They’ve held onto their traditions

Ms. Swenson talks about Dakota life in Canada.

Audio Chapters

Chapter 1

DL: So, do you stay in touch with the Canadian Dakota at all?

LS: Yes. I remember when I first learned to drive, I would drive my grandmother up to Canada to visit her relatives.

DL: Did they ever regret having to go up there? Did they ever want to come back?

LS: Well, when you go up there, they’ve held onto their traditions. They’ve got their original names, they use their Indian name. They’ve held onto more of the language and the culture. Right now there’s probably a little over 10,000 Dakotas, Mdewakantons from this community in Canada. They live on probably, oh, maybe five Sioux reservations from this area.

DL: So you have quite a large family north of here, too.

LS: Yes.

DL: I suppose they were able to handle their language and their ways in a way that was more… they could preserve it better.

Cite
LaVonne Swenson. "They’ve held onto their traditions." https://www3.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/contributors/lavonne-swenson/1133
Print This Page
copy-right-img

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Copyright and Use Information.

Oral History- Interview | Narrator LaVonne Swenson Interviewer Deborah Locke made in Morton, Lower Sioux Community, MN | Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Read or listen to entire Oral History

Citation: Minnesota Historical Society. U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. They’ve held onto their traditions. May 23, 2025.