The Mistahi-Maskwa legend is the story of a very large bear with a passion for medicine and healing and an enthusiasm for sharing knowledge.

Many thousands of years ago in the lands now known as northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, a mythical bear roamed the landscape. One day, in his travels he came across a young child who was lost. Taking the child into his care, the bear taught the child about medicines, and in doing so, enriched all the communities where the child shared his knowledge, and is what many Indigenous medicine men and women refer to as the source of countless teachings about medicines to this day.