Our #WomensWednesdays are for celebrating our local #WomensHistory! This week we commemorate a 2015 Women of Aspenland inductee: Florence (Dion) Buffalo. The Wetaskiwin District Heritage Museum Centre recognizes the lives and accomplishments of local women like Florence through the annual Women of Aspenland project. Please contact the museum for more details.
Florence Dion was born on September 20, 1938 in Kehewin Cree Nation to parents William and Sarah (Youngchief) Dion. Growing up, she and her nine siblings – Peter, Roland, Joe, George, James, Maggie, Alice, Madeline, and Rosanna – relied on subsistence agriculture. They had some animals such as chickens and cows, as well as gardens to grow fruits and vegetables, and they supplemented their meats with hunting and trapping.
When Florence turned eight, she began attending the Blue Quills Indian Residential School, which was over 50km from their home. Her daughter recalls Florence saying that Sarah didn’t want her kids going there, but the threat of withholding benefits that the family needed forced their hand. Blue Quills only went to grade 8, so afterward Florence attended agricultural courses in Olds, and it was here that she met her future husband. On November 20, 1956, Florence married Frank Buffalo. Together they had 9 kids: Valerie (Val) May, the late Darren Sr., Derwin, Gerald, Barry, Calvin, Shannon, Laureen, and Frank Jr. (Frankie). The family lived off the land much as Florence did growing up. Their family was much larger than this though, as their home was open to anyone, and their adopted children are too many to list. Frank took up work at a saw mill to support this large family, and they would also bring groceries to families in need.
Dedicating much of her life to the Samson Band Council, and in 1997, became the first woman elected as Chief of Samson Band. Given how many families she had helped, Florence never needed to campaign, topping polls in almost every election.
An avid traveler, Florence and Frank travelled to both England and the US. It was on one such vacation that she passed away, on November 29, 2014 at the age of 76.
