Though some basic facts can be agreed upon, how a person views the events of the North West Resistance is subjective.
To start with, there has been a movement to re-label the events a "resistance" rather than a "rebellion." Local author Wayne Brown says some historians are also calling the events at Frog Lake the Frog Lake Murders rather than a massacre.
The Battle of Frenchman Butte has been called a stalemate by the federal government. Some graffiti near the rifle pits states "The Indians won this one." Brown pointed it out, saying the statement was accurate.
The Cree "met every one of their objectives," he says.
The treatment of hostages by the Cree is also a matter of contention. Two hostages, Theresa Delaney and Theresa Gowanlock, published a book detailing their treatment in Big Bear's camp. Both women's husbands had been murdered at Frog Lake.
However, it has been established that their story changed sometime between when they were released from the Cree camp and when the book was published. Brown says the women may have changed their story out of fear of losing their husbands' pensions. However, he says it's hard to know whether the published book makes their experience sound better or worse than it actually was.
There are even rumours that Wandering Spirit, who was sentenced to death, somehow survived. Brown says Wandering Spirit's hair colour apparently somehow changed overnight. There is a story that a First Nations man, who had tuberculosis, offered to take Wandering Spirit's place at the gallows. Wandering Spirit slipped away to the United States while his doppelganger died in his place. Brown says, at this time, most people didn't really know what Wandering Spirit looked like. This story is not corroborated by most historical accounts, but it does illustrate how little seems certain when it comes to the Resistance.
More information about the Resistance is about to become public. Brown says that the University of Alberta recently purchased Sam Steele's records and journals, which are very detailed. Eventually they will be available to the public online, and should shed more light on the events of 1885.
Wayne Brown's book, Steele's Scouts: Samuel Benfield Steele and the Northwest Rebellion, can be purchased online at www.heritagehouse.ca.
