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“Maybe this will motivate us to ramp that movement to the next level, because we’ve been, to be quite honest, quite passive about it, entrusting outsiders will respect our culture, respect our icons, respect our history. Clearly, that’s not the case.”

Tootoosis said the band’s leadership plans to meet with elders to discuss the next steps. Take-Two Interactive has not responded to a request for comment.

In 1885, Chief Poundmaker was charged and convicted of treason during the Northwest Resistance. He served nine months of a three-year sentence and died after his release. Elders and leaders on the First Nation have been working to exonerate him.

Floyd Favel, curator of the Poundmaker museum, said it’s important for the band to take control of its own history. Non-Indigenous people can play a role in telling the story of Indigenous people, but he urges them to follow protocols and speak extensively with elders, he said.

“With appropriation that’s done without dialogue with our people and commercial ventures without the input or consultation with our people, our community, our historians, our experts, that one I don’t agree with in regards to this video game,” Favel said.

“We have our own tribal laws, Cree laws, regarding whenever we want to speak about our chief and our history and we want to present it publicly; we always have to talk to our leadership, get (their) OK.”

Photo by Courtesy of Floyd Favel / Saskatoon

Geoff Knorr, the game’s composer, said he looked for songs Poundmaker himself may have known and songs of the Plains Cree, and was referred to the Poundmaker Singers. He met with members of the group and recorded a session in Saskatoon on Sept. 29.

The game set out to represent various musical cultures and traditions, and without input from the original sources, there would be a lot of “sameness” in the sound, he said.

“You wouldn’t get the true diversity that there is in the world that should be reflected in the game. So, I guess it would water down the soundtrack a little bit if we didn’t actually go and record the people who know these traditions the best.”

tjames@postmedia.com