Page 25 - 1st Anthology 2011

The missionaries really split us up. The Indians really believed in God because lots of
times they pray for something and it comes true. So they knew there was a God that was

not invented. He takes care of people and He was the one that put us on earth and
everything that was going on that was His way of telling us something. We had to make
sure it won’t happen again. It just hurts other people for what you do. I learned that from
my dad.

First it was the Anglican Church that had the boarding school. They were running it and
they were getting their money from the government. All the children got taken into that
boarding school. I don’t think there was that many Tsuut’ina that time. When there was

that sickness we just got wiped out. We managed to survive. There was about two
hundred and something.

So first it was Anglican ministers, I don’t know when they came amongst us. They taught
us that there was a devil and bad people and good people. They taught us that in school.
If you were doing something wrong the devil would take you or something like that. They
used to talk like that because I used to hear them.

The first church I know of is right in the corner there. It had four stones as a fence and
there are chains around it. It was the first Anglican Church, and they used that building,
it was a log house and they used it as a church. They used it for classes during the week.
They also used it for a school.

Then later on they had a boarding school right beside there. The one building, the last
time I was down that way, I see that it’s still standing, one side of that building. There
were two buildings it was connected by a hall, one side was the boy’s dormitory and the

other side was the girls. In the middle it was the kitchen and dining area. I know that
because I saw it. My mom told me what they were for. Boys sleep on one side and the girls
sleep on the other side.

Before we became Anglican, we used to have our own traditional way of praying. Our
traditional way of praying is when we pray with a pipe. It was very strict; you can’t play
around with the pipe unless you really mean to pray with it. It’s what I’ve seen and the
traditional way of praying I did it lots of times. As I was growing up we always did the

traditional way of praying.

I went back to praying in the Indian way. You give tobacco to somebody and they’ll pray
for you. If you know somebody that is an elder and traditional and will pray for you. I
never went back to the Anglican or Catholic Church. I don’t mind I would go back to
church if someone were to do something. Something that is good for the people, it
doesn’t matter what church I belong to, there’s only one God.

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