Red Pheasant Cree Nation

PeopleCreeTreatyTreaty 6HeadquartersCandoProvinceSaskatchewanLandMain reserveRed Pheasant 108^[1]Land area253.084^[1] km²Population (2021^[2])On reserve820On other land1Off reserve1,715Total population2,536GovernmentChiefVacant^[3]CouncilTribal CouncilBattlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs^[4]Websitefacebook.com/redpheasantcreenation

The Red Pheasant Cree Nation^[5] (Cree: ᒥᑭᓯᐘᒌᕽ, mikisiwacîhk) is a Plains Cree First Nations band government in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The band's sole reserve, Red Pheasant 108, is 33 km (21 mi) south of North Battleford.^[1]

Chief Wuttunee's people were living along the Battle River when the Numbered Treaties were being negotiated. Wuttunee did not want to sign Treaty 6 but appointed his brother Red Pheasant to sign in his place, and the Department of Indian Affairs henceforth referred to them as the Red Pheasant Band.

In 1878, they settled on a reserve in the Eagle Hills. A day school and an Anglican church were opened there within a decade.

In 2019, Chief Wuttunee secured the return of the original treaty medal which had been stolen in 1890 off the body of a deceased Chief.^[6]

In 2020, Chief Clinton Wuttunee was re-elected to the position of Chief. However, his election and that of one other band councilor were annulled amid substantiated allegations of electoral fraud, including vote buying.^[7] This decision was appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal by Chief Wuttunee and the other band councilor on the basis that any vote buying conducted by them had not been decisive in the election. The appellate court affirmed the annulment of the election, noting the lower court's finding that "Chief Wuttunee and Councillor Nicotine had occupied leadership positions within the RPFN, and that, as such, they were supposed to lead by example. Instead of acting as “bulwarks of First Nation democracy”, however, they endeavoured to corrupt the democratic process." [1]

The band has 2,536 registered members, 821 of whom live on the reserve or other band lands and 1,715 live off reserve.^[2]

• Alex Decoteau, Olympian; first Aboriginal police officer in Canada
• Don Francks (Iron Buffalo), actor, vocalist and jazz musician
• Gerald McMaster, artist, author, and curator
• Robert-Falcon Ouellette, university professor, soldier, federal politician and first Chair of the All Party Indigenous Parliamentarian Caucus in Ottawa.
• Poundmaker (Pîhtokahanapiwiyin), Plains Cree chief known for his role in the North-West Rebellion
• Cree Summer, American actress raised on the Red Pheasant reserve
• Michelle Good, author, winner of the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 2020 for Five Little Indians
• Allen Sapp, Plains Cree Artist, OC, SOM, Grand Nephew of Chief Poundmaker, Grandson of Flying Eagle
• Colten Boushie, Youth killed by local farmer, Gerald Stanley. Not guilty verdict sparked outrage and changes to justice system.

• Thompson, Christian. Red Pheasant First Nation Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. 2006.