Blackfeet seek legal advice

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An Indian law expert from New Mexico has been asked to help settle a dispute between Blackfeet Indians and the Provincial Museum of Alberta over sacred relics bought recently by the provincial government from a Montana art collector.

Albuquerque lawyer Alan Taradash was approached by a Browning, Montana Blackfeet member after a delegation of Native elders was turned away from the Edmonton museum June 20 without reclaiming religious items they believe will lose their spiritual powers if kept off the Indian reserve.

Renowned western sculpture and art collector Bob Scriver turned over his 1,500-piece Blackfeet collection in a $1.1 million (U.S.) deal that outraged Indians in northern Montana and southern Alberta. It has also sent a fire of contempt through Taradash who's been fighting for Native rights in the south west United States for two decades.

Taradash finds spiritual control by governments particularly offensive and says ethical justice knows no boundaries when it comes to fighting for the rights of aboriginal people to preserve their religions.

"It simply ought to be abhorrent that any person controls religious artifacts just because they happen to be thing others find interesting or curious," he says.

"Especially people who are supposedly educated in the areas to understand the sacred significance (of these holy relics)."

Taradash met with Browning Native Robert Doore who is fighting to reclaim sacred medicine pipe bundles that were part of the deal.

The Montana Blackfeet Indians, whose nomadic descendants remain in parts of Alberta, are campaigning to have the bundles returned to Browning.

Taradash says the struggle by North American Indians to retain lost traditions is more than a noble gesture. He says it's the result of a travesty that would never have faced mainstream religions.

"In my mind there's absolutely no difference in a museum or private individual taking religious artifacts from the Blackfeet tribe than it would be for someone to get a hold of the Pope's ring or staff," he says.

Taradash says the struggle of the Blackfeet Indians is indicative of all aboriginal people trying to cling to their culture while governments are forcing them to assimilate into society.

He would not reveal specifics of the legal arguments of the case because he has not yet been hired by the Montana tribe. But Doore is optimistic Taradash will be retained by the band.

He says he has to discuss hiring Taradash with band elders. "It's important we have our sacred material returned and we'll seek legal means to do it."

One June 20 more than 30 Blackfeet Indians from Montana and Southern Alberta met with museum director Phil Stepney to demand the provincial government return the sacred bundles to the reservation.

Stepney assured Native elders he would be willing to "open up lines of communication" for future negotiations concerning repatriation, but backed away from making further concessions.

The Indians stormed out of the museum vowing to return with legal advice. "We decided to take action," Doore says.

Walter Echo-Hawk, a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colo. says the Blackfeet dilemma offers up "very serious legal questions" for both sides of the border.

He says a number of legal arguments can be addressed including a possible violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act which prohibits the selling of parts of any endangered species in North America. The pipe bundles include, among other things, eagle feathers.

Scriver, a Browning Blackfeet museum owner, could not be reached for comment.

Taradash, who has tacked Indian rights' cases in New Mexico and Arizona, says any settlement for repatriation will have to be a joint decision by American and Canadian federal courts.