Canadian says Indian protests could spread

PERTH, New Brunswick — An Indian spokesman who teaches native studies at St. Thomas University in Fredericton said Tuesday the U.S. Marine Corps was teaching young Indians from the Maritime Provinces “confrontation tactics,” which they could bring back to Indian reserves.

The Marines recruit heavily on maritime reserves, said Graydon Nicholas, a former president of the Union of New Brunswick Indians. “The military teach how to kill and why and when. I’m afraid those young native people will develop an attitude and lifestyle they may bring back to Canadian reserves.

“When they’re in positions of leadership, one of the tactics they will have is to utilize militant confrontation with arms. It happened in New York state this spring, at Akawesne, and is happening at again at Oka in Quebec. That’s the makeup of the warrior society. They learn that confrontation is a tactic to settle disputes.”

Disgruntled Objibways severed Canada’s east-west train travel for a while last week in a longstanding land and housing quarrel, in Ontario. The Objibways said they were inspired by armed Mohawks in Quebec who have held police and soldiers at bay in a land dispute for more than a month.

Nicholas said that blockades like those in Quebec could easily happen in Maine’s neighboring province of New Brunswick. Nicholas said he didn’t favor confrontation. He said that unless the federal government started taking native land claims seriously, New Brunswick’s Micmacs and Maliseets may have no choice but to take action.

Nicholas said the government had only two negotiators assigned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process 2,000 land claims by all of Canada’s Indian reserves.

The largest native claim in New Brunswick is for 12,000 acres that includes the town of Perth. “With more people being born on reserves and more people coming back to live on reserves, there’s a shortage of land and decent housing,” said Nicholas. “You would need $30 million just to catch up on the current backlog of native housing needs in the maritimes.”

Word of the 42-day land dispute blockade by Quebec’s Mohawks has spread to Indians in other parts of Canada who claim they are entitled to tens of thousands of acres held by whites.

Indians seeking land and improved living and hunting conditions have formed blockades or are thinking of organizing “warrior groups,” from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.

Mohawk negotiators grew edgy Monday when the army planned to move “too close” to an Indian barricade at Oka, suspending talks with Quebec and federal officials. A meeting between army brass and Mohawk leaders ironed out the temporary dispute. Negotiations resumed Tuesday.

CP Rail was granted an injunction Monday ordering Ojibway natives to remove a barricade from the railway’s main line in northern Ontario. A rail official delivered the document to members of the Pic Mobert band which has blocked tracks about 150 miles east of Thunder Bay since Aug. 16. Band elders began meeting with their lawyer to discuss their next move. The court order came a day after another Ojibway band removed a similar barricade that tied up CN Rail lines for almost a week at Longlac, Ont.

“I don’t feel it’s right for the federal government not to treat us as Canadians,” said Pic Mobert Chief James Kwissiwa. Half the houses on the reserve need to be replaced, Kwissiwa said. “I still feel we’re being shafted.”

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they were ready to enforce a court injunction in British Columbia and dismantle another native barricade. A rail line through the interior in the Seton Lake area had been blocked since Friday. The scene was a far cry from Oka, with natives blocking the rail line with lawn chairs and a television set instead of guns and bulldozers. Indians said their concerns were the same as those at Oka. “People have reached the point they aren’t going to take it any more,” said Chief Rod Lewis.

Algonquins blocked a main highway in western Quebec Tuesday, linking Montreal and Val-d’Or. Natives protested the work of logging companies. The companies said they would go to court to seek an injunction. The Indians have been blocking area roads for a year.