‘Compasses to the future’: Buffalo Futurism app launches in Sask.

The buffalo are roaming through a Regina park once again with the help of an augmented reality app.

“We need to have these sacred spaces and label them as sacred spaces so not just the Indigenous communities know, but the non-Indigenous community knows,” said Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway, an artist with the project.

The Buffalo Futurism app launched on Tuesday, taking people into the stories of Indigenous storytelling using music, audio, and artwork.

BigEagle-Kequahtooway said the project incorporates the buffalo effigy that she and her husband placed around the Māmowimīwēyitamōwin Park, formerly the Regent Pool Park. The effigy is made from 17 boulders – or grandfathers which have sat in the park since 2022.

Joely BigEagle-Kequahtooway says its important to know why Regina is known as “the place where bones are piled.” She’s speaking of the Buffalo Futurism app. (GM Buffalo Futurism)

The app is an extension of work done to increase social consciousness and awareness of Indigenous teachings involving the buffalo, said BigEagle-Kequahtooway. “That’s what this is to me, compasses to the future, some place we could go to guide us to some sort of area of reconciliation.”

BigEagle-Kequahtooway is the narrator of the app. It began development in 2023. She said it’s important to know why Regina is known as “the place where bones are piled.”

René Dufour-Contreras, the app’s developer, said blending storytelling with different technologies will help preserve Elders’ teachings for future generations.

“You have these boulders here, and people walk by, and they don’t necessarily know what it is or what it means,” he said. “When you have something a little flashier, it gets people’s attention, and it gets kids’ attention.”

He said the app offers a rounder understanding of using technology to communicate.

The City of Regina updated the park sign with a QR code to access the app. The app is only available to the Māmowimīwēyitamōwin Park.

“The technology grows with us. So, we can’t be separate from it. It’s part of us,” Dufour-Contreras.

Editor’s note: An earlier edition of this article incorrectly identified a contributor.