Page 16 - 1st Anthology 2011

In our ways today they won’t recognize Big Belly as a good Chief because today our Chief
and Council they’re just busy fighting the government all the time. Which is a good thing

though. Or else we would still be under the government that used to treat us the way they
did before. I shouldn’t say Indians, I should say aboriginal people.

Chief Big Belly well he tried to put the people together, to decide how the reserve should
be organized instead of Indian agent ways. That was his main project, and he tried. Today
a lot of the organization comes from him, the Chief and Council how they operate. There
are thirteen now, than from a one man Chief we had before. The councilors are not called
councilors, they were called Minor Chiefs. They turned away from that and now they call

them councilors. I don’t remember when it was changed. For every one hundred people
there’s one councilor.

Chief Big Belly’s real name is Runningdownthehill in our language. The Indian agent
changed it and put it as Big Belly. Big Belly was a nickname for George Big Belly the
father. When he was small he had a potbelly. You see it in Africa with young children
with potbellies, because of starvation. That’s how he was named Big Belly. He had a
potbelly and they carried it on until Rosie found out the difference and she changed it.

She got Dr. Murray to change it. Anyway, that’s how come we have Runners now. There’s
Steve Runner, Tom Runner, Margaret Runner, and Dorothy Runner. And they all used to
be Big Belly’s. That man had a story to his name Runningdownthehill, but I don’t want to
say it because I don’t want to make up stories.

They want to take my land away and give it to someone else. I already gave up land to one
of my grandsons and great great grandsons. They took my land away before. It to my
neighbors, and it was Chief Jim Starlight that stood up for me and gave me land. He said

people are complaining that my horses and cattle are on the road all the time.

Chief and Council, without me knowing they gave some land away from where our stock
drank. Long ago, a company came in looking for water. That’s what we’ve been using to
water the cattle and the horses. We still have horses but mostly barrel racing horses. My
daughter is the only rodeo person in our family now.

That’s how come my son Rupert built fences for the livestock. Some of the people leased

out their land to white farmers. I never lease my land for money. It was always something
to feed my livestock. I never did collect money for it because that’s the way to run a
ranch. I had lots of horses and lots of cattle. To feed those animals takes a lot of planning.
So I try to get as much feed as I can. During the summer and fall, and I don’t have to
worry about winter.

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