Piikuni

I wish to pay homage to our people who have suffered through hardship and strife in a land of plenty, I have fortunately been exposed to our history and recent historic events that need to be put down on paper or they will be lost. I will qualify this statement, by writing this book as a first hand observer and participant as a niitsitapiikowan. The many hours of quality time spent in the natural environment and travelling down the roads with our senior experts of niitsitapyapii (the Real ways) has given me a rare privilege to be schooled and ultimately corrected on thinking I believed I knew something about. Through our relatives; history has tied us to significant events that have shaped our present political and social way of life as a people. I come from a unique history and background in an era of time that experienced the most significant changes in the America's, by sitting down and capturing my thoughts, it will lead the reader into a connection with my ancestors and help to explain how events and circumstances have changed our way of life as a people.