| visit patients on the reserva-,
| tions, that Indians waiting in|
| doctors’ offices had to wait un-

| til the end of the line and that |

ERNIE KNOTT

Statements and actions by

“Indian chiefs and spokesmen,

*

; Cities,

“councils and organized groups

right across Canada during the
last year show a picture of ris-

ing militancy and struggle by’

the Indian people.

SEER ION

In the main, this actually ‘is
the result of the operation :of

two factors, both of them com-|
‘pounding the misery and deg-
radation of that fine and noble}

human, the North American

Indian.

The immediate factor is the
rapidly worsening economic

“situation and its effect on the
‘living standard of the Indian |

people, who, as a national min-|}
'-ority group are always the first |

to suffer.

The other factor is a long

term one; it is the. planned|
systematic -attack on all the
elementary hun r of the}

Indians through the Indian Act,
which, paradoxically, is -sup-
posed to “protect” them.

Even the few distorted and
suppressed reports which leak
into the daily press give only
a glimpse, but enough to re-
veal the grim conditions on the
reservations.

Here are some of the press}
reports from the Victoria Col-|

onist during the past year;

@ Nanaimo Band — Elwood

Modeste charged recently that|
Indians were suffering discrim- |
ination from doctors treating}
_. Indians; that they would not

pai:

ist
toria and was a candidate in
the last Federal election.
Le

:|the Pincher Creek and foot-
=| hills area.

: | pleted a series of articles on

: | Saskatchewan and on reserves

‘|point up starvation, discrim-
| ination Im employment and a!
|lack of educational facilities.

ERNIE KNOTT is Commun.
arty organizer.in_ Vic-|

|

| they could only get a doctor
|to make a call if they paid
}cash on the line.

| @ Duncan Band Chief|
| Louise Underwood this fall de-!
|manded an extension of the;
| Spear fishing season on the}
; Cowichan River~™ to provide,
|food to offset hunger, This
| same band-has had a long dis-
| pute with the City of Duncan
which, they claim, encroached

on reserve land.

® East Saanich, West Saan-
ich and Songhees bands recent-
ly took the unprecedented step
(the first in their history) of
sending a joint. delegation to
interview Recreation Minister
Westwood and Saanich M.L.A.
John Tisdale to see if measures
could not be undertaken to im-
prove the food situation, main-
y by extending the clam-
digging season.

|

|. @ West Coast Vancouver
|Island council of chiefs just!
|recently brought their griev-.
}ances on unemployment and}
housing before Indian Affairs
Department officials but re-
ceived the usual treatment, a
| promise-to look into the matter
and ‘a report later on. These
bands are under severe hard-
| ship beeause of the poor fish-
ing season and the closing of
eoast canneries.

@ Moving eastward to Al-
berta — an Indian lawyer,
| speaking to a conference this
| fall, severely criticized the
/Indian Act and Department,
| giving as evidence the aliena-
tion of coal bearing land and
ranch lands from bands in

The Colonist has just com-

conditions among Indians on
Qu’Appelle Reserve in

‘in Northern Ontario, which

Within the last couple of
, years the Iroquois in Ontario
suffered. police brutality —
women were clubbed by the
|R.C.M.P. when, the tribes set
up their.own local government
on tne reserve, and challeng-
}ed the authority of the Depart-
-ment and Immigration Minis-

!

ter Ellen Fairclough who is
responsible for Indian Affairs.

Just as this article is being
written the Colonist reports
that the Kitwanga band of the
the Skeena plans to sue the

provincial government for
$100,000.00. and Highways
| Minister Gaglardi for tress-

passing.

Indian Commissioner Frank

E. Anfield -told .the annual
convention of the Native
Brotherhood that the High-

ways department has no right
to build four miles of highway
through Kitwanga ~ reserve,
that Gaglardi had not. been
given permission and. that he
had first offered $482.00 com-
pensation and later upped it
to $6,000.00.

On the federal government’s
part, it has been following the
policy of “integration” of the
Indian. This policy would be
disastrous and -is strongly re-
sisted by the Indian’ people,
for they know that-if they
give up their few rémaining
“rights” which they now have
under the reserve system they
will suffer even worse dis-
crimination.

The Tory Government, with
characteristic duplicity, in~an
attempt to deceive the Indians
and blunt their struggle for
rights, has appointed an Al-
bertg Indian to the Senate,
where he may go to sleep with
the rest on the problems of
the nation. He has been stran-
gely silent on all these mat-
ters.

Equally silent has - been
Frank Calder, the newly elec-
ted Indian C.C.F.-M.L.A. from
the north. It is to be hoped
that he will use _ his position
to full advantage and power-
fully, to speak for his people.

The line of struggle which
Indians have adopted is as yet
confined’. to the practise of
making representation
through elected or hereditary
spokesmen to the Department
and its ministers, and has not
yet assumed the character of
mass action, but it may well
do so in the future.

The basic demand of the
Indian people, as formulated
by Chief Edison White of Nan-
aimo is — “full citizenship
rights without loss of native
rights.”

SPECIAL FRIENDS
STANLEY RYERSON’S

THE FOUNDING
OF CANADA

Beginnings to 1815

SPEC

se

IAL BOOKS for

The long-awaited first
part of a Marxist Inter-

pretation of Canada’s his-
tory. 840 pp. ILL. Cloth,
$5.00; paper, $3.00.

COLLECTED WORKS of V. I. Lenin — Complete
set contains 55 Volumes. Vols. 1 and 2 now avail-
able. Succeeding volumes following. Purchase price
of complete set by. subscription — $1.00 per vol.
Individual vol. — $1.50.

SELECTED WORKS OF LU-HSUN — 38 Vol. Set —
$4.75. Lu Hsun (1881-1936) was the founder of
modern Chinese Literature and leader of the cult-
ural Revolution in China.

DANNY KAYEH’S “Around the World Story Book”.
216 pp. Ill. Cloth, $4.75. 104 Favorite Stories,
Legends, Fairy Tales: submitted by children and -
grown-ups the world: over.

SONGS OF WORK & FREEDOM by Edith Fowke
and Joe Glazer. 208 pp: — $2.75. A dramatic hist-
ory of the Labor movement in song.

THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, by Margaret Laurence.
Fiction — Cloth, $4.00; paper, $2.00. A novel of
the new Africa. Miss Laurence has lived in Africa.
She was born in Manitoba and now resides in
Vancouver.

ORDER NOW

PEOPLE’S CO-OP BOOKSTORE
307 WEST PENDER ST.
MU_5-5836.

December 16, 1960—PACIFI TRIBUNE—Page 8