Sturgeon Lake has much activity

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STURGEON LAKE - I woke up with the sun shining through my motel window in Valleyview. It was later than I thought and I had promised myself, over supper the night before, that I would be at the Surgeon Lake Band office by nine o'clock.

The day before, I had travelled from Peace River, where I had spent the day picking up stories and visiting.

Not knowing just where the Sturgeon Lake Band Office was, I drove in the general direction of the reserve which was on the highway, somewhere, leading to Grande Prairie.

Luck was with me. I spotted two men surveying along the highway and a sign on the truck they were driving read Lesser Slave Lake Regional Council, or something to that effect.

Both Dave Willier and Charlie Chalifoux were kind enough to point me in the right direction but not until we finished some good conversation.

Dave and Charlie are musicians, aside from their work with the Lesser Slave Lake Regional District Office out of High Prairie. They were in fact surveying for the Sturgeon Lake Band.

Right now their country band is called "Redstone" and operates out of Sucker Creek, but they say the name may change. Of course, we talked about "Native Nashville North" and after they promised to stay in touch, I was on my way.

The ride into Sturgeon Lake is nothing but beautiful. Even in winter, this area, full of trees and the sight of the lake, is tremendous.

Sturgeon Lake Reserve 154 is located just west of Valleyview along Highway 34. There are two smaller reserve areas, 154A and 154B, which are located on the east shore of Sturgeon Lake and on the west shore of Goose Lake. All three reserves encompass a total of 22,380 acres. In June 1899, a small group of Cree Indian people met in Slave Lake to sign Treaty 8 on behalf of the people of Sturgeon Lake. In August, 1908, the Department of Indian Affairs surveyed the three reserves. The choice of where to live on the reserve areas was decided by a band membership vote, and the Goose Lake portion was then set aside for haylands.

When I entered the band office a band council meeting was taking place and after the lady receptionist told them of my arrival, I was invited to sit with them since much of their business was finished.

The Sturgeon Lake Band council consists of nine councillors and one chief. Not all of them were present when I arrived, but I was fortunate enough for my interview, to meet with Chief Francis Goodswimmer, Councillors, Dwayne Plante, Ed Goodswimmer, Keith Goodswimmer and Adolphus Kappo.

Chief Goodswimmer has been chief for only five months, but prior to his appointment as chief, Goodswimmer sat on council for eight years.

Some of the council members present have been community leaders for quite some time, such as Ed Goodswimmer (20 years) and Adolphus Kappo (20 years).

The membership of the Sturgeon Lake Band is estimated to be at 1,004, and Chief Goodswimmer says that council is still working on the Bill C-31 membership code, and, according to Keith Goodswimmer, a survey of where and how many people could be reinstated as band members took place three years ago.

"We looked all over Alberta and British Columbia and found 160 people. We estimated 75 per cent of the people who filled out forms for reinstatement we found," commented Keith.

Goodswimmer added some history as to why these people lost status and it dated back to the time of the treaty signing of 1899, moreso in the 1940s.

"In the 40s many of the people in the Sturgeon Lake area were kicked off the land, told to get off the reserve. These people, they were saying, did not belong to the treaty. Then they were given a choice to take scrip and they were not Metis, these were Indian people they were dealing with.

"Many of them took scrip and then sold it to non-Indian people. We have fought and got some of the land back, but these are the people we are talking about," said Keith.

As chief and council are still working on the Bill C-31 code, no further comments could be mae as to how much has been accomplished.

Sturgeon Lake is a busy place. Before driving to the band office, I took a tour of the reserve and saw construction of homes being built throughout the reserve. The main administration area overlooks Sturgeon Lake itself, and, as I said earlier, is a picturesque site, even in winter.

SCHOOL NEEDED

There is no school at Sturgeon Lake, so all students from Grade 1 to high school are bused to Valleyview for their education.

"We had a Mission School here for many years, and it was a central point for northern Alberta at one time, but it quit operating around 1963. That's when we started busing students to the Catholic School in Valleyview.

"We are locked into the Catholic School Board agreement, but plans are still going ahead to build our own school from Kindergarten to grade 9 on the reserve - that's if negotiations don't fall part with Indian Affairs," said Keith.

