million. They provided shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting gear, ceremonial objects and many other necessities for those who lived on the Plains.

But by 1889, just over a thousand buffalo remained, and the lives of the Plains Cree people changed. The buffalo is honoured to this day, a reminder of life in harmony with nature as it was once lived. This is the story of how the buffalo came to share themselves so freely.

Educator Information
The text is in English and y-dialect Plains Cree.  Y-dialect Plains Cree translation by Randy Morin, Jean Okimasis, and Arok Wolvengrey.

This resource is also available in French: Hommage au bison.

Additional Information
48 pages | 11.00" x 8.50"