Chief Keeseekoose signed Treaty 4 on September 15, 1874, and settled on the Swan River Reserve, Manitoba. Because of flooding, the band was relocated to their present reserve near the towns of Pelly and Kamsack, between the Cote and Key Reserves. Of the 1,951 Keeseekoose Band members, 626 live on the 8,475-ha reserve. The band-controlled St. Phillip’s School sits on the same grounds as the old residential school, while their strip mall houses a gas station and convenience store, as well as the Yorkton Tribal Council Child and Family Services, Fort Pelly RCMP Detachment, and Treaty Land Entitlement Office (also serving the Key and Cote Reserves).
Christian Thompson