Alberta government unveils Indigenous led exhibit titled Buffalo Hunt

The Alberta government pledged a continued commitment on Wednesday as they unveiled an exhibit aimed at restoring and preserving First Nations culture.

Indigenous leaders alongside Alberta’s Minister of the Arts, Culture and Status of Women Tanya Fir unveiled thr culturally significant exhibit at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo jump, two hours south of Calgary.

The area, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, preserves and interprets 6,000 years of Plains Buffalo culture.

“The new Buffalo Hunt exhibit is a vibrant expression of indigenous wisdom and identity to bring history to life in authentic and immersive ways,” says Fir.

The new exhibit received guidance from Piikani elders and knowledge keepers, representing a story to carry on for future generations showing a diorama of the cultural significance of the buffalo hunt — from the preparations to ceremony to the tools used.

“Why am I emotional? Because I’m in a constant fight to save our people,” says Piikani Nation Chief Troy Knowlton. “To try and save the land, the language and the culture.”

The buffalo, a symbol of profound cultural, spiritual, and practical significance was not merely a source of food and resources, but a deeply respected being, that centuries before, sustained Indigenous lives and shaped their cultures.

“And so is this a good idea, you better believe it,” says Knowlton. “You have people now who are coming here, who maybe had a different mindset.”

“It might be the catalyst to say, ‘let me read a little bit more about the Blackfoot.'”

Funding for the exhibit comes from the government’s continued $51 million commitment to reconciliation and cultural revitalization ahead of Saturday’s National Indigenous Peoples day.