Peigan elders Joe and Josephine Crowshoe belonged to a generation still bright with the traditional knowledge and deep memories of their grandparents. They lived under a paternalistic government system that denied them their language, culture, and religion. They reclaimed their heritage and shared it with the larger community receiving honours for their work and lifetime commitment as articulate representatives of Peigan stories, spirituality, and ceremonial practices.

Weaving interviews together with archival photographs and documentation, interviewer Michael Ross tracks not only the life history of Joe and Josephine Crowshoe but also records stories of their culture. Weasel Tail opens a window onto a world and people who form a vital part of Alberta's history and future.

Praise for Weasel Tail
"A a wealth of personal history and Blackfoot cultural knowledge... a multi-layered approach of telling Indigenous history.”
~ Canadian Literature
Crowshoe's stories of history, humanity, and humility offer guidance not just to youth as we Albertans step blithely into the coming years, enjoying unprecedented material wealth, but also disconnecting from each other. The unpretentious record of a ceremonialist's way of life could be an epitaph, pointing out places where we went wrong.... Offered without intrusion from author Michael Ross, Weasel Tail is a true telling of the Old Man's—as Crowshoe was affectionately known—amazing life.”
~ Legacy Magazine

Michael Ross is a retired park planner and heritage resources consultant living in Edmonton, Alberta. He has degrees from the University of California at Berkeley (Geology) and Leicester University in England (Museum Studies). Several years of travelling, working, and photographing throughout western North America, Mexico, and Spain were driven by a slowly developing muscle disease that forced him to stop working in 2001. He met the Crowshoes in 1989, attended numerous cultural ceremonies, and later agreed to help the Old Man write his book a vow that took eleven years of hard work to fulfill.

Michael Ross' profile page