In 1885 rumors abounded. Stories of Lois Riel's return
spread across the country. Riel had returned from the USA, this time with
a vision of a divine calling. He asked all Metis and natives everywhere to
join him. The Smoky Lake History Webpage has the honor of presenting online
A. Blair Stonechild's essay "The Natives' Point of View".
Nearer to home, Big Bear's band attacked Frog Lake and
then Fort Pitt. A few people from Big Bear's band came to the natives at
Whitefish Lake asking them to join the cause. Chief
Pakan is credited with preventing his group from joining the
rebellion, although Peter Erasmus gives his nephew Peter
Shirt some credit with that too.
At Victoria Settlement the people grew scared. For a while
they crossed the river and stayed away. North West Mounted Police came to
the settlement. The palisade wall around the Hudson's Bay Company post was
repaired. The people waited, but no attack came.
The 1885 rebellion was used as justification for the
government to put stricter regulations on the natives.
* * * * * * * * * *
One further source of information available as a part of
this webpage is an essay about Rudy Weibe’s
book The Temptations of Big Bear. Also,
a really good webpage, not a part of this webpage, but another
person's page, about Big Bear can be found at http://www.tcel.com/~brownb/NativeRb.htm.