The valley of the Bow River is an oasis on the Siksika Reserve east of Calgary, where dry winds and punishing heat scorch the open plains. For centuries, the thick poplar forests and cool waters brought nomadic First Nations to the valley, and today it serves as the backdrop for Canada’s newest (and largest) aboriginal tourist attraction. Opened last week, the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park tells the story of the Blackfoot, who, along with their allies, once controlled nearly all of central and southern Alberta.

            “The unique thing about it is it’s been driven entirely by Siksika, from our politicians and elders right down to the youth,” says Jack Royal, who grew up on the reserve and now serves as the museum’s general manager.

            The museum is laid out thematically, with artifacts loosely grouped into several displays. One display, for instance, explains the markers left behind by the Blackfoot, including elaborate stone circles (medicine wheels) and the hieroglyphs carved into cliff sides across the Prairies. Another discusses the signing of Treaty 7 in 1877, when the Blackfoot ceded nearly all their land to the Canadian government.

            “We started (collecting artifacts) 15 years ago, because we knew that one day, we’d have a museum,” says Royal. “Our first battle was to get it up and running, but we have a lot of things that we’ll continue developing.”

            The creation of the museum took nearly three decades, and involved repatriating hundreds of historical objects both locally and internationally. The museum will keep growing, says Royal, adding Blackfoot language classes and educational programs as well as a campground within the next year. The Blackfoot have provided most of the funding for the project, along with grants from the federal and provincial governments.

            Built to resemble a medicine wheel, the building sits at the top of an escarpment, and its galleries have a view of the river valley below. The inside of the museum is lined with tipis whose tops poke out of the roof, allowing natural light to filter in.

            Down the hill from the museum is an archeological site where diggers have unearthed the remains of a mud-hut village thought to have been constructed 200 years ago by tribes that wandered here from North Dakota. Across the river is the site of one of the final Blackfoot battles in the 1870s, as well as the plain where Chief Crowfoot and the Blackfoot signed Treaty 7.

            “We’ve got the opportunity to showcase our way of life through our storylines, our eyes, our language,” says Royal. “It’s a living museum. We’re sitting where we’ve been for thousands of years.”

            Down river from the building, the homes of current Blackfoot tribe members dot the valley in the same locations where their ancestors once set up camp. This sense of everyday life is what comes through most strongly in the museum. From buffalo hunts to battles with neighbouring tribes, and from dances and ceremonies to campfire stories and legends, the museum shows what it was once like to live on this prairie.