half-breed, but far be it for me to press any land claim I may have against the poor Indian of the country. We have taken the position, and ask the rights, of civilized men. As to the poor Indian, let him by all means have all he can get. He needs it, and if our assistance will aid him in getting it let us cheerfully give it". In June 1874 Flett was appointed a Presbyterian missionary for a large territory from Fort Pelly to south of Riding Mountain, away. He set up his headquarters on the Little Saskatchewan River. The mission, which he called "Okanese" (meaning "Little Bone" in the Ojibwa language), was at the Riding Mountain House Hudson's Bay Company post, near the present town of Elphinstone. At the age of fifty-seven, Flett was ordained on 18 August 1875. The native leader Keeseekoowenin, Flett's cousin, had signed a treaty with the government in 1871, and moved with his family and band to a reserve beside Flett's mission in 1875, where he was baptised as Moses Burns. Keeseekoowenin did not entirely abandon his traditional beliefs, but blended them with Christianity. In November 1878 Flett wrote the first of a series of letters to the Canadian Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) in Toronto, drawing their attention to the work being done in native Indian missions. In later letters he listed educational needs, and by 1884 the society was providing financial and material aid to schools and people in the northwest. By 1890 the Riding Mountain band had 137 people. Some were farmers but most lived by hunting. The school had 21 children. George Flett held services every Sunday on the reserve. Flett worked at the mission for over twenty years. Towards the end of his career he became involved in various squabbles with other church members, finally resigning in 1895. Flett died on 28 October 1897 at the age of 80. References Sources Keeseekoowenin - Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 1817 births 1897 deaths Canadian Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in Canada