John Snow was a Christian minister, and chief of Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Up until his death 10 years ago, he was writing the history of Christianity among his people, a faith he was deeply proud of. Today, his son Tony continues telling that story with a sense of urgency, about the rich relationship the church once had with his people, how we got lost and divided along the way, and what it will take to once again find the road to reconciliation we long to walk together. 

Music Credits:

"I have decided to follow Jesus" - Virgle Stevens, Philomene Stevens, Cassandra Poucette and Benjamin Stevens; Shauna Kennedy and Lilia Chavez sound production.

"Grace" - Bevani

"Treat You Better" - Nakoda Elementary School; CBC sound production

Note from Tony Snow:

I made an error in the quote that I made regarding Dave Courchene in 1969.

The quote I was referencing comes from "Around The Sacred Fire" by James Treat, speaking about Bob Thomas, a Cherokee Anthropologist who was one of the proponents to bring the Indian Ecumenical Conference to Morley:

“Native people might well have chosen to incorporate Christian traditions into their religious world, Thomas speculated, but most tribal communities in North American have been denied the opportunity to control the natural process of integration. ‘In many Indian communities the church is like a huge crowbar crammed into a delicate machine,’ producing religious factionalism and social fragmentation. ‘Only the native people themselves can integrate a new religion and then use it to make life more consistent for themselves. An outsider cannot do this and usually only succeeds in doing the opposite.’ Invoking both American democracy and Christian social ethics, Thomas challenged church leaders to respect and encourage native religious self determination: ‘Indian communities must have control of their own churches with native leadership in the important institutional niches, so the church can in fact become a Kiowa or a Navajo institution, express this ‘Kiowaness’ or ‘Navajoness,’ be integrated into the life of the people, an be an integrative mechanism itself.” (pg. 107, Treat)

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