Bulletin #1

Trail of Tears Campaign
405 Alfred Ave. Winnipeg Manitoba, R2W1X7

To all the Warrior-Minded People…

In 1990, I, Lonefighter Leader Milton Born-With-A-Tooth, of the Peigan Tribe within the Blackfoot Confederacy, took direct action to save the Oldman River. The Oldman River passes through our territory in what is now known as southern Alberta. Many people are already aware of the history of this struggle. The Oldman River action was taken in defence of our Culture and our Way of Life. I was defending my homeland under my rights as a Human Being who has been given Responsibility to protect my Sovereign Nation. The action lasted 37 days and ended in an armed confrontation that led to my arrest and imprisonment. As well as these outcomes, my supporters and I were tangled up in 4½ years of intense court battles.

What has happened in my community since then?

The Oldman River was dammed up while I was incarcerated. In 2002, our Band Council signed an agreement with the governments of Alberta and Canada for $64,000,000. This amount of money was to pay off our community for the damages done to our way of life and our People as a result of the dam.

Six (6) months ago, I filed legal charges for fraud and misconduct against a consortium of financial advisors and consultants associated with various speculative corporations, four (4) Peigan Band Council members, three (3) officials from Indian & Northern Affairs Canada, two (2) financial institutions, and our Peigan Band Council Chief. At the centre of these charges was the squandering of $22,000,000 of this trust fund. The reason I included Indian Affairs in these criminal charges is because I believe they have shown themselves to be directly negligent in their fiduciary responsibility to our People, as per our Treaty with Canada. Further, they appear to have been involved in political interference that has undermined our community’s ability to self-govern.

When I filed these charges, I was asked to keep silent, on the premise that the wheels of justice would quietly act to effectively apprehend these criminals and lay the charges as filed. In the intervening time, the responsible authorities have taken no steps to do so. To make matters worse, during this time, one of the criminal parties, Indian Affairs, has now taken control of my community and placed us under Third Party Management.

Why am I targetting Indian Affairs?

Indian Affairs’ fiduciary responsibility to First Nations flows from the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and is enshrined in all our Treaties. 139 years ago, when the country of Canada was formed, the “Indian Problem” was a central policy concern. Just a few years later, various pieces of repressive legislation were amalgamated and added to, in order to deal with the “Indian Problem.” This legal policy still stands today, and is called the Indian Act. The Indian Act unleashed a holocaust of oppression on our Peoples: starvation, residential schools, forced removal (sometimes at gunpoint) of Traditional Leaders and governance, criminalizing many of our Spiritual Rituals, the “pass” system our People had to use to travel off the reserve territory, stripping our mothers and grandmothers of their rights to belong to our First Nations, and much more.

Even though Indian Affairs looks different today, this policy of cultural genocide continues. The goal is to exterminate our ability to function as a People. Today, after these 139 years, this policy still often appears as direct intervention in our administration of our own communities. Indian Affairs presents an image of being a Knight on a Shining White Horse, when they gallop in to “save us” from issues such as financial mismanagement. I view Third Party Management as the ultimate crime against the sovereign rights of our Peoples. When our right to self-govern is stolen from us, their original policy goal is right on track! With this approach, Indian Affairs is dealing –once and for all – with the “Indian Problem”

Why am I using a different strategy?

In 1990, I stood up in the name of our ancient protectors to defend the Oldman River. As I said at that time, it was my “duty to give a voice” to the issues of the river, and to awaken Human Beings to what is happening with the Earth. That issue required the confrontational approach that was used.

I believe that confrontation is not the solution with this issue.

This Trail of Tears will educate, mobilize, and unify people.
We all need to understand that, within Canada, it is only in Indigenous communities that this type of criminal activity is common. The issues my People, the Peigan, struggle with are experienced in virtually every First Nation community across this land. This campaign will build awareness among First Nations that are in the same threatened or vulnerable position, called “Third Party Management.”

Call for a Public Inquiry

Our only alternative is to find a way to expose the truth about what is happening to us. I demand a full public inquiry into Indian Affairs’ decision to put my People, the Peigan, under Third Party Management.

The Trail of Tears campaign will “give” our Peoples “a voice” to speak about how Indian Affairs continues to pursue its goal of Indigenous cultural genocide. We will also shed light on how others – even friends, neighbours, and relatives within our communities – are duped or bribed into going along with this deceitful policy. It is hard to bring out this truth because so many officials have a vested interest in silencing the specifics and the goals of this policy.

My Journey began July 5, 2006. I started by knocking on the doors of the leaders of the four political parties represented in Canada’s Parliament. I personally went to alert them to the fact that social, cultural and economic crimes were being committed against First Nation Peoples under the guise of this “Third Party Management” process. I demanded that these leaders protect us from government corruption and abuse, just as they would if our communities were seen as “Canadian” ones.

In taking this Journey, I knew I must begin where the crime began, on the shores of what Europeans have termed the Atlantic Ocean, here in the territory that the Mi’kmaq People have called home since Time Immemorial. As I travel this Trail of Tears, I am gathering evidence about the 139 years of Canada’s covert and overt war against our Peoples. My Journey will end when I reach the Territory of the Salish People, on what is now known as the Pacific Ocean. The Waters of this Earth are Sacred to me.

From this Trail of Tears will emerge a unified movement that will put serious pressure on Canadian politicians. A full public inquiry into Indian Affairs’ use of “Third Party Management” must occur.

Our Young People are at Terrible Risk

The frustration and anger of our youth towards our leaders is explosive. Our youth must see that confrontation is not the only way. The diplomatic approach of the Trail of Tears campaign acknowledges these realities. We set forth a different way of dealing with Canada’s crimes against our Peoples, and with those among us who are complicit with these crimes.

I, Lonefighter Leader Milton Born-With-A-Tooth, ask for support. I Journey on behalf of my People. My community has suffered endless scandals and abuse. We have had enough. I ask every First Nation person, from shore to shore, to join our effort. Demand that a full public inquiry is commissioned to look into Third Party Management policies, in specific with the Peigan Tribe. Phone, fax, write, or email the political leaders represented in Canada’s Parliament to set forth this demand:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street, Ottawa ON, Canada K1A-0A2
T: 613-992-4211 ~ Fax: 613-941-6900 ~ E: pm@pm.gc.ca

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
House of Commons (Liberal Party)
Ottawa, ON , Canada K1A-0A6
T: (613) 992-4284 ~ Fax: (613) 992-4291 ~ E: Martin.Paul@parl.gc.ca

Gilles Duceppe, M.P.
Chef du Bloc Québéçois, Chambre des communes
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A-0A6
T: (613) 992-6779 ~ Fax: (613) 954-2121 ~ E: Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Jack Layton, M.P.
Leader of the New Democratic Party, House of Commons
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A0A6
T: (613) 995-7224 ~ Fax: (613) 995-4565 ~ E: Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

In God’s name, you came.
In the Great Spirit’s name, we have always been.
Lonefighter Leader Milton Born-With-A-Tooth