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VICTORIA CALLIHOO

© Mary M. Alward

Little is known of the early life of Canada’s Native women. Recently, I ran across a very interesting figure who plays a unique role in Canada’s history. Her name was Victoria Callihoo. Victoria was born Victoria Belcout on November 16, 1861 in Alberta, Canada. Her mother was a full-blooded Cree; her father was French. When Victoria was young, she would hop onto a red river cart and listen to the creak of its wheels as she and her family, along with hundreds of other families traveled north to hunt. Her father explained to her that the tribe must stick together in case they encountered hostile Blackfoot warriors. The entire hunting party, including the hunters, Red River carts, women, oxen, horses and dogs, forded the swift moving Saskatchewan River safely, which was quite a feat in itself. When the scouts returned to report they had sighted buffalo, excitement ran through the hunting party. Victoria’s people depended on the buffalo for their very existence. Without the buffalo, the Native people would cease to exist. It provided food, clothing and shelter as well as tools, weapons and utensils.

When the captain of the hunting party gave the signal, the mounted hunters would quietly approach the grazing buffalo. When they were close to the magnificent animals, they kicked their horses into a gallop and began to shoot. The great clouds of dust, shooting and noise confused Victoria until she remembered she had a job to do. She must tend the fires to ensure the smoke would billow around the meat as it hung on rails over the fires to dry. All spring she had gathered wood and buffalo chips for this purpose. Victoria watched the women pound the buffalo meat and mix it with fat and saskatoons, a type of berry. Then, they piled it onto Red River carts for the trip home. The pemmican was wrapped in buffalo robes and as they traveled home, they made camp each night, ate and sang songs around the fire. Natives of the plains considered the white buffalo to be sacred. Though these animals were seen rarely, they were never hunted. A white buffalo brought prosperity.

When Victoria was seventeen, Louis Callihoo courted and married her. His ancestors had been Iroquois, Cree and French. He was dark-skinned and handsome as well as a hard worker. He had run the family farm and operated a hotel and a sawmill before he got into the shipping business.

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