John Tootoosis

John Baptiste Tootoosis was born on the Poundmaker Reserve in Saskatchewan, the grandnephew of legendary peacemaker Chief Poundmaker. Experiencing the harsh abuses of the Delmas residential school, Tootoosis committed his life to dismantling colonial oppression and the illegal Department of Indian Affairs "pass system."

Traveling on foot, horseback, and train despite constant threats of arrest by Indian Agents, Tootoosis organized reserve communities across Western Canada. In 1958, he founded the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians (now the FSIN), serving as its first president, and later was an elder statesman in the National Indian Brotherhood. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada.