Northern Village Opposing Metis Signs

 

Northern Village Opposing Metis Signs

Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at 14:20

 

 

A showdown is brewing in Buffalo Narrows over a plan by local Metis to place signs on the community’s outskirts.

 

Local Metis Nation officials plan to erect two signs on the village’s outskirts this Friday declaring that Buffalo Narrows is a Metis community.

 

But Mayor Bobby Woods says the village council is against that idea because it might offend or alienate the community’s non-Aboriginal population — some of whom have deep roots in Buffalo Narrows.

 

Woods also doesn’t like the fact the plan is going ahead without the blessing of the council.

 

Woods hopes to hold a public meeting on the issue in the near future to have the people declare who they want making their decisions.

 

But local Metis Nation area director Philip Chartier says Buffalo Narrows should follow the lead of Green Lake and Ile-a-la-Crosse and erect the signs, especially since the last year’s Supreme Court decision on Metis hunting rights emphasized connections to historic Metis commmunities.

 

He also says Buffalo Narrows officials had no problem being labelled a Metis community in the past when wood allocations were at stake.