Buffalo Point First Nation
The Buffalo Point First Nation is one of the Canadian First Nations . She belongs to the Anishinabe and lives on the shores of Lake of the Woods , in southeast Manitoba on the border with the United States . According to their own information, the tribe consists of 125 members, 54 of which are recognized as Indians (status Indians). Their language is the Chippewa . The census of 2006 recorded 141 residents in the reserve (Indian band-area), the 22.8 square kilometers covered.
Buffalo Point is a peninsula in the north of Buffalo Bay is considered one of the best fishing grounds for American pikeperch (walleye) in the lake. The Reed River flows into the lake around 12 km to the north . The south bank of Buffalo Bay is already facing the USA.
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The tribe has been economically focused on tourism for 30 years , so hunting in the traditional area is severely restricted, a management program is used to care for the landscape and its plants and animals, as well as for advertising. White-tailed deer , wolves, red and silver fox , black bear , beaver , porcupine and muskrat are found in the area, as well as numerous species of birds, like great gray owl (gray owls), bald eagles , woodpeckers. There are also many plants, such as the extremely rare habenaria fimbriata.
Despite the economic successes, the current chief John Thunder is controversial, as he rules as hereditary chief, legitimized by no vote, and this despite two dismissals by the tribe. Critics accuse him of using the reservation and its culture to enrich his family, while he only employs a few of the Indians and rules like a dictator.
history
Buffalo Point has long been a gathering place for various Anishinabe groups. The Sioux under Chief Red Cloud also stayed in the region occasionally to meet their needs for wild rice and buffalo meat .
La Vèrendrye built its first trading post in 1732 with Fort St. Charles. Since the beginning of the 18th century, the Ojibwa, coming from the east, had displaced the Sioux. In 1857 George Gladman , Henry Youle Hind and Simon James Dawson toured the region with the help of the Ojibwa. Simon Dawson found the Dawson Trail, which was later named after him.
Chief Ayashwash signed Contract Number Three of the Numbered Treaties in 1873. An area was fenced off for the Indians who were to become farmers and they raised cattle for a decade.
From 1900 to 1906, Little Thunder was chief, the son of Ayashwash. Old Jim Thunder was his successor until 1941. He was followed by "Shorty" Warren Thunder, who resigned in 1969 after designating his adopted son Jim Thunder as chief. In 1997, John Thunder was finally raised to the sixth hereditary chief of the Buffalo Point First Nation.
In 1916 the tribe had 57 members, which was the highest number in the first few decades. The families of the tribe were the Thunder, Lighting, Cobiness, Handorgan, and Powasen. Buffalo Point was flooded in 1890, as was the entire Lake of the Woods. By 1930 the tribe had almost disbanded, with most of them now working on the mainland and many in the United States.
In 1930, Old Jim Thunder succeeded in adding safer land on the Reed River to the 1670 acres of the reservation, giving the tribe two reservations. Old Jim's main motivation was to protect the traditional way of life, as the proximity of the Reed River allowed muskrat hunting.
As early as the 1950s, the members of the Thunder family advised on developing the reserve into a tourist attraction. At the same time there were offers to buy up the reserve. In 1967 the Manitoba government offered $ 72,500 for the primmest site , an area of 968 acres in the southeast. Tom Thunder informed his adopted son Jim Thunder, who was stationed with the Air Force in Africa. After a short absence, he forbade the sale.
Chief "Shorty" Warren Thunder, who fell ill, consulted with his adopted son Jim, who was white, about his successor, as he was never married and had no children. Jim agreed and with the help of the community he became chief in 1969. "Shorty" died in 1972 after his third heart attack.
In 1970 the community decided at a meeting to set up a development plan, so that in 1973 and 1974 a master plan came about. Chief Jim, who became vice president of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood alongside Dave Courchene, convinced the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development of the need for a road to the reservation, but the road construction failed due to financial problems at the department. However, in exchange for his trailer house, trailer and boat as collateral, a bank lent him money, not the tribe. With this money, the 1.5 km road could be built. Several investors, such as K-Tel International and Jim, found additional investors for a tourism company.
This included a marina , which had to be built within two years, otherwise the Steinbach investors would have received their own 100 acres of land that would have allowed them to build such a shipping port. In order to obtain further capital, part of the land was leased. The Thunder family opened the marina next to a resort on time , as no one else showed interest. In 2009, 320 boats were able to moor there, making this the largest marina on the lake.
A fire brigade , a police station and an administrative wing were built from the income . In 1992 a golf course was opened, which is called Lake of the Sandhills Golf Course after the older name of the lake . In 1998 a program for the construction of sewers and water protection was started. In 2000 the chief received the CANDO 2000 Economic Development Recognition Award .
However, the overgrown facility created considerable ecological problems. In contrast, the strain received the 2004 Manitoba Hydro's Spirit of the Earth Award in partnership with Eastman Recycling Services for a particularly successful recycling system.
Of the 274 buildings in the reserve, only 64 were occupied by residents, the rest was used as a weekend house. Therefore, the tribe is considered to be comparatively wealthy, although the few Indians now live on the outskirts of the village. In 2001, part of the tribe filed a lawsuit in court that the leading family should disclose their books. The chief was also accused of not attending any deliberations or celebrations and of not speaking ojibwa . In 1998, some of the elders tried to prevent the golf course from being built on a sacred site, Helen Cobiness reported. But the opponents did not have enough money for a lawyer, so bulldozers leveled the area.
Since Thunder was not elected as hereditary chief, and is also considered by many to be white, he is accused of using the advantages of Indian law for the benefit of his family. As early as 1995, 35 tribal members voted him out, but the Indian Ministry declared the dispute an internal matter. In 1999 it was voted out again, but the police evacuated the tribal office occupied by the opponents. Terry Nelson , chief of the neighboring Roseau River First Nation , accused the government of supporting a dictatorship by force of arms. He offered to solve the problem if necessary, but the tribal elders Helen Cobiness, Florence Kakaygeesick and Sam Gibbons declined for fear of violence.
In September 2009, Ernie Cobiness' five children occupied the top of the Manitoba Legislative Building and unfolded a banner that read, "Buffalo Point First Nation Youth Walk for Democracy." With the support of Roseau River, Sagkeeng and Dakota , the case is now to be carried to Washington, DC . However, the focus here is on human rights.
Web links
- Buffalo Point First Nation website
- "White Chief" Runs a 'Model Reserve' ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
- Buffalo Point International Resort
See also
Remarks
- ^ Statistics Canada
- ^ Gladman, George, Dictionary of Canadian Biography online
- ^ WL Morton: Henry Youle Hind: explorer, geologist, promoter , Toronto 1976.
- ^ Southeast Community Futures Development Corporation ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Katherine Beaty Chiste: Aboriginal small business and entrepreneurship in Canada , 1996, p 194th
- ^ Environmental problems at the Buffalo Point Reserve in Manitoba , Office of the Auditor General of Canada, July 28, 2003
- ↑ Climate Change Connection ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ First Nations running to Washington to raise awareness , in: Winnipeg Free Press , September 4, 2009
