By: Carol Baldwin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tuesday, September 30, 2025, the Good Neighbours Food Centre hosted a viewing of the documentary “Reserve 107: A Path Forward.” An introduction, including some background information, was given by Barb and Wilmer Froese, whose farmland encircles Stoney Knoll.
At the heart of the story of Reserve 107 are the Young Chippewayan people. On August 23, 1876, Chief Chippewayan and four headmen signed Treaty 6 at Fort Carlton, and in 1879, a reserve was surveyed for them. When Chief Chippewayan passed away in 1877, his son, Young Chippewayan, became the hereditary chief, and the Department of Indian Affairs adopted his name as the name for the band. When the North-West Resistance took place, the Young Chippewayan Band was considered to have participated, and annuity payments to the Band were withheld. This, combined with the difficult years between signing Treaty 6 and the Resistance, when the band was unable to sustain itself on its Stony Knoll Reserve as it attempted to transition to farming, led band members to scatter, mostly in the search for food. The circumstances under which the Chippewayan Band originally left Stoney Knoll were described by Albert Snake in 1955 at a meeting convened at the Sandy Lake Reserve to record his recollections of the events surrounding the loss of the reserve.
“When my grandfather signed the treaty, he was promised…a new way of life, and that was to know how to farm and to receive a grant of farming implements. This would help his people to get started on farming. Food was also promised to my grandfather while his people were on a process of learning how to farm for their living. My grandfather waited for all this, and there was no sign of any coming when we left our reserve. … I remember also that my grandfather and the men sis some trapping of fur-bearing animals and did well on that….So we didn’t starve that winter. …”
In 1897, through an Order in Council, the Government of Canada reappropriated the reserve lands and opened them up for settlement. Over time, Mennonite and Lutheran settlers arrived and homesteaded on the land, and St. John’s Lutheran Church, which relocated to the town of Laird in the 1950s, was built on the hill known as Stoney Knoll.
For decades, the stories lingered throughout the village of Laird about descendants of the Young Chippewayan Band coming in the 1970s and claiming that the land of the local farmers actually belonged to their Indigenous First Nation through a treaty signed between their ancestors and the Government of Canada. One person in attendance at Tuesday’s viewing remembered being a young person in Laird at that time, and the fear and uncertainty that local people felt. Treaty education was not part of the Saskatchewan education system, and any teaching followed the approved narrative that the First Nations had signed away their right to the land. At that time, First Nations did not have the public voice they do now, and the general public did not understand what had occurred between First Nations and the government, trusting that whatever had transpired had been fair and above board. As Canadians watched the Civil Rights movement in the United States, they did so blithely unaware of the injustices here.
First Nations and the land reserved for them are a federal responsibility however, under the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement of 1930, where Canada transferred the remaining Crown land, minerals and resources to Saskatchewan, the province became legally obligated to help Canada fulfill Treaty Land Entitlements (TLEs), because Saskatchewan agreed, among other conditions, to make unoccupied Crown land available to fulfill outstanding TLE obligations. By the 1970s, the amount of available unoccupied Crown land was not sufficient and/or in suitable locations to settle all the outstanding TLE claims.
On June 17, 1982, Chief Alfred Snake requested on behalf of the Young Chippewayan Band an examination into a claim regarding Reserve 107, but was rejected. In 1993, the Indian Claims Commission began an inquiry into the specific claim of the Stoney Knoll Indian Reserve and concluded that it was “clear that none of the people associated with Stoney Knoll Reserve, whether members, former members, or their descendants, were consulted with respect to the transfer of the reserve.” (p 26, Report on: Inquiry into the Claim of the Stoney Knoll Indian Reserve No. 107, Dec. 1994) In 2017, Canadian Senator Lilian Dyck from Saskatchewan invited members of the Stoney Knoll group to Parliament Hill to show the original documentary, “Reserve 107”, and to share their story with the Senate. But it was not until 2022 that the Canadian government validated the Stoney Knoll land claim.
The Canadian government was to have its first meeting with Stoney Knoll representatives in April 2025, but with the election that took place, a reshuffling of government portfolios, and now two different government departments being involved, there is yet another hurdle to cross before movement can occur.
In 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by representatives of the Young Chippewayan First Nation, Mennonites and Lutherans, to work together for “a timely and respectful resolution of the issues which history has left to us.”
The reconciliation happening at Stoney Knoll goes beyond documentaries and trips to Parliament Hill. It is a living example of how, in the words of Kim Weenie, daughter of elected Chief Sylvia Weenie and the late Chief Ben Weenie, the actions and intentions of today can move things forward tomorrow. The intent has not been to dispossess people of the land they have tended and cared for, but rather to share the truth and become partners in working for the righting of a wrong, sharing spaces, and moving forward as friends. Barb Froese said in the documentary, “That place [Stoney Knoll] became a different place.”
Surrounded by grain fields is the Stoney Knoll Interpretive Site, which grew out of Wilmer and Barb Froese’s vision to have a permanent, visible record of this ongoing story of reconciliation. The official opening ceremony for the Interpretive Site was held on June 22, 2022, with more than 150 adult guests, plus several classes of students from area schools. The event was put on by the Stoney Knoll Historical Committee, a group of Mennonite, Lutheran and Indigenous representatives dedicated to sharing this reconciliation story. At the site, a series of storyboards details the history and significance of the area. There is also a gathering circle where guests can pause for reflection, discussion, or prayers.
The Stoney Knoll people and the Laird community show what it looks like to come together, people to people, and walk forward together. The wheels of government turn ever so slowly and often seem to defy any action at all. But the action of reconciliation does not rest solely on the governments’ shoulders; individuals at grassroots levels can reach out as friends and allies to learn and share truth, not only on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, but all year long.
As Barb said in her introduction, “Reconciliation takes daily commitment, patience, risks, frustration, and faith.”