Calgary & Southern Alberta

Father Albert Lacombe with Blackfoot chiefs Crowfoot, left, and Three Bulls in 1886
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Father Albert Lacombe
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Albert Lacombe, born at St. Sulpice near Montreal in 1827, arrived in the West in 1849. After working at Pembina for three years, he returned to Montreal. Lacombe, however, decided to dedicate his life to the western missions and the Oblate order. In 1852 he replaced Father Thibault in Alberta. Between 1865 and 1871 Lacombe travelled among the Blackfoot and Cree and he tried to stop warfare between the two nations. Lacombe, like John McDougall, served as an intermediary between police, government, railway personnel, and the Blackfoot. Before his death in 1916, he established an agricultural mission among the Métis, sought to protect Roman Catholic schools, and established an "industrial school" among the Blackfoot.