SaskParty to Meet with Native Protesters

Thursday, January 06, 2005 at 15:02

 

 

A Saskatchewan Party MLA is reportedly set to meet with some disgruntled First Nations citizens in North Battleford this week.

 

The issue stems over a dispute last month which saw a number of band members — most of whom were from the Sweetgrass First Nation — stage a demonstration outside the Battlefords Tribal Council’s child and family services centre.

 

The dissidents were unhappy over the council’s decision to replace the centre’s board of directors with its own appointees.

 

A spokesperson for the demonstrators, Doreen Pooyak, says neither she nor anyone else has received any communication from the BTC about the reasons behind the move.

 

She says the meeting with the Saskatchewan Party will take place this week, and if that doesn’t work, they will likely send a delegation down to the legislature in Regina to make an appeal to the NDP government.

 

Pooyak says her group is turning to provincial politicians because Indian Affairs is refusing to step in.

 

She hopes the political manoeuvring will force the BTC to talk to the protesters.