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Top News - October - 2003
Published October 13, 2003
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Long-standing land claims settled for First Nations
Agency celebrates 10 years of service
Nations gather to mark anniversaryThis is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the October 2003 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot.
Long-standing land claims settled for First Nations
Pamela Sexsmith, Sage Writer, North Battleford
It took almost a century, but Thunderchild and Moosomin First Nations have finally been compensated for lands guaranteed them by treaty but taken away by the Canadian government.
In a signing ceremony held Oct. 2 at Sakewew high school in North Battleford, the two First Nations saw the fruits of several years of negotiations-land claim settlements worth $53 million for Thunderchild, and $41 million for Moosomin.
The Thunderchild land claim dated back to 1908, when reserve lands near Delmas were taken from the First Nation and the people living on the land were relocated to a smaller reserve. The Moosomin claim dated back to 1909, when the First Nation was removed from its original reserve near Battleford to a new reserve 36 kilometres north of North Battleford. In both cases, the lands taken away from the First Nations were ideal for farming, while the lands given them in return were not.
Federal minister of Indian Affairs Robert Nault was on hand in North Battleford to help formally announce the settlements and addressed those gathered to celebrate, including students from Sakewew high school.
"The settlement of longstanding land claims not only resolves past wrongs, but they put Thunderchild and Moosomin in a better position to create more opportunities for young people like yourselves," Nault said to the crowd. He also spoke about some of the plans the First Nations have for the money coming from the settlements and how those plans will make for stronger communities and more opportunities for youth.
"Moosomin First Nation is already committing some of the claims money to on-reserve housing. Thunderchild First Nation is contemplating the purchase of several parcels of land and exploring opportunities in the oil and gas sector. We haven't even signed the agreement and both chiefs and councils have already got long-term visions and plans of how to develop the economy based on our relationship. Both First Nations have already chosen to fund a multimillion dollar education trust so that more Thunderchild and Moosomin students can pursue post-secondary education."
Thunderchild Chief Winston Weekusk said the day was an historic one for the people of Thunderchild and also congratulated the chief and members of Moosomin First Nation for their successful settlement.
"I must thank our Creator for bringing us together today to witness this very historical event. It shows what can do when we can sit down, negotiate and settle our differences. We have been at odds many times with government.
"I must acknowledge the Elders and the former residents of our former reserve, Delmas, a few miles from here. It is a victory that is bittersweet to us, the history behind all this and the culmination of all the negotiations.
"A great deal of research had to be done along with the oral history of our people and reserve. The people of Thunderchild 115A, it is to their memories that we must do a ceremony and also to acknowledge former chiefs Andrew Paddy and Gordon Thunderchild, band council members, our negotiators Dan Maddagan, Cilas Halyk and specific claims co-ordinator Cameron Jack," Weekusk said.
Moosomin Chief Kaypeaysewat also thanked chief negotiators Maddagan and Halyk, who he said "were responsible for turning things around to the point where Moosomin stopped bargaining and actually started negotiating."
"It took 94 years and we are here today because of our former chiefs and our people telling Moosomin that we needed to settle this outstanding claim," Kaypeaysewat said.
"I am proud to say that I worked with the former chiefs who helped me with these talks with the federal government and to achieve our vision. We are here now and it is time to move on."
Agency celebrates 10 years of service
Yvonne Irene Gladue, Sage Writer, Little Pine First Nation
Since 1993 the Battlefords Tribal Council (BTC) Human Services Corp.-Indian Child and Family Services Agency has served the communities of Mosquito, Grizzly Bear's Head, Lean Man, Lucky Man, Sweetgrass, Poundmaker and Little Pine. For its tenth anniversary the agency held a four-day celebration from Sept. 7 to 10, complete with a trail ride and relay run.
Forty-five riders on horseback, 10 relay runners and two horse-drawn wagons were part of the entourage for the ride and run. Elders and other community members also came along, following behind the riders and runners and lending their support.
