Tepastenam

Tepastenam [Transliteration from oral Cree, also transliterated as "Tapastanum"; may be translated as: "Shining light".] was a respected leader [The Cree term for such a leader is "kisayman".] of the Pimicikamak indigenous people in the 1800s. He was born about 1805. [Noted as 70 years of age in Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg, on July 11, 1875; cited in Margaret Anne Lindsay & Jennifer S.H. Brown, "The History of the Pimicikamak People to the Treaty Five Period", The Centre for Rupert's Land Studies at The University of Winnipeg (2008), Appx. F.] From oral history accounts he may have been a Midewiwin leader or Kiseman. The record of his baptism in 1875 describes him as "A noted conjurer for many years, who long resisted the teachings of Christianity." [Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg.]

Family

Tepastenam's family had its wintering grounds at "John Scott's Lake". [See, e.g., Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg, no. 1582.] This has been identified as Setting Lake on the Grass River. [James Vidal Dillabough, "Transportation in Manitoba", Manitoba Economic Survey Board, Winnipeg (1938), p. 127.] He and his family members traded at Nelson House [Nelson House Indian Survey, Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, B239/z/10, York Factory Miscellaneous Records, f. 88.] until 1843. Later he began trading at Norway House. [Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, B.154/a/43 Norway House Post Journal, 1844-1845, f. 30.] Beginning in 1861, some of his children and grandchildren were baptized at Rossville. [Wesleyan-Methodist Register of Baptisms Norway House 1840-1889, United Church Archives, Winnipeg.]

English name

In 1875, Tepastenam was baptized Donald William Sinclair Ross [He was reportedly named after two Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factors: Donald Ross and William Sinclair; see Archives of Manitoba/Hudson's Bay Company Archives, Norway House Post Journals, B.154/a/71, 1874-1877, Roderick Ross, f. 18.] . He was listed in the 1881 register of the Cross Lake Methodist congregation as "chief" and his wife May was listed as "chiefess". ["Norway House Mission Journal", United Church Archives, Winnipeg (1881-85), no. 16, April, 1881.] He first appears on the government of Canada paylist as "chief" in 1876. However, he "was a leader both before and after [Pimicikamak] entered treaty." [Lindsay & Brown, "The History of the Pimicikamak People to the Treaty Five Period", p. 82.] .

Treaty 5

Tepastenam was notable as the lead signatory to Treaty 5 on behalf of the Pimicikamak people on September 24, 1875 in Norway House. [Alexander Morris, "The Treaties of Canada with the Indians", Belfords , Clarke & Co., Toronto (1880); and see John Miswagon, "A Government of our Own", Frontier Centre for Public Policy, 21 April 2005, http://www.fcpp.org/main/publication_detail.php?PubID=1043, accessed 24 September 2008.] His signature [an X] granted Treaty rights to the Crown in an area of the Northwest Territories that was twice the size of the Province of Manitoba at the time.

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