Peyote on the Prairies: Religion, Scientists, and Native-Newcomer Relations in Western Canada

Abstract

In October 1956, a peyote ceremony took place at the Red Pheasant reserve in Saskatchewan. Organized by the Native American Church, the ceremony featured the use of peyote, a psychedelic substance from a cactus traditionally found in Mexico. Its use among Canadian Native peoples in the first half of the twentieth century had signalled concerns about American influences, but by the 1950s the issue escalated into a debate about spirituality, medicine, and Native-newcomer relations. The federal government by this time had embraced an ethos of multiculturalism, which meant that some officials tolerated the peyote ceremony as a legitimate Indigenous ritual. Local authorities, however, regarded peyotism as an abusive and dangerous ceremony and sought to criminalize its practice. The ensuing conflicts over how to handle the rise of peyotism on the Prairies forms the basis of this study. This essay unpacks this complex set of debates by explaining how various players—scientists, journalists, Native participants, police, and government officials- interpreted peyotism. The authors suggest that the peyote ceremony tested the limits of the federal government’s shift towards treating Aboriginal Canadians as immigrants.