The Crowshoes are genuine Blackfoot elders who have passed on, very conveniently for the Harwoods. It does seem the Harwoods are at least partly lying about their claimed endorsement and/or training in Blackfoot ways. As well the Harwoods are falsely claiming to be Blackfoot medicine people or pipe carriers.
You can find plenty of links showing the Crowshoes did speak to a number of outsiders about traditional ways and ceremony. But these were all, as far as I can find, people in academia, or in govt programs that would in turn preserve Blackfoot culture. And even for this, it was controversial among the Blackfoot.
All of this below is a world away from "teaching a white couple to become Blackfoot pipe carriers" like the Harwoods claim.
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http://www.abheritage.ca/albertans/profile/crowshoe.html Joe Crowshoe has received criticism for his role in sharing the culture, traditions and religion of the Peigan with society at large, his was nevertheless regarded as a respected elder. The couple maintains such cultural practices as the legends and stories passed down, the use of sweetgrass in smudge and the use of the pipe. Crowshoe served as an advisor on setting up Native American studies programs at both the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge. Crowshoe was also instrumental in developing the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretative Centre into a UNESCO world heritage site. In addition to his work with post-secondary institutions, Crowshoe also worked for about 20 years as a cultural and spiritual advisor for the public education system on the Peigan reserve. As well, he provided editing assistance on the first Blackfoot language dictionary.
The couple was instrumental in the perpetuation of the Peigan culture, and received many honours for their work. They were recipients of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award. The two also received the Order of Canada in 1991. Joe was given an Alberta Achievement Award in 1989, and an Honorary Doctorate of law from the University of Calgary, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the University of Montana. He was a member of the official welcoming committee at the 1991 Royal Visit, and has a Citation of Citizenship from the Government of Canada. Joe Crowshoe was a lifetime councilor at the Peigan Nation. Josephine, a Holy Woman, is the Keeper of the Natoas (sun dance) Bundle and Joe is the Holder of the Blackfoot Short Thunder Medicine Pipe Bundle.
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There's also this page, which again shows a far different picture from what the Harwoods claim.
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http://www.ammsa.com/node/16833The Elders Speak: Crowshoe says now is the time to reveal our culture
Windspeaker
Author: Leslie Crossingham, Alberta
Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Year: 1988 Page 12
The world is changing and now is the time to reveal much of what was once considered secret.
So says Peigan Elder and spiritual leader Joe Crowshoe, who conducted the blessing of the Oldman River on the Peigan reserve last month. The respected gentleman allowed non-Native and non-band members to watch as he performed the sacred pipe ceremony and unfurled the holy waterpipes. He also allowed newspaper reporters to photograph and publish photographs of the ceremony.
However, he stresses that his decision was not made lightly, but only after deep meditation and consultation with others.
"The world is changing," he said in an interview in his Peigan home. "Now is the time for these things to be seen. It is important."
Crowshoe explains that as a young man growing up on the reserve nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains he was taught by the Elders, as well as Christian ministers, about God and the prophets.
"I found out that God, or the Great Spirit, sent prophets to all the people of the worldour prophet Napi, is like those other prophets."
Crowshoe sees all religions as one under the Great Spirit and that every religion is part of God's plan for the world.
"You must not criticize another religion or another way. The Crees have their own way and the Blackfoot have their own way. Even in other nations, we all have the same thing.
"It is given to us, these ceremonial ways. My teachers told me that people are going to say bad things, but just keep going on because you are doing the right thing."
Young men and women from many reserves visit the Crowshoe home to seek guidance which is gladly given.
"I was told to pass the teaching on to your people. To love all people. I don't care who they are, we have to draw people together in unity and share the peace. And this is also important for the whites."
Josephine Crowshoe agrees with her husband and says she has heard complaints from young Natives that white people are "taking their religion away".
"Our religion is like a book," she says. "We dropped it and left it and if a white man picks it up and says it is good and it will help him, let him use it. We should not complain because we left it."
Both Elders feel that nothing is lost to Native people or to Native religion if white people learn the Native way, but
they emphasize there will always be some aspect of the religion kept secret."We are taught that the pipe is like the Bible. People can see it, it is not secret. We are also told by the old people-
'Don't add, don't take out even if we don't understand why we should have to do something, because it was put there by the Creator thousands of years ago'."More than anything, Crowshoe adds that
a teacher must remember that he does not teach to elevate himself. Teaching must be a selfless act that does not glorify his person-only the Great Spirit."We do not take these special things, and say 'Look at me, see how much I know.' Our religion was never meant to do that," says Josephine.------------
So both by adding Nuage gibberish and setting themselves up as online ceremony sellers, the Harwoods betray the elders they claim to have learned from.
