Beginnings Contact Us The Treaties The Métis Aboriginal Governance Culture & Lifeways Contested History: Issues

"As kids, we used to ask elders to tell us stories we already knew by heart. We’d say, ‘Can you tell us about this or that historical event? What do you know about it?’ What we were really asking for was their analysis, their particular interpretation of the event as it related to life."¹

History is an ever-evolving concept, and what it is varies from nation to nation. For European settlers it is written and passed down from one generation to the next. For Aboriginal Peoples, it is passed down through a series of complex and often interwoven stories and myths. One way does not take precedence over another.

The hundreds of generations of Aboriginal Peoples who have made the prairie province their home for thousands of years have a multifaceted and rich history. This section will take you into various aspects of this history with special focus in attention given to those Aboriginal Nations who reside within the borders of what is now called the Province of Alberta.

For many Aboriginal Peoples, what it means to be Aboriginal is grounded in the historical context of their people and, more specifically, in the history of their respective Nations.

We cannot foretell the future, but we can gain a greater understanding of the present. Our hope for achieving an understanding about the present is through our Elders – The Keepers of Knowledge.