Film screening celebrates “Return of the Buffalo”

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on September 26, 2024.

Herald photos by Alexandra Noad Members of the community take part in a round dance around the light up buffalo puppets after watching the film "Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo" on Monday evening at the University of Lethbridge.

Students and faculty of the University of Lethbridge, as well as members of the community had the opportunity to watch the independent film Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo this week.

The film follows Leroy Little Bear and Amethyst First Rider as they teach a group of puppeteers Indigenous ways of knowing about the buffalo.

The puppeteers take what they learn and apply it in their performance to celebrate the return of the buffalo to Banff National Park with light-up puppets which resemble buffalo as well as Napi, a trickster in Indigenous stories.

Little Bear, vice-provost of Iniskim Indigenous relations at the university, says the buffalo are not only a keystone species to Indigenous culture, it is also a keystone species to the land.

“It’s a keystone species with regard to culture, but the buffalo is also a keystone to the environment. Wherever the buffalo roams, it eco-engineers the land,” said Little Bear.

The Buffalo Treaty was signed in September of 2014 with an additional four signatures being added in the following August for a total of eight signatures.

This cross-border treaty is an agreement of cooperation, renewal and restoration. It was an Indigenous-led effort to preserve prairie ecosystems as well as their culture.

In July of 2018, 31 bison were released into Banff National Park. According to a report done by Parks Canada, in 2022 there was approximately 80 bison in the area.

Little Bear believes bringing the buffalo back to the parries is helping restore the Indigenous culture.

“So, the thing is the buffalo coming back and the restoration of its return, it’s really bringing back memories, knowledge and so on that may have fallen by the wayside,” said Little Bear.

Little Bear added that Truth and Reconciliation fits right in line with the Buffalo Treaty and both should be celebrated together.

Following the viewing of the film, spectators were led by traditional drumming and singing by the Kainaiwaa Singers, to the outside of the university, where there was a spectacular view of the lit-up buffalo puppets.

The night concluded with traditional round dances for all who wanted to join.