Cold Lake defies wildlife views

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Fishing and hunting are of utmost importance to Indians and are a "deeply rooted cultural behavior." This sentiment is but one of mamy on wildlife conservation as expressed by the Cold Lake First Nations in their "Indian Peoples Wildlife Conservation" brief.

The above statement and others in the brief are a direct consequence of the existing controversy over Treaty Indian fishing rights at Cold Lake which came to the attention of the public in April.

Treaty Indians have been adamant that they are not the party responsible for the depletion of fish species in the waters of Cold Lake, or anywhere else for that matter. Rather, say the Indians, it is the non-Indian sportsmen and commercial fishermen who have been negligent and responsible for the dwindling numbers of fish.

The statement asserts that "fishing and hunting are an inseparable part of the Indian relationship with land and environment and "Indian people want to perpetuate this special relationship."

The band charges that government policies regarding fish and wildlife have been developed without Indian input. In so doing, say the Chipewyan Indians of Cold Lake,

the province is employing a "systematic disregard of (Indian) rights and interest" and is nothing other than part of a larger and more encompassing scheme to "terminate Indian communities and Aboriginal and Treaty rights.

The brief goes on to highlight that "a sacred covenant was established between two peoples," the Indian and the government, "under which both would share responsibilities for fish and wildlife conservation." That covenant, say the Indians, was broken by government policies of concentration and assimilation."

In effect, Indians have been the "favorite whipping boy as they have become the brunt of governing policies and the victims of fish and wildlife authorities who accuse them of "slaughtering wildlife and emptying lakes," the brief states.

To further limit and regulate the Indian right to hunt and fish, the federal govern-ment enacted the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement" to limit the exercise of Indian fishing and hunting rights."

Wildlife sources are an invaluable and irreplaceable asset of Indian people, and, from their point of view," belong to the Indian community, not to individuals."

In support of the government laws, says the statement, "the courts have further limited Indian Treaty rights" alleging that Indians violate local wildlife management laws.

"Where violations are not clear," the statement continues, "the Alberta government has engaged in entrapment to assure Indian convictions." One negative effect of such charges is that it implants in the minds of Albertans "that the Indian people are lawless and disrespectful of basic conservation principles."

Despite the efforts of government and its policing authorities, the band maintains a position by which it will continue its special relationship with the land. They contend, as passed down from their Elders, that "the lands and waters were given to them to preserve and protect." They are the guardians, the keepers, of such special commodities. They "will continue to harvest the fruits of the land" regardless of unilaterally devised laws and policies.

The non-Indian campaign is not share their power continues to grow against Indian, the brief explains, alleging that much of the reason for this is profit motivated. The "continual raping of natural resources,"comes from "development and industrialization," says the statement. "Sportsmen are catered to and virgin lands raped for commercial projects."

To further illustrate the devastating impact of society, the Indians point to the "almost free-for-all practise by non-Indian society in terms of resource extraction and pollution in the name of progress and development.

As far as the Cold Lake First Nations is concerned, it is white society not Indian people who are abusing the laws, the laws of nature as handed down over many generations, laws which hae always taken into consideration the balance of nature and the reality of the practicality of using only what is needed for their own survival.