Power to the people and particularly to the Lubicon people

Page 5

Dear Editor:

Reading about your Lubicon Crees under siege-again in Windspeaker's October issue was very disturbing. I am a First Nations' descendent and I truly believe in saving our culture and traditional way of life. When I read your article and learned how unfair the government has treated the Lubican Nation I understood more how the government deals with First Nations' issues.

When our people come out of the grips of the government hands controlling our rights to land and resources, they will find ways to "put-off" our interests.

First Nations people have occupied these lands from before time of government. When we were still living off the land, they were just finding out about the riches they could take to better themselves by moving our people to reserves and promising things to all First Nations that never happened.

And taking children away from their homes and putting them in boarding schools, and now still trying to "fix" the problems of the residential schools.

While Aboriginal rights are protected under Section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, the nature and extent of Aboriginal rights is not clarified in the Constitution, and have not been set out by the courts. Aboriginal rights are held to arise from the occupation of Canada's land by Aboriginal peoples prior to European contact.

The Alberta government still does not consult with First Nations on resources that apply to our lands and resources, so all the power to the Lubicon Crees.

Sherrie Chalifoux

Dene Tha' First Nations