The area was originally known as Maskwacis...
and Father Constantine Scollen always referred to it as 'Bear Hills'...
...when he attempted to re-establish a Catholic mission there...
in late 1884 and 1885, around the time that he and Chief Bobtail succeeded in persuading the young men not to join the North-West Rebellion.
The first railway station was named Hobbema...
after the Dutch painter Meindert Hobbema...
during the construction of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway in 1891.
As a result, all of Hobbema's neighbouring communities came to bear names of First Nations origin (Ponoka/El/eland, Menaik/Spruce/denneboom, Wetaskiwin/Hills-Where-Peace-Was-Made...), with the exception of Hobbema itself. The community, including the hamlet portion within Ponoka County, was renamed Maskwacis (meaning indeed 'bear hills' in Cree) on January 1st, 2014.
The community has attracted national media attention...
for its problems with crime and gangs.
In an attempt to cut down on crime, the Hobbema Cadet Corp was established with the goal of keeping children as young as eight years old off the streets.
The Pê Sâkâstêw Centre, a minimum-security (prison/correctional) facility based on Aboriginal healing processes, is located in Maskwacis.
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