Hereditary chief reclaims reserve as own, gets arrested

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The ceremonial taking back of a reserve by a hereditary chief and her followers has resulted in a confrontation with RCMP and the arrests of several members.

Four residents of Cold Lake First Nations in east central Alberta were arrested for setting up a blockade on the reserve in early May. Descendants of the band's first chief, Muchaes Kinoosayo Janvier, had reclaimed the reserve as their own, starting with a patch of land that Barrington Petroleum Ltd. began drilling a gas well on.

On May 11 the band council filed an injunction against the group for blockading the right-of-way and two days later police arrested members of the camp for failing with the order to: "cease and desist." Those arrested included Mary Janvier, who claims to be the hereditary chief of CLFN.

Also arrested were Janvier's father, Peter, Louis Janvier, band councillor Ivan Janvier and chief from Saskatchewan who supports the "hereditary chief" argument.

Marcel Pronovost, a communications spokesperson with Indian Affairs in Edmonton, says Ottawa recognizes Chief Mary Francis and the current band council as the governing body of CLFN.

However, during an interview with a local newspaper, Francois said that she and other members of band council were considering handing in their resignations over the situation which Francois says has caused "embarrassment and division" within the reserve which has a population of about 1,700 people.

Grand Center RCMP first sent to the reserve on May 3 when members of the Janvier family, including Mary Janvier Konoosayo, who the family and Ottawa both acknowledge as the hereditary lifetime chief of CLFN, told Barrington construction crews that they were trespassing. After the workers left, the family pitched tents and set up camp surrounding the gas compressor. Police backed off in hopes that diplomacy between the family and band council would solve what Grand Center RCMP Sgt. Brian Merryweather calls an internal conflict.

The treaty, a land and resource sharing agreement between the Indians and the Crown, determined the 35 km by 35 km boundary of CLFN. The reserve is located 10 km east of Grand Center.

The protestors say three factors led to last week's revolt which ignited by Barrington Petroleum's lease agreement with current band council; the traditional argument that chiefs should be appointed and not elected, the sacred nature of the treaty, and an injunction that the family filed against Chief Mary Francois last August, part of which deals with the 1992 election results.

Chiefs at CLFN have been elected for the last 50 years, says Minoose. In 1986, the band opted for its own elections act rather than having elections regulated by Indian Affairs.

Eric Tootoosis, a Treaty Indian from Saskatchewan's Poundmaker Cree Nation, was the electoral officer appointed by the band for the 1992 vote.

He says discrepancies appeared in three straight votes and when Indian Affairs threatened to take over band administration, and Elders suggested the new council and chief hold interim positions while an ad hoc committee form a new less contentious election policy.

The committee hasn't been formed nor has another election taken place since July 15, 1992.

Documents revealed by the family include a voter's list with 169 names scratched off and an electoral officer's final tally of 178 votes cast.