Papaschase descendents looking for chiefs' support

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The Papaschase Indian Reserve #136 Descendents are hosting a land claim meeting on Nov. 28 at the Ben Calf Robe School. They will provide background about their specific claim to a representative of the Indian Claims Commission and hope to have chiefs from Alberta support a Band Council Resolution that would begin the process for the descendents to receive compensation for lost lands and treaty status.

Shirley Gladu is a volunteer working for the descendents. She is the great grand-daughter of Chief Papastew, the leader at the time of the reserve land surrender of 1888, an area better known as south Edmonton.

The meeting is open to the public, but a specific invitation goes out to the chiefs, said Gladu.

The claim effects as many as 5,000 people across Canada, she said. The original members of the Papaschase reserve were dispersed and absorbed by other bands, so Gladu is hoping the chiefs will sign the resolution on behalf of their members who are descendents of the Papaschase members.

The resolution demands full and complete access by the Indian Claims Commission to all documents and records about the land surrender held by the federal and provincial governments.

Gladu has been working on the claim for a number of years, but efforts were made in the 1950s to have the government recognize claims that members of the Papaschase band were driven off the prime real estate in Edmonton and " radically dispossessed. . . broken up more completely than any other band in Alberta."

Along the way, Gladu and a small group of volunteers have been busy collecting background, raising awareness of the Papaschase, and even fighting a development proposal that would have seen a Papaschase burial site destroyed.

In 1996, Chief Papastew was one of six people inducted to Edmonton's historical hall of fame, and in 1997 the descendents submitted a millennium project proposal that would, in part, see a joint submission of the city and the descendents to have Ottawa expedite the settlement of the claim.

It's a lot for a few people to be doing and Gladu said the group desperately needs more volunteers. She also is looking for donations as the group is operating on a shoestring budget.

The Nov. 28 meeting will start at 10 a.m. and run until 4 p.m. Ben Calf Robe School is located at 11833-64 St. in Edmonton. People can write to Shirley Gladu at 11437-165 Ave. Edmonton, Alta. T5X 3W5 or call historian Randy Lawrence at 435-8142 or volunteer Margaret McGilvery at 425-1198.