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A herd of 25 bison has returned to the land on the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan near the Batoche National Historic Site.
This comes after a memorandum of understanding was signed between Parks Canada and Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) in November 2022.
Michelle LeClair, vice president of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, said it was a long process to bring the bison back.
“There was a lot of work done through our infrastructure department in terms of building the proper fencing, corrals, and all of those kinds of things so that we were ready for them to return,” said LeClair.
Bringing bison back has a big cultural significance, explained LeClair.
“The bison are part of how our communities work together, how our language developed, all of those sorts of things,” said LeClair. “We were bison people — we hunted and lived through the bison — and so I don’t know that there have been bison who were freely walking the Batoche lands as far back as the 1860s and 1870s. So it’s very special and culturally significant.”
According to LeClair bison have always been tied with Métis and First Nations people and it was very important to get them back.
“If you look at Indigenous people, whether they’re Métis or First Nations in Saskatchewan, the bison has always been a central part of our lives,” said LeClair.
“After 1885, for us at Batoche and in Saskatchewan, where Métis people were dispersed, but also the bison play a really important part in First Nations culture and life, and so I think both of us, both of our peoples, were interested in having our own herd.”
Bison also have a positive impact on the landscape, as their presence helps bring back native plants and animals.
“They will bring back flora and fauna that haven’t been there since they walked that area, so you’ll see plants that would’ve lived there as a result of the bison. We’ll see birds coming back and different animals coming back,” said LeClair.
The bison were transported in on Thursday, and sit on 690 hectares of land at Batoche that was transferred from Parks Canada to the MN-S in July of 2022.