Chief Smallboy: The Pursuit of Freedom

by Gary Botting

Chief Smallboy was from the Ermineskin Reserve near Hobbema, Alberta. Gravely concerned about the corrupting effects of White society on his people, Smallboy spent fifteen years planning and dreaming a solution. Then, in 1968, with Simon Omeasoo and Lazarus Roan, he led 140 members of his band to establish a traditional Native community on sacred Indian land in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Life in the "Smallboy Camp" required vision and courage. Camp members were asked to give up the trappings of modern society, including television, drugs, and alcohol; follow the Indian Way, adopting traditional rituals and traditional Indian medicine; and learn to speak Cree as well as English. To shape the desired traditional lifestyle, Smallboy drew heavily from his memory of living a nomadic existence in Alberta and Montana as a child, and from the oral history provided by several mentors. By 1978 Smallboy had become an important influence on Native politics, a living oracle with whom Native leaders consulted. In recognition of his unique leadership, Smallboy was invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 1980. In writing Chief The Pursuit of Freedom , author Gary Botting followed Smallboy's example of relying on the vibrant and highly accurate Cree oral tradition for story details. Thus, he presents a fascinating account that approximates the way Chief Smallboy viewed himself and his family history, meticulously corroborated by written records and through other sources.

235 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Born in England, Gary Botting is the author of about 40 books ranging from novels, poetry and plays to legal tomes on extradition and wrongful conviction. Formerly a journalist for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and the Peterborough Examiner in Ontario, Canada, he later became a professor of English and creative writing at several Canadian universities before turning his attention to the law. Obtaining his JD, LLM and Ph.D. degrees in law, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle before returning to his practice of extradition law and dangerous offender law in Vancouver, British Columbia.