Spiritual healer helps to end standoff

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The month-long armed protest at a site near 100 Mile House, B.C. ended with little ceremony Sept. 17 when Native squatters left their encampment and walked into police custody.

The end of the 30-day occupation of land was engineered by spiritual healer John Stevens. The Stoney Indian from Morley, Alta. was asked to attend the protesters by spiritual leader of the camp, Percy Rosette.

Steven's guidance was required, said Rosette in a radio-telephone announcement from the camp. If Stevens came to the camp and told the group to leave the camp, they would do so.

Stevens achieved a settlement where such Native leaders as Assembly of First Nations Chief Ovide Mercredi, and members of the Shuswap council could not. The reason others failed, said Stevens through an interpreter, was that they were not trusted. The protesters believe in the hereditary and not the elected system of leadership. Mercredi and the Shuswap council represent an extension of European-style government.

The protest began when Rosette declared the land at Gustafsen Lake as sacred. The land had been used for the Sundance, a Plains Indian ceremony. Where the province and police insisted the land was owned by the James Cattle Company, Rosette was adamant that the land was never surrendered by Native people and therefore unceded.

Rosette and his family stayed on the land after this year's Sundance. He appointed himself as a protector of the land and began building fences to keep the cows off the Sundance site. When the ranch owner issued eviction notices, Rosette was joined by two dozen supporters. The RCMP was called in and the land became the site of an armed standoff.

Since then the RCMP and the protesters have been involved in a series of gunfights, ending in an injury to a Native women who was shot in the arm.

Two RCMP were also hit by gunfire, but were unharmed, saved by their bullet-proof vests. This incident has resulted in two protesters being charged with attempted murder.

The group garnered support from many grassroots Native people across Canada. Most elected leaders, however, condemned the group's militancy.

Blaine Favel of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations said that while his members could relate to issues of land claims they could not condone the violence at Gustafsen Lake.

The political goals of Saskatchewan Indians are based on a righteous belief that moral rights and justice are on their side, he told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. It is therefore inconsistent to seek their objectives by using immoral and unjust practices, he said.

The AFN also announced it would not condone the use of violence to achieve justice for Native people, it noted that the treatment of Native people by the Canadian government over the generations has left the people bitter and angry.

"While almost all of our people would never support violence, many can understand the frustration which leads to such desperate acts," reads an AFN press release.

Native people are united in opinion regarding the government and RCMP treatment of the Native protesters and their handling of the occupation.

"When a government refuses to hear members of their group speak and forces those people into open confrontation, like what happened at Gustafsen Lake, that government is guilty of political terrorism," said Sheldon Lefthand, a pipe carrier for spiritual healer Stevens.

Chief Saul Terry of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs expressed grave concern about the labeling of the protesters as dangerous fanatics. He said it a ploy by the RCMP to justify the use of armed force to remove them for the Sundance grounds.

Kelvin Collins is a news reporter with radio station CFWE, the Native Perspective in Edmonton. Debora Lockyer is editor of Windspeaker. Both CFWE, The Native Perspective and Windspeaker are owned and operated by the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, a non-profit communications society.