By Historical Society

Almighty Voice

Jul 26, 2012 | 11:07 AM

Leanndria Halcro

The story of Almighty Voice is both a cautionary tale against flippant remarks and a lesson in the necessity of cultural sensitivity.

Almighty Voice was a twenty-one year old Aboriginal man of noble linage and was said to possess many admirable qualities. On the eve of his wedding he slaughtered a cow for the imminent wedding feast, as was customary. The issue being that the cow in question did not belong to Almighty Voice, but to the government.

For this he was arrested three days later on October 22, 1895. This would have been the end of it; Almighty Voice would have spent his allotted month in jail and then gone home to his wife and family. This was not to be, however, for a thoughtless comment was to start a snowball effect that would end in tragedy. When Almighty Voice was in the jail he overheard one of the guards joking about Almighty Voice receiving the death sentence.

Unwilling to be subject to unfair punishment Almighty Voice broke out of his cell and went on the lam. Sgt. H. Keenan of the Duck Lake police department decided to make an example of Almighty Voice. Keenan and his men were able to track Almighty Voice down. Almighty Voice warned them that if they came near him he would shoot.

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One of Keenan’s men, Sgt. Colebrook disregarded this warning and Almighty Voice shot and killed him. Now Almighty Voice was wanted for the murder of a Sergeant and he was branded as a convict in the eyes of the government. As a result a bounty was placed on his head and a $500 reward for information on his whereabouts. On May 26, 1896 there was another confrontation and this time a civilian was injured in the altercation.

Yet again, Almighty Voice eluded capture. This was unacceptable to the police department, since it was an act of insubordination to Eurocentric rule. The final face-off occurred in a bluff that was specifically chosen by Almighty Voice for its strategic location.

Almighty Voice knew that he could not run forever and that he was hopelessly outnumbered, even with his two friends by his side. Artillery was fired by both factions and causalities accumulated as the standoff dragged on. Eventually the encounter evolved into a pseudo-war with reinforcements being called in on the police side and two cannons engaged. At one point there were approximately 175 Northwest Mounted Police against Almighty Voice and his friends, impossible odds. Eventually Almighty Voices friends fell victim to the constant barrage of gun fire and shelling. Almighty Voices’ leg was wounded by shrapnel, but still he soldiered on.

But under the continual volley of artillery Almighty Voice eventually succumbed. The story that had started with a stolen cow had ended in the senseless deaths of many men. They say that history is written by the victor. To read most of the old newspaper articles you would see Almighty Voice typecast as an outlaw, disrespectful of law and order.

The truth is far more complex. When the Europeans took over, not only did they steal the land that was not theirs to begin with, but they hunted the buffalo to extinction, thus depriving the Aboriginal peoples of their primary meat source.

This, in turn, deprived them of their livelihood and subjected them to poverty. Almighty Voices’ tale is one of miscommunication; miscommunication between Almighty Voice and the guard, but it also miscommunication between cultures. Hopefully Almighty Voices’ story will serve as a tragic reminder of the dangers of cultural insensitivity.