b"Returning FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, land has always been a constant in their lives and culture. Before Europeans arrived in what is now North America, many Indigenous people roamed hunting, gathering, and caring for the land that gave them so much. As to thesettlers moved in, Indigenous people worked to pivot and establish themselves as farmers, but obstacles were often in their way. However, many are now looking for ways to return to caring for that land as their ancestors did before them.Land Britain began acquiring land in the 1600s and European settlers moved onto what would one day become Canada. Agreements between the Crown and the Indigenous people who lived on the land were put in place, both verbal and written. These agreements were called treaties and set out how people in the regions would Indigenous people yearn tolive together, and provided compensation for Indigenous people farm, and while some are makingincluding land and supplies. strides, others are still searching.The governmentthe Crownsaid they would help us become farmers. And the leaders back then knew the buffalo were BY: ASHLEY ROBINSON dwindling and they had to act. They had to make some level of partnership, and back then we didn't necessarily have oil and gas. We didn't have casinos, we didn't have hotels, but we needed to adapt the prairies and become partners in its development. And so, agriculture obviously would be the natural thing, Former Enoch Chief Billy Morin said during a presentation at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress on July 1, 2023. Agriculture did work out in some ways for Indigenous people. On Morins own Nation, Enoch located near Edmonton, Alta., his great-great-grandparents farmed. They grew crops such as wheat and barley along with potatoes and turnips, working hard to try and make a go of it, Morin explained.However, farming didnt last long for the residents of Enoch or many other Indigenous groups across the Prairies. During the early 1900s the government took the land they had promised to Indigenous people across Western Canada, giving it to European settlers to farm, Morin says. Enoch lost half of its land base because of this. Many Nations across the Prairies fared the same with their treaty promised land taken from them.Back then, we lost over probably half our land base, probably a third of the city of Edmonton is now on our former land base. Generating a GDP which is unimaginable quite frankly in the context of a small Indian Nation, he added. That's prime farmland, you took away over half of our reserve farmland, and you expect us to be self-sufficient?Nations like Enoch were governed through numerous policies over the years, including having Indian Agents sign off for them to leave reserves. If they did manage to grow any commodities or raise livestock, the Indian Agent would take over and sell them, not the 42SPUDSMART.COMFall 2023"