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Precursor: Focus 1899

Audio Features

Heritage Trails  |  Oral Histories

   

CKUA and the Heritage Community Foundation are proud to present this 500-vignette series of features about Alberta history. Freelance writer and producer Cheryl Croucher has conducted exhaustive research and extensive interviews to present this entertaining and wide-ranging set of three-minute features. Cheryl tells the tales behind historic place names, shares stories, and recounts the thousands of fascinating events drawn from both the history and pre-history of Alberta.

The Heritage Trails series has been produced with a generous grant from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation.

To listen to the CKUA Heritage Trails, you need the Windows Media Player, available free from Microsoft, or a free mp3 player like Winamp or RealPlayer, available free from RealNetworks. Windows Media Player,  RealPlayer and RealJukebox all can play mp3s also. 

Alberta Treaties Overview, Part One
Summary: Find out what historians think treaties meant to the government and the First Nations who negotiated them. Begin your study of treaty making here!
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Treaties Part Two, The Terms, Treaties 1, 2, 3
Summary: What were the early treaties like? Historian Michael Payne explains.
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Treaties Part Three, Treaty 6
Summary: While Treaty 4 was the first to affect an area in what is now Alberta, Treaty 6 had a much greater impact. Listen to find out more!
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

Treaties Part Four, Treaty 7
Summary: Treaty 7 covers most of southern Alberta and was very controversial at the time. Listen to hear more.
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

Treaties Part Five, Treaty 7, Crowfoot & Red Crow
Summary: Crowfoot and Red Crow. How did these important leaders affect the Treaty 7 negotiations? Listen to hear their story.
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Treaties Part Six, Treaty 7, Crowfoot & Red Crow
Summary: Find out more about the fascinating man who was Red Crow, chief of the Kinai, and his position on the signing of Treaty 7.
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

Treaty 8 Part One
Summary: After Treaty 7, the government had secured all the land it considered valuable until a century later when gold was discovered in the Klondike.
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Treaty 8 Part Two: Finding Leaders and Electing Chiefs
Summary: The First Nations people of Northern Alberta did not have chiefs. How then did the government expect to negotiate treaty? Listen to find out!
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Treaty 8 Part Three: Early Dissension Among the Natives
Summary: The Treaty was agreed to, but under pressure from the government and an unexpected group. Listen to hear more.
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Treaty 8 Part Four: The Negotiation
Summary: The signing of Treaty 8 on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake drew dignitaries from government, church and First Nations. What were the benefits to the clergy? Listen to find out.
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Treaty 8 Part Five: The Terms
Summary: The treaty was not unanimously incorporated.find out what happened!
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Treaty 8 Part Six: Script
Summary: The Métis make a strategic mistake. Listen to find out why.
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Treaty 8 Part Seven: Treaty Commission of 1899 and 1900
Summary: Commissioners were sent out to meet with the natives who couldn't make it to the negotiations. What happened next?
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Treaty 8 Part Eight: Finale
Summary: How did the First Nations people who signed the treaty select their reserve land? What about the Métis?
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The Métis, Part One
Summary: Who were the Métis? Historian David Leonard gives a brief history.
  mp3
or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

The Métis, Part Two
Summary: More Métis moved to Alberta after the Métis Rebellion of 1870. Louis Riel once again challenges the dilution of the culture of the West.
  mp3
or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

Naming the Peace River
Summary: The Peace River is one of the longest in Canada - but how did it get its name? Historian Merrily Aubrey discusses.
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Naming Fort Chipewyan
Summary: Historian Merrily Aubrey relates the history of this community - and where it's name came from!
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The Beginning of the Fur Trade in the Peace Region
Summary: Who brought the fur trade to the Northwest? Listen to find out!
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

The Origin of Athabasca
Summary: This area of the province has had many names. How did it come to be named Athabasca? Listen to find out.
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

St. Albert to Athabasca Landing Historic Trail
Summary: The continuation of the trail from Edmonton to St. Albert led to the hub of Athabasca.
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Dominion Land Survey  
Summary: The Dominion Land Survey began in the late 1860s, after Alberta bought Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company. 
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Dominion Land Survey, Part Two: Alberta  
Summary: In 1880, surveyors began sectioning land for homesteading in Alberta. Listen to learn more about how the land was surveyed.
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Dominion Land Survey: Part Three 
Summary: How did the first surveyors get their jobs? Who were they, and what could they expect for their efforts? Listen, and learn.
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

US Canada Boundary Survey: Part One
Summary: The effort to draw a boundary between Canada and the United States dates back to the early 1800s. But not until 1874 was the land ready to be surveyed.
  mp3 or Windows Media or RealAudio | Read

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Oral Histories

During the celebrations and discussion around the 100th anniversary of the signing of Treaty 8 in 1999, a number of oral history interviews were recorded with elders from the area. The interviews we would like to share with you here are just a few samples of what they shared with the interviewers on their recollections of the Treaty signing and the individuals involved . (RealAudio only.)

Victoria Calliou, former Band Councillor, 
Sucker Creek Reservation, Grouard.
Interview in English by Brian Calliou.

Mary Houle, Fort Chipewyan.
Interview in Cree. 

Josephine Mercredi, Fort Saskatchewan.
Interview in Cree.

John Tustawits, Grandson of Duncan Tustawits 
(signer of Treaty 8), Peace River.
Interview in English by Karen Reilly. 

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