Alexander Cree Nation is a First Nations band government, headquartered 17km West of Morinville, Alberta. This First Nation is part of the Cree ethno-linguistic group.
Tribal Name: Alexander Cree First Nation
Address: PO Box 3419, Morinville, Alberta T8R 1S3
Phone: 780-939-5887
Fax: 780-939-6166
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Band No. 438
Traditional Name: Kipohtakaw, Nehiyaw (Plains Cree)
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Aboriginal Status: Cree Indians
Province: Alberta
Geographic Region: Plains
Reserve No. 134 Name: Alexander 134
Location: Located in Sturgeon County, Alberta. 40 KM Northwest of the city of Edmonton.
Size: 68.71 km2 (26.53 sq mi)
Reserve No. 09434 Name: Alexander 134A
Location: 25 KM SE OF Fox Creek
Size: 2303.5 Hectares
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Reserve No. 09435 Name: Alexander 134B
Location: 36KM NW OF Barrhead
Size: 3.40 Hectares
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Treaties: Treaty Six, Signed at Carlton and Fort Pitt in 1876. Most of the First Nations in the Fort Edmonton district entered Treaty 6 on August 21, 1877, with local chiefs and headmen signing the adhesion to the treaty in a ceremony near the riverbank.
Negotiators for the government of Canada committed the new nation to certain obligations to the indigenous peoples of this district in Treaty 6.
Among other promises, the Crown pledged in signed documents:
- one square mile of land for each family of five, or about 128 acres per capita, in a permanent reserve;
- hunting and fishing rights; farming implements and seeds; rations during times of famine;
- a school, should they request it;
- a medicine chest;
- annual payments of $25 to the chief and five dollars to each member of the band; a new suit of clothes for the chief every three years; and a treaty medal.
In return, Treaty 6 required the chiefs of the North-West Territories, including present-day central Alberta, to “cede, surrender, release and yield up to the Government of the Dominion of Canada for Her Majesty the Queen and her successors, forever, all their rights, titles and privileges whatsoever” to 313,400 square kilometres of their traditional territory.
The First Nations maintained an oral history of the Treaty 6 negotiations in the years that followed. Their understanding of the promises made during negotiations varies from the federal government’s written account in certain respects.
Two First Nations in the Edmonton area – the Papaschase band and the Michel band – no longer own the reserves they negotiated under Treaty 6.
Population: 2,164 as of September 2016
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Famous Contemporary People:
Actor Nathaniel Arcand is Plains Cree (Nehiyaw), from the Alexander First Nation Reserve. He was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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The Alexander Cree Nation west of Morinville is named for its early chief, Kipohtakaw.
Chief Alexander defended treaty rights vigorously in messages to the federal government between 1888 and 1900. He was deposed in 1903 by federal government order; he was reinstated after the Alexander band surrendered 39 square kilometres at Riviere Qui Barre in 1905.
Edmonton MP Frank Oliver became Canada’s Minister of the Interior that year. To encourage more land surrenders across the prairies, he introduced legislation to offer bands direct access to 50 per cent of land sales, and to make the tendering process more flexible for speculators.
In July 2002, the Alexander First Nation signed the settlement of a historic land claim dating back to 1905. The settlement provided the Alexander First Nation with $63 million in compensation for damages and losses suffered for the illegal surrender of 3,851 hectares [9, 518 acres] of reserve land. This settlement amount was substantial because the former reserve lands are productive agricultural lands and were part of a gas unit producing natural gas from 1955 to 1997.
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Incoming search terms:
- alexander first nation