Cree Indian chief of the western plains of Canada who took part in the 1885 Riel Rebellion—an uprising of Indians and Métis (persons of mixed Indian and European ancestry)—against the Canadian government.

When Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, marquess of Lorne, governor general of Canada, made a tour of the Canadian northwest in 1881, Poundmaker served as his guide from Battleford to Calgary (now in Alberta). In 1881–85 Poundmaker led agitation of the Indians of north Saskatchewan for redress of their grievances, and in 1885 he joined the Riel Rebellion under the Métis leader Louis Riel (Riel, Louis). After Riel was captured later that year, Poundmaker surrendered and was sentenced to a three-year prison term. He was released after serving one year and died soon thereafter.