Editorial

Page 4

The tactics used by Alberta's Attorney General Ken Rostad and the RCMP to rid themselves of Milton Born With A Tooth and his Lonefighters Society stands right up there with the handling of the Mohawks at Oka, by the Quebec provincial police.

Lonefighters' leader Born With A Tooth is condemned by the provincial government and media, as a "militant," a "renegade Indian" and now for the past three weeks he sits in a jail cell.

Born With A Tooth is in police custody facing two firearms charges after he fired two warning shots in the air during a confrontation with RCMP on the Peigan reserve in southern Alberta, Sept.7

RCMP moved onto the reserve after they say a court injunction ordering Lonefighters to discontinue heir diversion was ignored.

The Lonefighters were diverting the Oldman river in protest of the $345-million controversial dam they say will destroy sacred Indian burial grounds. Rostad refused to meet with the Lonefighters even though a crisis was erupting, (for over 35 days) and instead elected to remind the Peigan Lonefighters the RCMP would be (were) sent in if they continued the diversion.

And federal Indian Affairs minister, Tom Siddon, turned a blind eye and also refused to meet with the Lonefighters.

So Lonefighters continued their diversion of the river and consequently, Born With A Tooth became the actor who had to pay in the drama. Is Born With A Tooth becoming another Leonard Pellitier?

Has Born With A Tooth become a scapegoat because the province needed cause to justify why they invaded Indian land under federal jurisdiction that September morning? Even though Siddon washed his hands of the whole affair, isn't Indian reserve land a federal responsibility?

And after RCMP moved onto the reserve because they say a provincial court injunction was broken by the Lonefighters, did they not break the law themselves when Chief Leonard Bastien handed them a Band Council Resolution (BCR) stating they were trespassing?

The BCR was ignored by police.

And did they break the law after a Calgary judge ordered both the Lonefighters and the RCMP to maintain the "status quo" not to do anything "foolish" until he had the chance to review evidence on the original court injunction?

Judge William Egbert said he would deal with either side harshly if either side broke the peace. So how come the RCMP ignored the warning and instead staged a surprise raid on the Lonefighters camp and seized a D-9 caterpillar?

Their reason. They were asked by the owner to act as peacekeepers so he could remove his caterpillar. Then why at near midnight in a driving rainstorm with only woman and children and three lonefighters in camp would the RCMP stage the raid? And didn't they break the status quo set by Egbert?

Egbert would not deal with the RCMP raid while reviewing the injunction against the Lonefighters diversion of the river. About 16 hours after the raid Egbert upheld the injunction granted to the Alberta government, prohibiting the Lonefighters from diverting the Oldman river.

It seems Born With A Tooth is the only loser right now. He's being held behind bars while Siddon and Rostad continue to hide behind the RCMP. And it scares people like Lonefighters' spiritual leader Devalon Small Legs and Lonefighters spokeman Glenn North Peigan when provincial jurisdiction rules over federal responsibility - Peigan Nation reserve land.

They say if it can happen to them, it can happen to any reserve in Canada.

It came as a blow to the Peigan Lonefighters when Egbert's assertion basically said the Oldman river and its riverbanks on reserve land is owned by the province. The Peigan maintain all natural resources including earth and water belong to them. And their message is clear - the province will sink to new lows to make sure a project like the Oldman River dam s completed. A project that may have a sorry effect on the environment in years to come.

Meanwhile, Milton Born With A Tooth sits in an RCMP cell because the provincal simply refused to listen to his Lonefighters grievances - an environmental study before the dam is completed.

He gave them 35 days to answer. In return they locked him up and gave him nothing.