It was a warm summer day at the Whispering Pines Rodeo in northern Alberta. SFU history professor Mary-Ellen Kelm was interviewing a seasoned First Nation cowboy, Duke Lebourdais, for a book she was researching. “Duke was around the circuit through the 1940s and 50s and he’d trained with some of the best Aboriginal calf-ropers,” says Kelm. His wife was working the concession stand behind the small table where they sat. Kelm showed Lebourdais lists of rodeo contestants hoping he could tell her who was Aboriginal and who was not. Kelm suspected that many rodeo star cowboys were aboriginals—about twenty percent—but Lebourdais wasn’t forthcoming with the information. “He’d just smile and tell me ‘Now, he was a real family man’ or ‘That one was a real hellion’ and then he would share a story. He focused on their character, not their race,” says Kelm. Her new book, A Wilder West, published in November 2011 by UBC Press, explores how rodeos brought people together across racial divides, along with many other aspects of rodeo in Western Canada.

Kelm was eventually able to confirm the heritage of the names on the list. “First Nations were crucial to small town rodeos,” Kelm says. “They participated in the pageantry and in the rodeos themselves. They were so skilled, they drew big crowds.”

The dollars from those crowds funded cultural and sporting infrastructure in rural towns. Grandstands, arenas and dance halls were all built with rodeo funds. Rodeos also bankrolled events like fairs and exhibitions that educated local farmers on subjects such as caring for cattle over a hard winter.

Indian reserves also benefited from rodeos. At a time when the federal government was trying to assimilate Aboriginals, rodeo crowds celebrated indigenous ceremonies and skills. The rodeo provided important opportunities for First Nations cowboys. “Aboriginal men had access to valuable networks through their participation in rodeo, and they gained prominence, financial stability and political experience,” Kelm says.

Prominent rodeo cowboys used their skills and connections to lead their communities out of impoverished circumstances. Kelm cites the case of Fred Gladstone from the Kainai nation. “He wanted to start a business, but, like most Aboriginal people, he couldn’t get a loan,” she says. “A white rodeo cowboy co-signed for him and he formed Kainai Industries, a modular home-building company on the reserve.”

Everyone in the Wild West prospered when First Nations and non-Natives collaborated. Kelm says this cooperation was a natural part of rodeo life. “One thing that became clear to me is that the kinds of lines we draw are crossed as often as they are reinforced in rodeo,” Kelm says. “It underscores the artificiality of race.”