INDIAN RECORD A National Publica tion lor the Indi ans 01 Canada L.tc. et M.L Single Copies 10 cents VOL. XX, No. 2 WINNIPEG, CANADA FEBRUARY 1957 Hobbe,m'as Appeal Eviction OTTAWA-Unless and un­ til an Alberta judge rules otherwise, the 118 Cree In­ dians on the Hobbema Re­ serve in Alberta, whose qua­ lifications have been challen­ ged will return to full Indian status and the right to share in any band money. This is the immediate effect of the appeal from the decision of the I n d ian Affairs Register which was filed in Ottawa, Feb. 4th. Whi,le the Indians, members of the. Samson Band, have not been removed from the reserve, certain monies have been held back since the ruling of the reg­ First row (seated), le,ft to right: Mr. R. Leonard, Jourda in, Garry Ma'inville, Ra lph Ma invillle, Dario Fiddler, istrar that they were not entiUed P.T. Instructor; Mr. Guy Bre'mault, Industria'i Arts Sy lvia Desmoullins, De'ana McLa uren, Irene Houle, Jenny to be registered as treaty In­ Tea cher; Rev. Fat her M. St. Jacques, Language's Pro­ Pe,tequan, Vido,ri a W anagamik, Louise W esley. dians. Until an appeal had been fessor; Rev. Fr. C. Ru est, Pri ncipal a nd Superior; Sister Back row, le.ft to right: T ho'mas Burns, Jame,s Jack, la:unched ithat ruling prevailed. St. Florence, Te'acher; Siste'r CecHe de Rome, Home Roy Lac Seul, Andy Lac Seul, AI'ec Medecin, Stella The appeal, rec.eived here Fe.b. Economics Teacher and Nurse. Descontie, Ger,trude Barbeau, Betty Petequan, Mary Jane 4, 48 hours ahead of the dead­ Second row, left to rig ht: Vernon Mainville, Melvin Skead, Norma McKenzie, Annie Wesley. line, means that the o.riginal peti­ Courchene, Matthew Be'aver, Mic'hael Courchene, 'Richard (St . Jacques Photo ) tion from other members of the band, claiming that these In­ dians had no right to live on the r,eserve and share in the .rich oil Kenora J,uni,or High School Progress income which will be enjoyed by The Kenora R.C. Indian School has its Junior High School the same group, is studying in the band, will be forwarded to since September 1952. It started humbly with six pupils. P embroke, Onto the dis'trict judge. Under the In­ Elroy Jourdain is a student at dian Act, the judge has the same Since then, the number of students has increased steadily. We count now 25 pupils in Grade 9 and 10. the Manitoba Technical School, sweeping powers conferred on Winnipeg, and plays hockey for any Royal Commission. In other From the first g,roup, two girls, Indi,an School at Lehret, Saskat­ Dorothy Desmoulin and Myrna chewan. the- Monarch Juniors. Charlie words, he can employ counsel to Courchene and Alphonse GuI­ help him, call his own witnesses Greyeyes, have graduated as With the firm conviction that practical nurses at the St. Boni- a complete education is ·of great mond aTe playing on the same and review all aspects of the team and working in the City of case if he fee1s necessary. face School of Nursing. importance, six students of the One boy, John Pete Kelly, is Kenora R.C. School, after sruc­ Winnipeg. Sub Judice completing his Grade 12 at the cessfully completing Grade 10, More than ever, Indian boys Meanwhile, in the House of are gone to Lebret to finish their and girls are looking forward for Commons, references ,to the case etoba Passes high school. They a,re: Rudolph a bet.ter edueation in order to itself will be sub judice. But this Man. Fontaine, Joseph Seymour, Al- become useful citizens thus does not ne'cessarily mean t ha,t First Half of Test vin Graves and Helen Nanawin, showing that they are not in­ there can be no reference to the all in Grade 11. Betsy Odjick, of ferior to anyone else. Indian Act itself. Nearly one year has passed The Hobbema case is one of since Indians were given limi,ted several hundred acUons taken drinking rights in Manitoba and, under the amendment to the In­ so far, very few eomplaint.s have Vote On Lease Ruled Out dian Act in 1951 which provides been made to the attorney-gen­ CARIDSTON-A secret bal­ lease expires during the first that any 10 Indians in a band eral's department about their lot vote by 45>8 me'mbers of part of 1959. Since 1948, rental could ,challenge by petition the behavior. the 2,500-member Blood In­ fees f'rom the land have given eligibiliit,y as 'treaty Indians of A department official said that dian tribe held here Jan. 18, Blood tribesmen thousands of any other members. Indians, on a two-year t,rial per­ to decide