Woman fights for long lost status

Page 5

With the same steely determination that led her great, great, great grandmother to travel to England to protest to Queen Victoria in 1860, Susan Schank is seeking the Indian status her ancestor was denied because she married a white man.

"I'm asking for the same rights that she should have had," said Schank, 48.

Naaneebweque, dubbed an "Indian princess" by the British press, was the daughter of an Ojibway chief. She married William Sutton, an English missionary in 1839, and adopted the name Catherine. In 1852 she was told that she was no longer eligible for the annuity distributed to band members in payment for surrendered lands because she had married a white man.

But the Suttons' land parcel, located about 15 kilometres north of Owen Sound, was declared subject to a British government ruling disallowing land ownership by Indians.

"Catherine was Indian to the government when she wanted a deed for her property and white when it came time for the annuities," said Schank.

Queen Victoria received Catherine Sutton, and told her she would consider her request. Queen Victoria did nothing and eventually Catherine's descendants lost both the land parcel and their Indian heritage.

Schank heard the story of Naaneebweque as a child at her grandfather's knee, but it wasn't until 1998 when she was gardening at her home near Chatsworth,15 kilometres south of Owen Sound, that she gave serious thought to her heritage.

"I found an Indian arrowhead in the ground and that made me think about who I was," said Schank.

The stay-at-home mother of four who barely knew how to turn on a computer began a journey of discovery on the Internet and through the national archives in Ottawa and the Ontario archives.

She found documents proving she was Naaneebweque's direct descendent and has made a claim to Indian Affairs for status.

But she fears she may have a battle, because Naaneebweque lost her own status by marrying Sutton.

"I want the government to make amends," she said.

Schank says she is not after money.

"I just want the status that in our minds should never have been taken away," she said.

Indian Affairs has told her that it will be at least eight months before her application is considered.

"I feel I know how frustrated Catherine must have felt. She was branded a trouble maker because she dared to speak out and I expect the same will be said of me," said Schank.

Schank found documents signed by the chiefs of the Ojibway giving Catherine and her husband the land parcel as a gift in 1845.

The Suttons scraped together enough money to buy the land they had worked so hard to farm, but the British government's ruling had taken away.

"So in effect they had to buy back their own land," she said.

"They fought obstacles such as government and racism. Their dedication to be Indian and have a deed to their farms they worked and toiled to improve and the government wanting it when all the work is done and all their money spent," said Schank.

The Sutton's six children lived on the land until the 1880s but without the annuities their family had been denied they were unable to hang on to it.

"They were poor. The annuities would have made such a difference,'' said Schank.

Meanwhile a developer is proceeding with plans for a 2,000-home project on the 240-hectare property that Naaneebweque was not allowed to own because of her Ojibway heritage. Georgian Villas is slated to include a golf course, a 200-room hotel, a village and a marina.

Schank said she is not opposed to the development, but she is concerned that the site on Lot 33 of the property that is registered as the grave site of Catherine Sutton is not where she is buried.

Schank first visited the site on brilliant spring day two years ago.

"I was immediately drawn towards a piece of land by the water," said Schank.

There she found depressions in the ground close to a spot where she later learned the original Sutton log home had been built on Lot 34 of the property.

Schnk has found documents showing that William Sutton purchased Lot 33 long after his wife's death in 1865, so it's more likely Naaneebweque was buried on Lot 34.

"They have registered the wrong place," she said.

Ground penetrating radar indicates that the site marked as Catherine Sutton's grave lay undisturbed, meaning no one had dug there.

Meanwhile Georgian Villas plans to erect a plaque near the depressions saying it could be a possible burial site.

"There could be more depressions, I have not looked for them yet,'' said Schank.

In the Ontario archive films, she found a copy of the June 14, 1940 Owen Sound Sun Times that said Catherine, her husband and six of their children are buried on their farm.

"I want Georgian Villas to acknowledge my other ancestor's resting places . . . I'm not asking Georgian Villas to rewrite history. I am just asking them to respect my ancestor's burial rights. I have been sent from pillar to post trying to get justice to leave my ancestors to rest in peace,'' she said

An official plan amendment and an environmental assessment are still required before the development can proceed.

Chippewas of Nawash Chief Ralph Akiwenzie of the Cape Croker reserve located about 25 kilometres north of the proposed site said his people have concerns about the project.

Naaneebweque was one of the first Native land claim advocates, so her grave is considered of "great historical importance," said Akiwenzie.

"I cannot stop thinking about those times, now past, when Governors and Generals used to meet our fathers in the Great Councils, and made great promises that were never, never to be broken while grass grew and waters ran. All our fathers who did not fall in wars remained faithful to the British throne, and their children have followed their steps in loyalty. But the wars have passed away, and but few of the old veterans are now alive and advantage is taken of our weakness and ignorance, so that our fishers, hunting grounds, lands and homes aretaken from us, whether we like it or not . They are first coveted, and then some plan is concocted to get them; and those pledges made to our grandsires by British noblemen have been and every day shamefully violated, so that the poor Indian have cease to have confidence in the Government. Little did those bold Indian Warriors think that when they were listening to the fine promises made by British noblemen that the successors of the crown officials would, in a few years, rob their children of their birth - right."

-Catherine Sutton in 1862.