Women fight for place on reserve

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A seven-year-old piece of legislation is behind a bitter feud that has erupted on the tiny Gambler reserve in western Manitoba.

Bill C-31, passed in 1985, allows Native women who lost their status by marrying non-Natives to regain their status. The law applies to their children, as well. But a group of these women trying to rejoin the Gambler band have met with opposition.

Doreen Mitchell, a spokesperson for this group, is a former band councillor who was recently ousted in an election. Mitchell says she applied for a house and was told by the band she would get one. It hasn't materialized.

"It's clear they don't want me there," says Mitchell. "That's the birthplace of my mother and part of my ancestral background and it's unjust of them to do that."

Mitchell, whose mother has also applied to rejoin the reserve, says there are about 20 to 25 others who have applied to rejoin the band, whose reserve has about 45 residents.

Patricia Tanner, current councillor and wife of chief Albert Tanner, says the band doesn't have the space or the money for any more residents.

"We have a very small reserve, only eight quarter sections. Our first priority is to the regular band members...We didn't pass the law. We're the original registered Indians...right now we are suffering for lack of funding. We have trouble negotiating for more funding."

Mitchell claims the funding excuse isn't valid, that the federal Indian and Northern Affairs department has money for new residents. In fact, she alleges money already given to the band for Bill C-31 housing has been misspent, though there is one house on the reserve finished and inhabited by a Bill C-31 person.

Tanner denies the allegations.

In late November, Mitchell's group staged a protest in front of the band office, even taking over part of the band office for a while. But group members say they are

tired of the bickering and bitterness and now want funding and land to establish a reserve of their own.

"It's very hard to live in a community that's so hostile," says Mitchell.

"We defnitely want to be separate from that bunch," agrees Roxanne Ledoux, another Bill C-31 woman who has applied for housing but has not received anything.

Both Ledoux and Mitchell says the hostility on the reserve is fuelled by alcohol abuse. Tanner admits alcohol is a problem, but she says there are Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on the reserve and the band is trying to curb the problem.

One thing both sides agree on is that the federal government has done little since passing Bill C-31 to oversee its implementation.

Officials at Indian and Northern Affairs did not return calls requesting their comments.

Mitchell and her group have written to minister Tom Siddon, but have received

no response yet. Mitchell says the ongoing problem with Bill C-31 is not going to go away and neither is she.

"I'm not the first one, I won't be the last one, and I'll be damned if I'll be a quiet one."