Bigstone Cree Nation holds peaceful demonstration

Under new Chief Gordon T. Auger, Bigstone Cree Nation held a peaceful demonstration Oct. 30 to “draw attention to the lack of respect and acknowledgement for our rights to economic development within our own traditional territory.” The band says that extensive drilling and industrial development were permitted by the government without approval from the band or consideration of the band’s environmental concerns or economic growth. In a news release signed by Chief and council, Bigstone Cree’s “deplorable” on-reserve situation, brought about by lack of federal funding and resource revenue sharing, is compared to the local Municipality of Opportunity, which as “growing and expanding in multiple ways due to the tax revenue received from industry within Bigstone Cree Nation traditional territory.” The group gathered at highways 754 and 813, marking the entry to the traditional territory.