whether the band dollars annually. Section 12 of the act describes iod, have caused little or no would renew the Prairie M,r. Hunter said the 458 who those not entitled to be regis­ more trouble since receiving the cast ballots, were conside,rably tered as Indians including any­ right to enter beer parlors and Blood Agricultural Lease to less than the total eligible voters one who was allotted half-breed oth'er drinking privileges tihan white faI'1mers in 1959, was de­ over 21 years of age. He added lands or scrip aHer the Riel re­ they did when they consumed clared void by Indian Agent tha,t another vote will be held bellion or their descendants. their alcohol "behind billboards Larry Hunter, because less in the near future. The voting While there have been a num­ and in vacant lots." than 50 per cent of ,the el.igible was he1d as band members col­ ber of petiliions on ,the basis of Strong representations had voters cast ballots. lected $15 each or a total of Section 12, the Hobbema case is been made against allowing In­ In 1948, the Blood band leased about $40,000 from the tribe one of only a few where it was dians into beer parlors when the 36,000 ac,res of land for 10 years fund, which is made up in part aUeged that the ancestors of new government liquor act was to white farmers on the north­ from receipts from the leased (Concl. p. 8, col. 4 ) being framed last year. east corner of the reserve. The land. Page 2 INDIAN RECORD FEBRUARY 1957 WHAT THE PRESS SAYS INDIAN RECORD <the 1~t o.J the W"ile A NATIONAL PUBLICATION' FOR THE Mr. Pickersgill Goes Too Far I NDIANS OF CANADA \ k/fU1. On the 1,d,iaM Founded 1938 Perhaps the most shocking develop­ Published 10 times a year ment yet in the scandalous sfory of the This is the sixth ortiole in a series entitled: by the I ndian evictions is the bland announce­ THE CANADIAN IN'DIAN - A SURVEY ment by Immigration Minister Pickers­ Oblates of Mary Immaculate gill that he is holding "for consideration" Early Visi,tors INDIAIN & ESKIMO a petition addressed by representatives of WELFARE COMMISSION the Alberta I ndian tribes to Her Majesty Despite the popular opinion, Colum­ the Queen. bus did not discover America. No doubt REV. G. LA VIOL£T11E, O.M.1. exists among historians that Indians of The exact legal effect of a petition to Editor and Manager the eastern seaboard saw white men more the Crown, under modern conditions, than 500 years before Columbus. The ALL Correspondence is to be sent to: may be a matter of dispute. There is no first known white visitor - others may I'NDIAN RECORD doubt, however, that the right to petition have preceded him - was a Norseman the monarch is one of the oldest and most 619 McDermot Ave., Winnipeg 2, Mon. named Thorfinn Kerlsefni. In 1,007, he firmly established rights of British sub­ attempted to settle in what he called Subscription Rate: $1.00 a year jects, specifically guaranteed by Magna "Vinland," believed to be near Newport, Carta and by the Bill of Rights of 1689. R. I. He and his settlers were soon killed. Printed by CANADIAN PUBLISHERS LTD. To the Indians it has a special symbolic Winnipeg, Man. We also know that some years later, value because the old treaties with the Norsemen also visited Hudson Bay. vario~s tribes, now so casually violated, Authorized as Second Class Matter In 1497, the English explorer, John POST OFFICE DEPT., OTTAWA, CANADA were all made in the name of Queen Vic­ toria or her predecessors. Cabot, came to Newfoundland. There, he For a cabinet minister to intercept a met the Beothuks - a tribe now extinct. E'DITORIAL petition to the Queen is a monstrous piece Later, in 1501, the Portugese explorer of arrogance, as well as a gross affront Corte Real visited the coast of North America. t P. F. Pocock, Archbishop of Winnipeg to Her Majesty. It becomes doubly serious when the minister is aware, as he must be, The first serious attempt to settle in HE Indian Record is nO'w entering that his own conduct is criticized in the what now is Eastern Canada was made by Tinto its 20th year of pUblication. petition. Jacques Cartier, from France, between Congratulations are in order. Published -Ed'monton Journal 1534 and 1541. His first landing was in on a skimpy budget in 1938 'as the voice the Baie des Chaleurs (New Brunswick) . of 75,000 Indians scattered from one Later, he discovered an inland highway end of the country to the other, its LETTER TO THE EDITOR - the St.