Windspeaker September 28, 1990
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Evidence challenges Nepoose's murder conviction 2 Story page Wilson Nepoose September 28, 1990 North America's No.1 Native Bi- weekly Newspaper Volume 8 No.14 Lonefighters digging in for long winter seige By Jenifer Watton government will now halt dam The Lonefighters say they will Windspeaker Correspondent construction and go ahead with continue their efforts to heal the an environmental impact study. river through protests and fo- PEIGAN NATION If that happens, he says "we'll rums. t.._.-. be good little Indians and go Recently a protest was held at The Lonefighters Society says away." Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump it will spend the winter near the Crowshoe maintains the soci- only kilometers from their camp, Oldman River diversion site in ety won a victory over the prov- and a debating forum in Lethbr- an effort to "heal the river" de- ince in its treatment of the idge was attended by 500 people. spite the provincial govern- Peigans over the controversial Meanwhile contempt of court ment's injunction forbidding Oldman dam. charges have been filed against them to continue the river's di- "The government has ex- Bom With A Tooth for breaching version. posed itself and now all of Can- the court injunction. Lonefighter Raymond Crow - ada can see what Native people RCMP say the Lonefighters shoe says they will carry on pro- are up against," he says. continued work on their diver- testing construction of the Presently the Lonefighters are sion after the injunction was in Oldman River dam in southern winterizing their camp on Good place. Alberta, which Lonefighters say Rider flats near their river diver- Born With A Tooth is also Peigan burial grounds sion. They say it will remain a facing two firearms charges and and the environment. peaceful camp despite Alberta has been denied bail on two oc- The Lonefighters Society say Environment's prediction that casions. they were only 15 hours from they will return to "fix" the river Lethbridge Judge Clarence completing of the before Nov. 1, a deadline for Yanosik says he is not convinced river when a Calgary judge up- ground freeze -up. that Born With A Tooth is not a held a provincial court injunction Crowshoe suggests by settling threat to public safety. (Sept. 12) that stopped the in for the winter tie Lonefighters Born With A Tooth says keep - Peigans from completing the have stepped into a more politi- ing him in jail - is a political diversion. cal arena. whitewash. Crowshoes says despite the "Our job is to protect and "Somebody has to be the sac- loss of their caterpillar, the in- protest eroding Native rights, rificial lamb," Born With A Tooth junction and the arrest of Lone- traditions and culture. Our says. fighters' leader Milton Born With lands, minerals and resources Meanwhile the Peigan Lone- A Tooth, Lonefighters are re- were taken in exchange for a life fighters wait to see when the grouping. of segrelation," says Crowshoes. RCMP and Alberta Environment Lonefighter spokesman 'We ve been branded as out- will return to repair the Oldman Glenn North Peigan says "Born laws and subjected to assimila- River diversion. Lonefighter arrest protested by Julie Russell With A Tooth's arrest temporar- tion and enocide through not so "They say they're coming ily stopped us" from continuing subtle forms of apartheid," before November 1. We'll wait in front of the Alberta Legislative buildings the diverson, and he hopes the Crowshoe added. and see," says North Peigan. Wild brawl greets Oka surrender By Rudy Haugeneder The police arrested a number of was enraged at the way police Nations Congress, warned the Windspeaker Staff Writer Mohawk warriors that slipped and soldiers "were throwing federal and provincial govern- through army lines. women and children around ... ments are in for a "big surprise" OKA, QUE. A few hours later, on the pulling them by the sweaters and if they don't begin to settle Abo- nearby Kahnawaka Reserve, sol- tossing them around." riginal grievances. "We've finally A wild brawl between Mo- diers fixed bayonets and aimed Erasmus warned that the woke up." hawks, the military, and police at hundreds of angry Mohawks Mohawk protests are only a Miles Richardson, head of the ended the 78-day seige of the who temporarily blockaded sample of what's to come across Haida Nation in B.C., echoed the Kanesatake drug and alcohol Mercier Bndge into Montreal to the country unless governments warnings that more direct action treatment centre Wednesday protest the surrender violence at begin to deal seriously - and is in the wings unless govern- night. Oka. immediately - with aboriginal ments take action. About 50 Warriors, women It