Applause broke out from the largest gathering in years at the McDougall Stoney Mission Church site, Sept. 22, when it was announced the first logs for the restoration could be laid as early as next May.

In her update, Brenda McQueen, president of the McDougall Stoney Mission Society, said permit applications are underway with the MD of Bighorn and are expected to be in place by November. In the meantime, the charred logs are being removed from the C-Can on the site to be restored by Dave Chalmers, of Chalmers Heritage Conservation Ltd. 

The May 16-17 weekend has tentatively been earmarked for a celebration to mark the laying of the first of the logs of the restoration project. McQueen is hopefully the church will be fully restored for the Sept. 13, 2020 fall service. Eighty per cent of the restored burned logs will be used in the restoration project.

Working from extensive historical records, McQueen explains the restoration will start with the original church layout from 1875, then the features of 1985 will be added. The only change is the addition of a second exit that did not exist in the original church. There will be no electricity or running water.

In February, the Alberta government also gave the go-ahead for the restoration of an interpretative walk that will include accounts of both the settlers and the Stoney people on the establishment of the missionary.

The society continues to fund-raise for the project they estimate to cost $550,000, excluding the interpretative walk.

Seven Generation Later

The annual fall service at the church site was named "Seven Generations Later" to commemorate a relationship between the Stoney people and the McDougall family. McQueen is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Rev. George McDougall who arrived in 1873 to establish a Methodist missionary. The church was completed in 1875 and was the first in Southern Alberta.

McQueen fought back tears when announcing the major headways that have been made over.

"It's truly an honour to be president of our society and have taken this path that I honestly believe I was destined to follow. Today, as we remember the signing of Treaty 7, it makes me even prouder than ever to see us all working together for the next seven generations.

"That fire may have burned down the church but it has rekindled a different kind of flame, one between the Stoney Nakoda Nation and our society that we hope to keep burning brightly for generations to come."

The church was destroyed by an arsonist/s on May 22, 2017, and from the ashes has risen a stronger relationship between the Stoney people and the mission society.

This summer a growing number of people participated in events at the church site after groundwork was laid in 2018. It has been a time of reconciliation and rebuilding a historical friendship.

Those in attendance were invited to sign a poster commemorating the day. They were also invited to participate in a smudging ceremony at the beginning of the service lead by Elder Virgle Stephens, Tony Snow and John Snow, Jr. Smudging is a ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place.

Elder Stephens also told a Stoney story, Elders Charlie Mark and Clarence Wesley and several choirs sang. Linda Hunter gave the scripture reading and Wayne Holst offered the closing prayer.

In his sermon, Tony Snow spoke of how we are best when we work together as one people.

"At the time of the treaty, we agreed to apart of another and others' lives, to be in community together, grow together and that is the call of the church, that is the call of our work within the McDougall society in the restoration of this church. It is an important reminder that we are best when we are working together and are supporting one and other."

Treaty 7 Day

The fall service was postponed so it could be held on Treaty 7 Day. Following the service, a sharing circle heavily reflected upon the signing of the treaty on Sept. 22, 1877, but it also spoke to the need for truth to be shared for reconciliation to truly occur.

"There's a dark history there that we need to share with you before we start rebuilding this church against," Alice Kaquitts said during her presentation. "Reconciliation and truth have to occur otherwise all of us will be repeating history once again."

Despite the suffering of the Stoney people at the hands of the Christian church and in residential schools, she believes that reconciliation can take place.

"We need to work together, we need to sit down and start having a dialogue. Our people are beautiful people. They are very loving. Despite everything that has happened we still have those core values of respect and acceptance."

Leela Aheer, Alberta minister of Culture. Multiculturalism and Status of Women, reflected on what she learned and the people she met during her visit. She asked the crowd to put themselves in the shoes of the first meeting of the settlers and First Nations people.

"Can you imagine yourself there for a moment, the language barriers, the cultural changes, the differences, what it looked like, the weather, the incredible differences and the challenges that people must have had at that time to be able to come together in love and community to build this very spot, looking out at this beautiful vista."

The choir's performance of "Coming Home." It's a phrase that holds meaning for her own family.

"All of us are going to go in different directions at any time. When we can gather like this together in a very sacred space with people all around us that love and honour the histories and traditions of this place we truly come home because we find family amongst each other."

Flapping in the wind above was the flag flown during the signing of the treaty. Now weathered and 142 years old, the flag was brought to the service by Elder Henry Holloway. It was passed on to his family by his mother-in-law in 1964, where it was kept in a chest until flying at this year's Stoney Nakoda Poewow and again at this service. He went on to tell a story passed down to him by his great-grandfather of the treaty signing.

He also spoke to how the government has failed them.

"We kept our end of the bargain. The government failed us. When we signed the treaty we only gave the government 12 inches of soil.

"To this point of time, negotiations of the natural resources are still at stake."

"The treaty was signed to live together and share the land with you people. Why can't we share the natural resources?"

In reflecting on Treaty 7, John Snow Jr. spoke of the teachings, customs, and spirituality of the Indigenous people and the parallels to Christianity.

"So I look for renewal, we look for reconciliation and I pray for understanding. For it is our hope that we will come to a greater understanding by being here today, that you will be touched, that you will receive a vision, that you will have an understanding of our way of life and who we are," he said near the end of his presentation.

"There's still work that's outstanding but we need to contemplate, have prayer and be willing to take action."