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The Nakoda (also known as Stoney, Îyârhe Nakoda, or Stoney Nakoda) are an Indigenous people in Western Canada and the United States.

Their territory used to be large parts of what is now Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Montana, but their reserves are now in Alberta and in Saskatchewan, where they are scarcely differentiated from the Assiniboine.

They refer to themselves in their language as Nakoda, meaning 'friend, ally'. The name Stoney was given to them by anglophone explorers, because of their technique of using fire-heated rocks to boil broth in rawhide bowls. They are very closely related to the Assiniboine, who are also known as Stone Sioux (from Ojibwe: asinii-bwaan).

The Nakoda First Nation in Alberta comprises three bands: Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney.

The Stoney were "excluded" from Banff National Park between 1890 and 1920. In 2010 they were officially "welcomed back".

Nakoda groups

The Nakoda are descendants of individual bands of the Assiniboine, from whom they spun out as an independent group in about 1744. The Nakoda was divided geographically and culturally into two tribal groups or divisions with different dialects, which in turn were further divided into several bands:

Wood Stoney (Chan Tonga Nakoda – 'Big Woods People', often called Swampy Ground Assiniboine, northern tribal group)

• Alexis' band (Stoney, Métis, Woodland Cree)
• Paul's band (Danezaa, Stoney, Woodland Cree, Iroquois)

Mountain Stoney (Ye Xa Yabine Nakoda or Hebina – 'Rock Mountain People', often called Strong Wood Assiniboine, Thickwood Assiniboine, southern tribal group)

• Sharphead's band (Chipos Ostikwan's Nakoda, Wolf Creek Stoney, or Pigeon Lake Stoney, often called Plains Assiniboine) (Stoney, Métis)
• Stoney Nakoda First Nation, Comprising the three following bands:
  1. Wesley's (Goodstoney's) band (Stoney, Plains Cree, Métis)
  2. Chiniki's band (Métis, Stoney, Plains Cree)
  3. Bearspaw's band (Stoney, Cree)

Treaties

Members of the Nakoda nations of Paul and Alexis signed an adhesion to Treaty 6 in 1877.

In 1877, representatives of the Nakoda Nations of Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney met with representatives of the British Crown to discuss the terms of Treaty 7. In exchange for the use of traditional lands, the Crown agreed to honour their right to self-government and an ancestral way of life. They were also promised reserve lands, 279 km situated along the Bow River between the Kananaskis River and the Ghost River, which became the Big Horn, Stoney, and Eden Valley reserves, shared between the Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Goodstoney tribes.

See also

• Sioux language
• Nakota
• First Nations in Alberta
• List of Indian reserves in Alberta

Further reading

• John Snow, Chief: These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places. The Story of the Stoney People. Univ of Toronto Press, 1977; Dundurn 1994; Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2006

Notes

1. "Mountain". Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online. Stoney Education Authority. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
2. "Stoney Nakoda". Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online. Stoney Education Authority. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
3. "wowîhâ". Stoney Nakoda Dictionary Online. Stoney Education Authority. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
4. "Stoney Nation: Our History". Stoney Nation Website. Stoney Nation. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
5. "Bearspaw, Chiniki, Wesley Nakoda Nations (Stoney)". Treaty 7 Management Corporation. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
6. Binnema, Theodore (Ted); Niemi, Melanie (October 2006). "'Let the Line Be Drawn Now': Wilderness, Conservation, and the Exclusion of Aboriginal People from Banff National Park in Canada". Environmental History. 11 (4): 724–750. JSTOR 3985800.
7. The Stoney Nakoda Nation is welcomed back to Banff National Park | First Nations in British Columbia Portal
8. Raymond DeMallie, William Sturtevant: Handbook of North American Indians: Plains, ISBN 978-0-16-050400-6, pp. 596–603
9. "Northwest Plains History". Heritage Database Counseling. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
10. "Articles of Treaty No. 7". Treaty 7 Management Corporation. Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
11. January 29, 1933 – June 15, 2006; Book-Excerpt

v t e First Nations in Alberta
Cultural areas: Plains, Subarctic
Ethnolinguistic groups (by language family)	Algic / Algonquian Blackfoot Cree Plains Woodland Saulteaux Athapascan / Dene Daneẕaa Dënesųłı̨ne Dene Tha' Tsuut'ina Siouan Nakoda
Historical polities	Blackfoot Confederacy Iron Confederacy
Numbered Treaties	Treaty 6 (1876) Treaty 7 (1877) Treaty 8 (1899)
Tribal councils and band governments	Athabasca Tribal Council (Fort McMurray) Athabasca Chipewyan Chipewyan Prairie Fort McKay Fort McMurray Mikisew Cree Blackfoot Confederacy (Standoff) Kainai Piikani Siksika Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations (Enoch) Alexander Alexis Beaver Lake Cree Cold Lake Enoch Cree Ermineskin Cree Frog Lake Whitefish Lake (Goodfish) Heart Lake Kehewin Cree Louis Bull Montana O'Chiese Paul Saddle Lake Samson Cree Sunchild Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council (Atikameg) Loon River Cree Lubicon Lake Band Peerless Trout Whitefish Lake (Atikameg) Woodland Cree Lesser Slave Lake Indian Regional Council (Slave Lake) Driftpile Kapawe'no Sawridge Sucker Creek Swan River North Peace Tribal Council (High Level) Beaver Dene Tha' Little Red River Cree Tallcree Stoney Nakoda - Tsuut'ina Tribal Council (Tsuut'ina) Stoney Nakoda Bearspaw Chiniki Wesley Tsuut'ina Tribal Chiefs Ventures (Beaver Lake Cree) Beaver Lake Cree Cold Lake Frog Lake Heart Lake Kehewin Cree Western Cree Tribal Council (Valleyview) Duncan's Horse Lake Sturgeon Lake Yellowhead Tribal Council (Morinville) Alexander Alexis O'Chiese Sunchild Unaffiliated Bigstone Not federally recognized Aseniwuche Winewak Lubicon Lake Indian Nation Not headquartered in Alberta Acho Dene Koe (NT) Kelly Lake (BC) Onion Lake (SK) Smith's Landing (NT) Terminated Papaschase (1891) Sharphead (1897) Michel (1958)
List of Indian reserves in Alberta Métis in Alberta

• Nakoda (Stoney)
• Plains tribes
• First Nations in Alberta
• Native American tribes in Montana