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“There’s no consent given to this company to go ahead and use Chief Poundmaker in their game,” said Milton Tootoosis, Headman of the Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, northwest of Saskatoon, speaking on behalf of the chief, who was not available.

We are, as First Nations people, still trying to work our way out of this model that has been a catastrophe for First Nations people

“I think that’s potentially very dangerous for a lot of young naive people, and maybe older naive people; this colonial notion of expanding an empire, using military power to take over a community, to access their land and extract the resources go with it.

“That’s a big big problem we’ve been trying to resolve through talks around this notion of truth and reconciliation. We are, as First Nations people, still trying to work our way out of this model that’s been a catastrophe for First Nations people, not only in Canada but throughout the world,” he said. “Some people could potentially understand or equate the notions of imperialism and colonialism to the values of our people.”

The maker of Civilization, 2K Games, based near San Francisco, did not reply to a request for comment.

The Plains Cree leader Pîhtokahanapiwiyin, known by the anglicized name Chief Poundmaker (a “pound” in this context is a large trap or corral for hunting buffalo) was convicted of treason after the 1885 North-West Rebellion and sentenced to three years in prison in Manitoba. He served less than a year and died aged 44 soon after.

They should have done the honourable thing and at least offered tobacco, and approached the community through the leadership and the elders, and then have a dialogue

He is the subject of a long-running campaign to formally pardon or exonerate him, now that a fuller historical picture has emerged of his efforts to seek and preserve peace, and evidence that some of the looting of Fort Battleford for which he was blamed was actually carried out by Canadian troops.