What others say

Page 4

Native people in Alberta need no lessons from Mohawks in Oka about the frustrations of land disputes. They are experts on their own turf.

Their measured response to the Mohawk blockades is particularly admirable in this light. After years of waiting for fair resolutions to their own land claims, their natural sympathy must lie with the Mohawks of Oka.

Alberta chiefs certainly support their objectives. At the same time Alberta chiefs make it clear they don't want militant confrontations in this province. As Enoch Chief Jerome Morin puts it, "We have a lot of public support across this country and we want to keep that support."

This moderate position isn't always easy to defend, particularly to young people impatient for justice that's long in coming. The Native communities in Alberta - whether recognized lands on reserves, non-status Indians or Metis settlements - every reason to be thoroughly disenchanted with the legal route to reform.

We should not forget what happened in 1988 when the Lubicon Lake Cree set up a roadblock, without guns, to press their 50-year-old claim near Peace River.

Armed RCMP officers broke down the barriers with chainsaws and arrested 15 people. The federal government began a campaign to discredit the band and recognize a rival group, the Woodland Cree, to subvert the negotiation process. The unsettled claim is still a black mark on Alberta and the country.

Yet Lubicon Chief Bernard Omniayak, like his counterparts across the province, still puts his faith in peaceful negotiation and courtroom arguments.

The patience of Alberta's indigenous people is not infinite and it should not be tested too long. We don't want Oka to happen in the Peace Country.

(Editorial in Edmonton Journal / Aug. 1990)