Boycott of town begins over councillor's remarks

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A First Nation in Alberta has had a revolutionary reaction to what it regards as racially derogative comments made by a small-town politician in a neighboring community.

Quotes appearing in a story in the Feb. 8 edition of the St. Paul Journal convinced Saddle Lake First Nation Chief Ed Makokis to launch a boycott of the businesses in the town.

The paper reports that St. Paul councillor and business owner Guy Germain believes the town's street crime problems are caused by Native people. Germain chairs a subcommittee of the St. Paul Safer Community Task Force that was struck to work with local bar owners to lower the number of inebriated people seen on the town's streets.

In the article, Journal writer Michelle Huley contrasted remarks made by the councillor with the findings of a 2003 study produced by the local friendship centre that concluded that many of the Native people living on the streets in cities and towns in the region are doing so because of racial discrimination.

Germain rejected suggestions that discrimination is a problem and criticized another task force member who stated that addressing discrimination would be the best way to start to combat street crime.

"The hell we've got to feel sorry for them [Native people]. They are the problem."

That comment and others in the article sparked the boycott. Two weeks later, Germain sent a letter for publication to the Journal addressed to the Saddle Lake chief, council, Elders and citizens. In it, he said, "I write this letter with deep regret. I can appreciate the anger you have after reading the insulting article," but he seemed to blame the newspaper more than himself for the uproar and did not deal directly with his own comments.

"If I have offended anyone by the way the article was printed in the St. Paul Journal, I apologize and ask from the bottom of my heart for your forgiveness," he wrote.

When Sweetgrass called the town hall hoping to speak to the councillor, we were told he was not available.

"I'm sorry, he's on leave for a month," the receptionist said when we asked for Guy Germain's office. Wayne Horner, the town's chief administrative officer, confirmed that, saying the choice to go on leave was Germain's.

"There's a lot of controversy so he felt it was best that he just take a leave of absence," Horner said, adding the town's mayor was dealing personally with the First Nation over the boycott.

"It's pretty much in the hands of Mayor [John] Trefanenko. He's in pretty much in constant contact with Chief [Ed] Makokis so there's communication going on there. That's about all I'm aware of," he said.

After several days of trying to get Makokis or someone on Saddle Lake council to comment on the matter, Sweetgrass contacted a well-placed council administration source that asked not to be named.

The source said it was not surprising that no one had responded to our inquiries since everyone in the band's administration was "running ragged" making plans to create a local economy that would take the place of the services that had previously been accessed in St. Paul.

"Leadership has taken action to create a good economy on the reserve, focusing on the youth. Youth is a huge issue. And we're building a youth centre and a shopping complex with a grocery store, pharmacy and probably a clothing store as a first level of priority," the source said.

A 15-person strategic planning task force has been struck and they are working on a three-year plan to create an economy on the reserve, find jobs and provide the services that need to be provided, the source explained.

And the racial discrimination, seen by chief and council as the central issue in the boycott, is being pursued with unprecedented vigor.

"We have people trained up to take human rights complaints. Leadership has invited band members to come in and talk about all the times there's been discrimination. We write it down and file complaints. And I bet yu we'll probably file a couple of hundred," the source said.

The band administration is concerned that there's not much racial diversity in St. Paul and that local businesses are not employing many Saddle Lake members.

"But they've been taking our money, and leadership decided well, it's our money, we'll spend it in our community rather than spend it there," the source said.

Judging by the calls and e-mails received by this publication, the interest in this situation is national in scope. For years, First Nations leaders have heard the complaints in the mainstream that billions of dollars are "given" to Native people by the federal government. They note that most of that money stays on reserve no more than 24 hours before it is spent on goods and services in businesses located off the reserve and operated by non-Natives. And many leaders say that situation exists because of the Indian Act and the historical action taken by Canadian authorities to hinder the development of functioning economies on reserve lands.

Saddle Lake chief and council aim to put an end to that situation in their community. Already, proposals to set up banks and grocery stores have been developed and the council has met with an architect to begin development of a mall and youth centre.

Saddle Lake has an on-reserve population of almost 5,000 people.

On Feb. 28, 200 band members voted overwhelmingly at a community meeting in favor of continuing the boycott. A band official said that only one person spoke against the action.

We asked if the 200 people at the community meeting was a sign there was limited local interest in the boycott.

"That's more than has come to a meeting ever. It's hard to get people out," the source said, adding that the community is excited about taking control of its own economic future. "Everyone says it's about time and leadership says it's our wake-up call. People are really excited. "