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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Planned talks avert Whiteshell blockade

Brokenhead, province to discuss land concerns

By: Aldo Santin

Posted: 08/25/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

'I'm confident when we sit down around the table at Brokenhead on Monday morning that we'll be able to work something out...' - Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

The threat of a blockade of Whiteshell Provincial Park for the Labour Day weekend was lifted Tuesday but a spokesman for Brokenhead Ojibway Nation said the blockade could occur if talks with the province fail to generate the results the community wants.

Paul Chief, a member of the Brokenhead band council, said he's hopeful next Monday's talks with Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie will lead to a resolution to the issue of co-management of sacred aboriginal land in the Whiteshell.

Chief said Brokenhead considered blocking public access to the provincial park only as a last resort after the province arbitrarily rejected the community's selection of four parcels of parkland as its compensation under the Treaty Land Entitlement Process.

"At least we got the province to the table to discuss this," Chief said. "It's somewhat of a victory (for Brokenhead), a small one. We'll see how the outcome comes on Monday."

Blaikie said Tuesday that he was able to lift the threat of the blockade after he personally spoke to Brokenhead Chief Debra Chief and told her he'd be willing to meet with her and council in Brokenhead to discuss the land issue.

"The threat of a blockade has been lifted and we hope at the meeting Monday morning we can have a meeting of the minds and come out of there with an agreement as to how the concerns they have about the sacred sites in the Whiteshell can be dealt with," Blaikie said.

The dispute between Brokenhead and the province reached the boiling point after a provincial official sent a short, blunt and terse letter to Paul Chief stating the four parcels of land the band had chosen in 2000 didn't meet the criteria set out in the Treaty Land Entitlement process and the province was delisting the request.

The Treaty Land Entitlement process recognizes certain First Nations did not receive all the land they were entitled to when their reserves were first established. An agreement affecting the Manitoba bands contained conflicting sections over whether land in provincial parks was eligible for selection by First Nations.

Brokenhead had selected four sites, a total of about 348 hectares, that are considered sacred aboriginal land.

Blaikie said the Aug. 13 letter to Brokenhead merely restated the province's long-standing position on the four parcels of Whiteshell land, adding, however, the letter should have stated the province was also willing to continue discussions with Brokenhead on how to protect the sacred sites within the park.

"What the letter should have done as well was to emphasize we were eager to continue working with Brokenhead, and others, how these sites could be co-managed or protected in some other way that recognizes the importance they have not only for Brokenhead for many other First Nations in Manitoba," Blaikie said.

"I don't want to prejudge the outcome of the (Monday) meeting but certainly we'll go into it, and I know they will too, with a view trying to address some of the concerns they have," Blaikie said. "I'm confident when we sit down around the table at Brokenhead on Monday morning that we'll be able to work something out that will mean the blockade will stay lifted."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 25, 2010 A7

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