h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For the second municipal election in a row, my Ward has a First Nation candidate for City Councilor. Last time it was Lewis Cardinal of the Sucker Lake Cree (now an NDP Federal Candidate) and this time it's Duane Good Striker of the Siksika Nation. The thing that really caught my eye about Mr. Good Striker is his campaign headquarters. As I was driving through the river valley this morning, through still disputed land, I was hit in the eye by: http://public.fotki.com/anhaga/fun_stuff/good-striker-campaign-hq.html

Yes, his campaign headquarters is a teepee on the Rossdale Flats, an area of Edmonton which has been pretty much continuously occupied for thousands of years. His HQ is just below the site of Fort Edmonton, at the ford of the North Saskatchewan where Europeans would meet Cree and Siksika to trade. I find it a stroke of genius that he picked a site so pregnant with symbolism.

As further context, here's Paul Kane's painting of Fort Edmonton: http://www.boulderpavement.ca/issue001/bp_content/011_kane/011_img_enlarge_005.jpg Mr. Good Striker's campaign headquarters is virtually exactly where the teepees are in Kane's painting.

Although this journal entry has stirred little (no) interest, I feel I must make a correction to the initial post:

Mr. Good Striker is not Siksika, he is Kainai.

While both the Siksika and the Kainai are Niitsítapi, mistaking one for the other is sort of like calling Tony Blair an Australian -- Australia and England are both members of the Commonwealth, but . . .



As an update: Mr. Good Striker did not win the election.

and what a glorious campaign statement!

'It's raising my profile. It's my advertising budget. It's my daughter's teepee. It's brand new. It's got 12 eagles on it'

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/Candidate%20returns%20native%20roots/3660752/story.html#ixzz13WVtThtl'