The Ante is up "ANOTHER NOTCH!"

Well, I'm just back after the weekend from the new Rice River road blockade site (just east of the Hollow Water turnoff from Hwy 304). It's another step taken by Chief Bushie and the Council...just to highlight to the province that they are very serious about this whole matter. Nobody's bluffing on the First Nation side of the fence.

But other than the added new blockade site, which actually went up last week, it's "steady as she goes" on the front lines. One of the guys had smoked his traditional pipe in the tipi on Friday night. Not long after that an eagle flew by screeching loudly. It's not that significant you might think but this was at 9:45 p.m. in the dark of night! That's not a very common experience even among us First Nation people...we took it as a positive and peaceful sign.

The hunters that have come up to that area (north on the Rice River winter road towards the First Nation communities of Bloodvein and Beren's River) were not pleased to be asked to leave. We expected all the hunters to be gone but drove up towards Rice River to scout the area in case anyone was still around. Lo and behold, we pass three non-Aboriginal hunters on one ATV with full hunting gear and totting their rifles. "Hmmm...", we thought, "these guys aren't going to a masquerade party at 11:00 p.m. at night are they?" And the government is worried that First Nations people are out there breaking the rules! But that, my friends, is another story altogether. But it does highlight something that is very much connected to the cottage development issue: that while the focus thus far has been on the cottage developments, there is much more to this entire matter than meets the eye. We are not only talking about the land but the natural resources that are of the land. After all, we are people of the land. And as Chief Seattle once said, "the land does not belong to us, we belong to the land..."

In fact, Chief Seattle apparently said more that is applicable to our current situation. The following words do not have complete historical accuracy as the Chief did not write or even speak English. But he is credited nevertheless with uttering these words:

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself..."

Meegwetch (thank you), Chief Seattle, for your words which have withstood the test of time and apply to us here today!