Indigenous History in Edmonton’s River Valley with Dr. Dwayne Donald

A couple years ago, I went on an INCREDIBLE walking tour to learn about local indigenous history in Edmonton’s River Valley. It was led by professor Dr. Dwayne Donald who is a professor at the Faculty of Education for the University of Alberta.

His ancestry is Papaschase Cree and also has connections to the Blackfoot. The tour ran about two hours and we went down into the river valley from the University of Alberta campus, heading east to the Walterdale Bridge and over to the northside of the river where there is a First Nations memorial for a burial site by Epcor plant. Parts of the memorial go intentionally unfinished as there are unresolved issues regarding the remains found there and the burial site itself.

I feel that its not my place to tell the stories that were shared by Dr. Donald but here’s my drawing of what I learned in those short two hours. I think of that day often and marvel over what I learned about the Cree people of this land. I hope in the future that more Albertans make it a priority to hear the stories of the First Nations people as we move ahead with our work to reach truth and reconciliation.