was the first time soldiers land and rights claims. He said the Oka battle was a and children had opted for an were ordered to point their "This is not the end," he said "triumph for what Natives be- "honorable disengagement" to weapons. in an interview. "It's not even the lieve in" and "governments can the violent dispute over Indian The Warriors decided to give beginning yet." no longer ignore us." land claims. They were crossing up the centre out of fear of falling And he blamed Indian Affairs Erasmus, responding to fears the army's razor -wire fence sur- into the hands of the Quebec pro- Minister Tom Siddon for the that First Nations want their own rounding the centre to surrender vincial police, said Joe Doom, a summer of violence "which separate countries, said "we're to the military when chaos broke Mohawk negotiator. could have been settled peace- prepared to live in one state" but out. The military was supposed to fully" if the minister had acted only if Natives are given control Scuffles and fights broke out leave the next day and be re- instead of hiding away through- of their own jurisdictions. after the Mohawks fanned out placed by the police. out the confrontations. The Army said 16 women, 28 rather than walk directly to mili- George Erasmus, grand chief "Siddon was no place to be men, and a half dozen children tary buses that were supposed to of the Assembly of First Nations, seen for the last 100 days," he were taken into custody by the take them to an army base -and described the actions as "appall - said. "Where was he dunng this military. The Army loaded them protect them from the Quebec ing time period ?" onto buses and took them to the provincial police. He said he "couldn't believe" The AFN leader wasn't alone nearby base at Farnham. Women and children were how soldiers could be ordered to in his warning. The police also arrested some dragged by the hair and fix bayonets against unarmed Bill Wilson, the normally Mohawks and have them in cus- punched by soldiers and police. men, women, and children, and moderate president of B.C.'s First tody.. PAGE 2, WINDSPEAKER, SEPTEMBER 28, 1990 News Littlechild after Tom Siddon's Oka -sparked hatred hits job as Indian Affairs minister Alberta Natives By Everett Lambert [b`irrlaakc'r t orn:pvn:iì rr,' By Rudy Haugeneder But he says he wouldn't ac- antees that Aboriginal peoples Windpeaker Staff Writer cept the job unless he's given a have direct input into how the EE)Iv1C-)VTI;A "good reign" on the department. department is run. EDMONTON And that means changes - Although Prime Minister The brutality of Oka is being felt in Alberta where including making the job a per- Brian Mulroney is known to be differing opinions are pitting Indian against Indian and Native MP Willie Littlechild manent one rather than as a considering a major cabinet is also causing a violent non -Native backlash. says he wants to be Canada's short -term stepping stone to shuffle in the not too distant fu- One Native has already been killed in a drunken first Indian -born federal Indian more senior cabinet posts. ture, Littlechild says he might be brawl in Edmonton between Natives with opposing Affairs Minister. "Changing ministers too often considered too politically inexpe- views on the Mohawk situation at Oka, Que. And he wants the job on his has been a problem," says Lit- rienced to take on the portfolio. And there is a rising tide of incidents of non-Natives terms. tlechild. "The Indian leadership However, he says he has a attacking Natives, say Native spokesmen - incidents Littlechild, 46, from the four complains the administration lifetime of experience in Indian that are Oka related. bands at Hobbema, says he ago- changes too often. I'd have to be politics to draw on, and already The Indian Association of Alberta says it has a grow- nized all summer over whether there long enough to affect sits on a number of important ing list of reports of Natives being attacked by non - he'd accept the job if the prime change." federal committees dealing with Natives who oppose the Mohawk'.protest and l'eigan minister offered it to him. Among the changes he'd everything from justice to Abo- Lonefighter actions in southern Alberta. "The more I've thought about demand, splitting it up into two riginal affairs. Similar attacks have been reported by other organiza- it, the more I'd accept that chal- departments is one - an Indian And he's of a history of loy- tions. lenge," said the first -ever treaty affairs department and a sepa- alty to Mulroney - despite "It's getting really bad," says Marilyn Buffalo, co- Indian to be elected to the House rate northern affairs department widespread criticism the govern- chairman of the federal Liberal Party's Aboriginal of Commons.