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Column: Men create false First Nations mystique

The house lights went down, the stage was dark.
11068816_web1_Hank-Shelley
Hank Shelley

The house lights went down, the stage was dark.

Then a single spotlight revealed a tall thin man, dressed elaborately in feathers and beaded buckskin. He then began speaking of First Nations, of the virtues of conservation, and respect for all life, and especially the plight of the beaver.

He then spoke of clean air, wonders of the wilderness, and trackless forests. He was Grey Owl, the famous Indian author, on a lecture tour in Britain in the mid 1930s.

Only problem was Grey Owl was not of First Nations heritage, but an Englishman. He claimed to be half the son of Scottish father, and Apache mother.

Grey Owl was a fake to the life he adopted, however he was born Archie Belaney in the English channel town of Hastings. In school he excelled in English, French and religious studies. But he was a lonely unhappy child. He escaped reality into a fantasy world of wilderness, wild animals and Indians.

In 1906, then 17 years old, he boarded a ship at Liverpool, for a new life in Canada. Within a year he made it into the woods at Lake Temagami in northeast Ontario, settling in with the Bear Island Ojibwa. He learned the language, trapped and paddle a canoe. He married a Ogibwa woman Angle Egwana, the first of several, legal common law wives.

As life progressed, Grey Owl wrote Pilgrims of the Wild, and later, Men of the Last Frontier. When the First World War broke out he enlisted as Archie in the Canadian Army. He served as a sniper, was wounded in the foot, convalesced in England then returned to the Canadian woods.

He then met a native gal by the name of Anahareo, and they became entwined into a life of wilderness living. He was hired by the National Park Service and starred with Anahareo and now two pet beavers, in a series of short films. The park service provided them with a remote cabin at Riding Mountain Park, then to Ajawaan Lake in Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan, where he wrote three more books.

With a history of drinking and fatigue, too much, Grey Owl died at the age of just 49 years old, in the spring of 1938. He was survived by most of his wives and grandchildren , who all share the genuine Indian blood that Grey Owl so admired.

Jellyroll and Rawhide, two beaver kits adopted by Grey Owl, built their lodge outside his cabin window.

Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance.

Sylvester Long was a lonely child. Born of mixed white, negro and First Nations parents in Winston, North Carolina in 1890. Growing up, he joined a travelling wild west show, working his way into the Native contingent.

Later, as a young, handsome man, presenting himself as a half Cherokee native , he enrolled at the native residential school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He came out top of the class, then moved to Canada in 1916.

Now he began to weave a mythology that would help and haunt him throughout his life. He enlisted in the Canadian army and distinguished himself in combat with the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry. Being wounded twice, he was sent back to the regiments base in Calgary.

Being of First Nations blood, be became fascinated with the plains Indians, visiting many reserves. The Blood Indians of Alberta gave him the name Buffalo Child in memory of a respected warrior.

Now taking the name Long Lance, he reinvented himself as a young Blackfoot warrior on the plains of Montana. His fame spread, the result of his bylines in various publications. So much so, that the CPR hired Long Lance to accompany trail rides in Banff, and to prepare menu covers for use on the company trains.

Regrettably, Long Lance’s association with the company after several seasons ended, when a butler to a wealthy socialite took offence to the intimacy shown with his employer’s wife. A battle ensued and Long Lance dented the butler’s skull with a iron poker and was fired. Long Lance went on to be a reporter to a number of newspapers and magazines. He had managed to hide his persona similar to Grey Owl, or Archie Belaney. Regrettably, on March 20 1932, at the age of 41, Long Lance was found in a Hollywood mansion, dead from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head.