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FEATURES

Aboriginal fishing
dispute leads to
self-government

By PAUL OGRESKO

On March 22nd, four members of the
Pic Heron Ojibway band were fishing on
Lake Superior when three Ministry of
Northern Resources (MNR) officers and
two Ontario Provincial Police officers
descended upon them. Within minutes
the band members had 350 Ibs. of fish
seized by the officers while two of the
Indians, the other two being juveniles,
were informed they may be charged with
illegally selling fish without a commercial
licence.

The MNR then telephoned Chief Roy
Michano of the Heron Bay band and told
him the band had 24 hours to remove all
their nets from Lake Superior or charges
would be laid.

The seizure of the fish was not the first
time the Ontario provincial government
has chosen to harass Indian fishermen in
Ontario. The fact that the four Natives
were fishing to feed 28 band families
meant little to the MNR officers. For the
Indians of Pic Heron it was proof, follow-
ing the breakdown of the constitutional
talks, that Aboriginal rights were not
going to be respected.

The Pic Heron Bay reserve is located
on the North shore of Lake Superior,
roughly 250 kms east of Thunder Bay.
Like numerous other reserves in the area
it is a small community with 350 Indians

‘base the community has, for generations,
relied on fishing and hunting as a source
of food. It is a means of subsistence the

<S)URUDEUELUOLULUUEELEVET OULU TEETER
Greetings 2
on the 101st
anniversary of
May Day
from
Ukrainian
Senior
Citizens
Club, #1

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Ontario government has done its utmost
to take away. The Pic Heron band is
determined not to let that happen.

On April 10, 11 and 12 the Pic Heron
band organized a demonstration and
feast to mark the Aboriginal right to fish
for food. In defiance of the MNR the
band members fished in Lake Superior
and held a feast of celebration. Native
leaders from the Assembly of First Na-
tions came to offer their support. Also
attending was an almost apologetic Paul
Strassburger, district manager of the
MNR, and local politicians. The de-
monstration went on without incident.

‘‘We will continue to exercise our
rights. We are prepared to go to jail.”
Chief Michano told the Tribune, “If they
were going to charge one Indian at this
demonstration there were going to be 300
Indians prepared to go to jail. That’s how
strong we feel about the issue.” The
issue of respecting Aboriginal fishing
rights has a long and not very noble his-
tory in Ontario. At the turn of the century
the courts ruled that although the federal
government had legislative authority
over fishing, the provincial governments,
in fact, ‘‘owned”’ the fish. So while the
federal government was responsible for
respecting Aboriginal treaty rights the
provincial government held authority
over areas affecting Aboriginal liveli-
hood.

It would be a bitter experience for the
Indian Nations. Ontario commenced to
enforce fishery regulations without any
regard for Aboriginal treaty rights. For
decades Indians would be charged and
jailed for exercising rights that were rec-
ognized in treaties signed with the federal
government. :

The seizures of March 22 were merely
a continuation of Ontario’s entrenched,
unofficial policy of negating Aboriginal
rights. But if the tactics of the provincial
government were typical, the response
of the Pic Heron band was not. The les-
sons of the past years had been well
learnt.

‘*T have been quiet while the constitu-
tional process that began in 1982 was
under way,” Michano said.

‘While a lot of people categorized
what happened at the constitutional talks

Greetings on May Day

with a
future!

16 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 29, 1987

For a life

Young
Communist
League

in March as a failure in our case we say it
was good because now it makes us take
the issue of self-government into ourown
hands.”’

An ally of the provincial government
throughout the whole fishing dispute has
been the Rod & Gun clubs in the area.
They have been holding public meetings
in towns surrounding the reserve, using
the meetings to drum up opposition
among the white population to special
Aboriginal rights. Many of the gather-
ings, and some of the literature, of the
Rod & Gun clubs has taken on an omin-
ously racist tone. The fact the MNR and
other Ontario government spokes-
persons have attended the Rod & Gun
club meetings does not surprise
Michano.

‘‘T have my suspicions that the MNR
and the Rod & Gun clubs are working
hand-in-hand. They are in a team to take
Aboriginal rights away from us.

“‘We attended one of the meetings to
state our position. They were talking
about our Aboriginal rights and we felt

~ “we had a right to be there. We told them

we Indian people are conservationists.
That we believe nature must not be des-
troyed or disrupted. Unfortunately the
meeting was held basically for the Rod &
Gun club to instruct and tell people how
to attack Indian fishing rights.”

One positive outcome of the latest as- -

saults on Aboriginal rights has been the
unity developed among the reserves in
the Lake Superior area. They have
begun to implement what AFN Chief
Georges Erasmus described as
‘*srass-roots self-government.”

The Pic Heron Bay band has united
with eight other bands of the Ojibway

WARM GREETINGS
TO ALL OUR FRIENDS
AND SUPPORTERS
ON MAY DAY

Canada- Cuba Friendship
Association
P.O. Box 69482, Stn. K
Van., B.C. VSK 4W6

“In no case may a people bé
deprived of its own means 0
subsistence.”

(United Nations Covenant on Civic and
Political Rights, 1966. Ratified by Cane

nation in a unified land claim. Resear
conducted by the Pic Heron band h?
revealed that none of the nine ban?
were signatories to the Robinso!
Superior treaty of 1850. The Ojibway 4
now demanding lands that were unju
appropriated.

‘*We now-have aclear dispute with ¥
Robinson-Superior treaty. We 2
demanding that it be renovated,
Michano said.

‘‘We have instructed our Lawyer
proceed with an intent to go to court.
we wait for the government to take ¢
of our land claims I'll be an old man.
government is noted for being terri
slow. I guess government is contro
by these big, corporate dynasties.”

Chief Michano stresses that the |
bands are determined to continue ap!
ing their own self-government. The
sponse of the Pic Heron band, and 0
first nations across the country,
shown that times are different now.
in the words of Michano, “‘we can
longer be pushed aside.”’ —

“T look at our students, our you
people at this weekend demonstra!
and the positive reactions they had and
realize this means we are going to S
Indian. We have been screwed up
government for so long. Now is the ti
for us to straighten this out.”’ -

May Day
Greetings
from

Congress of
Canadian
Women

Don't forget our World
Congress Fundraiser Dinner.
Sunday, May 31

Dar Lebanon Restaurant
Tickets $15

Phone Donalda 254-7849
or Sue 254-9797

a

r

A

Association of United Ukrainian Canadians
805 East Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C.

greets the working people of this province.

For peace, prosperity and jobs
on this May Day, international
holiday of working people
throughout the world.