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This article was published 15/5/2016 (1588 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sacred white buffalo of Sioux Valley Dakota Oyate was already special, drawing visitors from as far away as the United States.

When she gave birth May 7 to a calf with a white head, white legs and a light-coloured body, excitement soared in this Dakota reserve of 1,000 people, 50 kilometres west of Brandon.

"The markings are white. We don’t know if it will turn colour, but so far it’s white," Sioux Valley Chief Vince Tacan said.

The chief and his brother, Tony Tacan, raise livestock, including horses, cattle, bison and the white buffalo and her calf.

The arrival of the white buffalo cow, one of two white buffalo calves from a set of triplets at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, was culturally significant in itself. Five years ago, former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz presented the community with the calf, along with her sibling, a brown calf born. The third calf, also white, was sent to Saskatoon.

The future got brighter right after, with the community landing the first self-government settlement on the Prairies, and stalled land claims getting inked and development humming.

"Since the buffalo arrived, things have changed. I can’t explain how, but the community seems to be moving ahead," the chief said.

"We went into self-government. We’re one of the few communities that got out of third-party and co-management. We have property on Highway 1 and 21, and there’s a gas station going up there now," he said.

"To have another white buffalo calf that’s born is more of a signal to us that not only is our culture and people surviving, but thriving," the chief said.

The brothers spotted the calf May 7 during morning chores.

"We saw that little baby on the ground," said the chief’s brother. "We didn’t want to interfere with the mother... but I noticed the head was white and when it stood up, we noticed the legs were kinda white, too."

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun A rare white bison calf stays close to his mother, also a white bison, and other members of its herd at Sioux Valley Dakota Nation on Friday morning. The calf was born earlier this month. A white bison is considered a sacred symbol amongst many first nations communities. White bison births are extremely rare.

He snapped a picture and word started getting around.

"I was amazed," Sioux Valley health director Margaret Roscelli said.

"We had originally been given the white buffalo from Winnipeg, and some people told us white buffalo do not give birth, and yet she’s given birth a couple of times. Now, we have another white buffalo calf born in our community," Roscelli said.

Known for her advocacy of Dakota traditions, Roscelli is in close touch with spiritual elders across the northern plains.

"To me, it’s significant, a rebirth, of our community, our Dakota way of life. It could be a revitalization of our culture and our language," she said.

In Green Grass, S.D., an elder with the distinction of being the 19th-generation keeper of the White Buffalo Calf pipe was among the first to hear the news and see the Tacans’ photo of the calf.

The people of the Buffalo Nation place great significance on the birth of albino animals, none more so than buffalo, Nac’a (chief) Arvol Looking Horse said.

Looking Horse calls on the world for a day of prayer for the Earth every June 21.

"When the elders passed the sacred bundle to me to care for on behalf of the people, they told me of the warning that came from (White Buffalo Calf Woman) 19 generations ago. She left a prophecy that when animals are born white, it would be a sign, a blessing. But this sign would also be a symbol of opportunity, to change the path of destruction to all life that we are on. I thought this would not be in my lifetime," he said after the Sioux Valley calf was born.

Looking Horse said white calves are the planet’s warning to humans to smarten up.

The first white buffalo calf was born in 1994 in Wisconsin and every year, he said he and other elders get reports of more white calves, buffalo among other animals, born in North America. The one in Sioux Valley is the second born in Canada this spring.

Tony Tacan said the last time Looking Horse visited Sioux Valley, he took the elder out to the pasture with the white buffalo and her herd: "He stood there and he said his prayers, and that buffalo came over and bowed her head and listened to him."

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca