Unassuming Elder leading in promoting Native heritage

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Smith Atimoyoo says he just sits and talks to anyone who will listen at Wanuskewin Heritage Park. But the 80-year-old from Little Pine Reserve was the driving force behind the creation of this internationally-renown park.

Jim Herriott, Windspeaker Contributor, Saskatoon

Elder Smith Atimoyoo is known throughout the prairie provinces as a "nice guy". The mention of his name brightens the features of anyone who knows him.

He celebrated his 80th birthday on February 12 and, although he was weakened by a stroke almost five years ago, Atimoyoo is still full of the joy of life.

He is an unassuming man who has quietly racked up an impressive list of accomplishments. Atimoyoo was a rodeo rider at the age of 9 and graduated from university at a time when Native high school graduates were rare.

Later, he made major contributions to the establishment of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College and Wanuskewin Heritage Park.

Atimoyoo is retired now but his focus is still on Native culture. He spends "as much time as I can have" at Wanuskewin where he sits and talks with anyone who is willing to share with him.

"I feel I have a very important job here," he said. "Even though I'm just here to sit. Talking is very important to me - to be able to express my wishes and ideas how to enhance our culture, enhance our language."

Wanuskewin was built just south of Saskatoon at the confluence of Opimahaw Creek and the South Saskatchewan River. It sits above a sheltered valley that has been occupied by Indigenous people for thousands of years.

Smith first conceived the idea of building a heritage park on the site as a way of maintaining contact with the past and traditional culture. The word "wanuskewin" translates as "seeking peace of mind."

"This is a good project both for making money it is a small project," Atimoyoo admits.

"It's more important to get our young people to understand their language - to understand themselves. The things that are happening on the reserve now are not good. There is too much violence."

As a child Atimoyoo remembered how riding horses was the prime pastime for kids.

We learned how to break horses so we got into bronco riding at a very early age. At the time it was quite an achievement to ride in the rodeo. That was exciting riding.

"I was lucky I wasn't hurt bad. Oh, I had a broken shoulder, a broken arm but, when you're young, you heal quickly. And if you were hurt, you didn't show it. You could have a broken leg and you still walked on it, eh. All that kind of silly stuff."

And he remembered the older people reminiscing about their youth.

"They used to talk about that - the older folks. How they used to hunt buffalo from horseback just using arrows. It was quite exciting to be able to shoot down a buffalo. You had to have good, fast horses to be able to maneuver the buffalo."

Smith got his elementary schooling at the day school on Little Pine Reserve where he grew up.

"My mother didn't understand a word of English. My father learned a few words in English because he had to work out. He spoken broken English.

"I guess this was the reason why they wanted me to go to school - so I wouldn't be like them. They didn't like just sitting there and listening and not being able to know what people were talking about."

School wasn't always fun for him, though. He remembers one unhappy incident that made a lasting impression.

"It seems like only yesterday. I was running around little braids. My mother worked all of my braids and braided them. All the little boys my age had braids. It was the thing. The parents enjoyed braiding their little hair. It helped us maintain something Indian and it was enjoyed.

"I had quite an experience one time when the teacher cut off my little braids. He let me have the braids so I took them home. I went to the barn and cried. I knew my mother wouldn't like my braids being cut.

"She came and found me in the barn. I told her hat the teacher had cut off my braids and she sat down beside me and she cried too."

"She said, 'Why? Why did she have to do this?' Of course, I couldn't say why.

I guess that was one of the things that was 'progress' and I had to live with it. I got over it but it was a sad experience."

On finishing Grade 8, Atimoyoo went to Prince Albert to a boys' college called St. George's College. then his braids had grown back but he cut them off before he left for school.

He went on to Emmanuel College at the University of Saskatchewan where he studied to be a minister.

"I finished my time in the missionary school because it was my parents' wish. It was quite a transition and I had to understand as best I could. I try to understand what the white man's religion was all about and be able to compare what my people were trying to do."

Although they encouraged him to pursue an education in the white world, his parents wanted him to remain a part of their culture.

"My father said, "We don't want you to lose your language. Always keep that in mind. You have to learn your language so you can understand the Elders, what they're talking about."

He took their advice to heart and later, when he had opportunities to serve his people, Atimoyoo sought the counsel of the Elders.

"I had Elders working with me at the centre. I understood that was the way that I should do because I recognized that the Elders were our teachers. They knew everything that was to be done it just came natural."

Atimoyoo and his wife Rose, who retired in April 1994 as a community health representative, celebrated their 46th anniversary two days before Atimoyoo's birthday.

The couple have two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.