🇨🇦 Today on Canada Day, Let’s Remember the Buffalo — and the Genocide No One Talks About
While many wave flags and celebrate “freedom,” we must also pause and remember what was taken — not just from Indigenous peoples, but from the land, the animals, and the balance that once existed here.
🦬 The near extinction of the buffalo wasn’t just an environmental tragedy — it was a deliberate act of genocide.
For thousands of years, the buffalo sustained Indigenous Nations across the Plains. The people lived in relationship with the land — taking only what was needed, honouring the spirit of the animal, and building cultures rooted in gratitude and resilience.
But by the late 1800s, tens of millions of bison were slaughtered. Not for food. Not for need. But to starve Indigenous peoples into submission — to break their connection to the land, erase their freedom, and force them into government control.
A U.S. military officer said it clearly:
“Kill every buffalo, and you kill every Indian.”
And they nearly did.
From over 30 million buffalo, fewer than 1,000 remained by the end of the 19th century. Entire nations were pushed onto reserves, their children taken to residential schools, their ceremonies outlawed.
This is part of Canada’s true story — one we must face with open hearts if we ever hope to heal.
🌱 But this is also a story of resistance and revival.
Today, Indigenous nations across the continent are bringing the buffalo home.
They’re restoring the land, the language, the culture, and the relationship that colonialism tried to destroy. The buffalo walk again — and with them, the spirit of a people who never gave up.
✊ So on this Canada Day, light a fire. Say a prayer. Learn the real history. And remember:
True reconciliation requires truth.
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