The theme for the celebration was 'Looking to the Past to Establish the Future.' Pete Waskahat, Elder advisor from Frog Lake, Alta. accompanied the riders and gave a number of speeches recalling the old days and how communities need to use the traditions from long ago in everyday living.
Linda Standing, BTC community development liaison co-ordinator, helped the riders and runners by providing lunch and water, while each community along the trail provided meals, a safe place to camp, mini-round dances and a mini-powwow.
Two special feasts were also held as part of the ride and run, one at Mosquito First Nation at the beginning of the journey, and one at the end of the trail, held on Little Pine and hosted by Lucky Man First Nation. The second feast was held to honour the late Andrew "King" Okemow, who worked to get BTC Human Services Corp. off the ground.
"The ride went smoothly and each community was very co-operative and put a lot of community work into it," Standing said.
This is the first time the tribal council has held a trail ride to celebrate its anniversary, Standing said.
"This is the first one ever. In the past there was just community gatherings to mark the anniversary but this was a 10-year anniversary so we did a special one. We had lunch stops in between and I noticed that at each community the crowds got bigger. We started off with about 150 at our first feast and then when we moved to the next community at the first night supper there was about 200 people that attended," she said.
Standing believes that the success of BTC Human Services Corp. depends on the fact that the agency is at arms length from any political interference and that its primary mandate is to ensure protection of all children in the communities by following First Nations traditions and cultures. Standing said this method helps enhance the lives of the Aboriginal children and families in need.
"I feel that this agency is helping the community, the children and families, not only through preventive and healing programming but also by using our culture and traditions wherever possible," Linda Standing said.
Children who are removed from the care of their parents are placed with relatives whenever possible, and are only taken out of the community as a last resort, she said.
While this year's trail ride and run was the first organized by the agency, it's very likely it won't be the last, with the board now considering turning it into an annual event.
"The Elders said that since we've started a ride like this, we now have to look at having one annually for four years in a row," Standing said.
Nations gather to mark anniversaryStephen LaRose, Sage Writer, Fort Qu'Appelle
What do Treaty 4 commemorations mean?
It all depends on who you ask.
While chiefs gathered to discuss political concerns, and others gathered for everything from seminars to parades, nine-year-old Alexander Ironeagle saw the event as a time to help his sister get her traditional dress ready for Saturday afternoon's powwow.
"What does Treaty 4 mean to the little boy from Star Blanket First Nation?" a reporter asked.
"I don't know," he replied.
Then again, Ironeagle probably hasn't gone far enough in school to learn about the historical and cultural significance of the treaty.
The commemorations, which began as a yearly event in 1987, have grown to become one of the largest political and social events in Saskatchewan.
Treaty 4 encompasses 34 bands, including seven located across the border in southwestern Manitoba, with a total membership of about 33,000.
Treaty 4 was signed between chiefs of what is now southern Saskatchewan and the federal government on Sept. 15, 1874. The treaty's signing, along with other numbered treaties throughout the West, paved the way for settlement in what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
After the signing of the treaty, chiefs and the bands they led met every September on the shores of Mission Lake until 1881, when federal Indian agents banned the meetings. Around the same time, the federal government seized about 1,800 acres of land in the Fort Qu'Appelle area that had been originally promised to the bands under terms of the treaty.
The First Nations people were moved from the area because Ottawa believed the Fort Qu'Appelle district could be the new capital of the Northwest Territories.
For almost a century, little was done by First Nations people to promote and advance the honour and respect of the treaty. Little could be done because of the restrictions the federal government placed on Aboriginal people through the Indian Act.
While the more restrictive parts of the Indian Act were removed or modified starting in the early 1960s, it took another generation of Aboriginal political leaders to build a governing structure to protect the treaty, said Mike Pinay, who's on leave from his position as Elders' service co-ordinator with the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council.
"Today we have our land back. Our people are able to gather once again," he said.
The commemorations are as much a learning experience as they are a gathering, he added.
"It's to educate not only our people but also the European people, so that they understand from where we come from."