Saddle Lake Cree Nation
Saddle Lake Cree Nation is an Amiskwacīwiyiniwak ("Beaver Hills Cree") division of the Plains Cree, historically speaking the Plains Cree language and located in central Alberta. The Nation is a signatory to Treaty 6. This First Nation's governing structure is unusual in that it has two separate councils and chiefs governing different Indian reserves, one called the Saddle Lake Cree Nation (proper) and the other called the Whitefish Lake First Nation, often called "Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake First Nation" to distinguish it from a similarly named group in Manitoba. For the purposes of the Indian Act however the Saddle Lake and Whitefish are one band government.
In June 2013, the Nation reported a population of 9,934 people, of which 6,148 people lived on their own Reserve. Their reported population size makes Saddle Lake the second most populous First Nation in Alberta (after the Kainai Nation also known as the Blood people). Of these 2,378 were members of the Whitefish Lake First Nation, with 1,778 of those lviving on-reserve, and remainder are members of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation proper.
In 1876, the Amiskwacīwiyiniwak, who were a loose confederation of Cree and Assiniboine band societies (part of the wider Iron Confederation), entered into a treaty relationship with Canada through Treaty 6. Chief Onchaminahos ("Little Hunter") for the Saddle Lake Band of Cree, and Chief Pakân ("Nut") for Whitefish Lake Band of Cree represented the ancestors of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation at negotiations and signing Fort Pitt (now in Saskatchewan). Chief Pakan, along with Big Bear argued for one large reserve of 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) for all the Plains and Woods Cree in the West, so they could hunt and farm together. When the government did not agree to this, Pakan's and Big Bear's bands refused to settle on reserves until better term were offered, and Pakan when to Regina with the Métis translator Peter Erasmus in 1884 to discuss the matter with the Indian commissioner.
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