This collection of essays is partly based on the proceedings of a two-day conference on the various types & levels of connections between First Nations & Metis peoples and the Canadian Plains. The essay themes are historic, social, political, and artistic and cover such subjects as: preservation of Aboriginal heritage; the agricultural production campaign of 1918-23; Cree-language place names; the challenges of modernity; Aboriginal healing; the Aboriginal writer; pictographs; Sheila Orr, Aboriginal artist; and reminiscences of elders.