Son of a Hudson's Bay Company chief factor and a Cree woman, Bird was an HBC apprentice by about 11 and a clerk by 18. Sent southward in the 1820s by John Rowand to gain the Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan trade, he became accepted and respected by the Indigenous peoples. He aided the HBC and American Fur Co in their rivalry for the Plains trade, but each found his loyalty suspect. Bird's most historic role was as "a very intelligent interpreter" of the Blackfoot language in the signing of Treaty 7 (1877).
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- MLA 8TH EDITION
- Brown, Jennifer S.H.. "James Bird Jr". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 16 December 2013, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/james-bird-jr. Accessed 12 December 2024.
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- APA 6TH EDITION
- Brown, J. (2013). James Bird Jr. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/james-bird-jr
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- CHICAGO 17TH EDITION
- Brown, Jennifer S.H.. "James Bird Jr." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published January 20, 2008; Last Edited December 16, 2013.
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- TURABIAN 8TH EDITION
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "James Bird Jr," by Jennifer S.H. Brown, Accessed December 12, 2024, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/james-bird-jr
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James Bird Jr
Article by Jennifer S.H. Brown
Published Online January 20, 2008
Last Edited December 16, 2013