According to Chief Goodswimmer, they have a Kindergarten school operating

on the reserve but are most definitely looking into a school for the reserve - something Goodswimmer believes is needed.

EMPLOYMENT

There is some employment on the reserve, and as chief and council stressed, they are always looking into future prospects that the band can get into.

Adolphus Kappo commented that they have an environmental program where some of the band members are hired to keep Goose Creek clean of driftpile so the fish

can have easy access between Goose Lake and Sturgeon Lake. Goose Creek is the link between the two lakes.

The band also has on hand two Caterpillars, three gravel trucks, a front-end loader and backhoe. These machines are kept busy clearing land, digging basements and other jobs for the community.

Ed Goodswimmer takes a bit of pride in owning his own bus business. He has four women band members who are driving the buses that deliver students to school in Valleyview.

"They are very good drivers and reliable. They have to be because they drive about 14 students to school in town and another 18 to Kindergarten here on the reserve," said Goodswimmer.

Four miles west of Valleyview a new townsite for the band is in the making, and Chief Goodswimmer says they have just recently finished phase one.

A water plant has already been established and a sewer system is in place where members living at the townsite can enjoy these modern necessities. Basically, all the homes on the reserve have running water and sewer lines in place and most of the people use a combination of fuel oil and wood for their heating and cooking purposes.

As we sat there, Keith mentioned that they were open minded to the media present, saying they still like to keep a low profile and I could only think that it was quite thoughtful of chief and council to share some of the experiences that their band is going through with "Windspeaker" and its readers.

CAMPGROUND

Because of the lake and the surrounding scenery of the Sturgeon Lake area, it is small wonder the band decided to embark on the creation of their own campgrounds, fully modernized.

"It is a band-owned campground and we have 101 stalls, 33 of them with power for trailer hook-ups," said Francis.

"It creates employment for 10 people and we try to run it through a student program," added Adolphus Kappo.

Keith Goodswimmer sees it as a good venture but is concerned over an agreement he says they had with the provincial government.

"They opened up Williamson Provincial Park and we had an agreement that when our park was opened they would shut theirs down, but they didn't. We were developing our beach front when they decided to start work on the provincial park."

However, after looking at the Sturgeon Lake Campground area, I see it as an ideal place for a vacation.

Sturgeon Lake is moving ahead. The community boasts a fire hall, along with its own fire truck, a huge arena where dances, bingos and family get-togethers take place and a rink for hockey games and general skating.

There are hree major band-owned businesses in the community which are Sturgeon lake Development, Lakeside Indian Ventures and Cree Valley Industries. Sturgeon Lake Developments was basically set up for off-land development and Lakeside Indian Ventures undertakes construction work on and off the reserve.

Cree Valley Industries is unique in that it as just recently set up to explore the possibilities of supplying chopsticks to business in Japan.

The band plans to open a factory to make these chopsticks from the finest timber when the project, still in its planning stages, materializes.

CULTURE INTACT

"We still have our culture as Indian people here, but there is a decline in how many people still speak our Native language.

"People still hunt, fish and trap but not as much anymore. They do not depend on it solely as a means of livelihood," commented Keith.

At one time, Sturgeon Lake held many traditional powwows and, according to

Ed Goodswimmer, this was basically the doings of the Elders. "We don't do it anymore. Powwows today are just for money - people dress up nice and win."

Adolphus believes that powwows are not really culturally inclined anymore and "it 's just for competition."

There are not many Elders left at Sturgeon Lake and Keith Goodswimmer sees this as why a lot of their culture is gone.

"The Elders are almost all gone and I even remember an Elder at Hobbema once who said we are all losing our culture, just like our dancing."

Sturgeon Lake has a home for the elderly which is a six-unit housing building and it was built so that the Elders could stay on the reserve and be cared for by their own people.

The visit to Sturgeon Lake was tremendous, and I have to commend Chief Francis Goodswimmer and his Council for offering so much history and present day knowledge of what is taking place on the Sturgeon Lake Reserve and its future.

Keith Goodswimmer and the rest of Council, we thank you for sharing your thoughts and expertise with "Windspeaker."