Big Bear: The End of Freedom

Big Bear was born near Jackfish Lake in about 1825. In the course of his long life, he saw the disappearance of the buffalo, the increasing incursion of white settlers into the North-West, and the end of the way of life that First Nations had known for millennia. His adherence to traditional customs, and his determination to prevent his people from being reduced to poverty and subservience, led the federal government to consider him a troublemaker, despite the fact that his resistance was peaceful. This biography, first published in 1984, remains the definitive study of the life of Big Bear.