Woman Waiting For Band To Be Reinstated

Woman Waiting For Band To Be Reinstated

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 14:32

 

 

A woman who says she is the hereditary chief of the Lean Man-Assiniboine First Nation is pleading for help to get her land back.

 

According to 80-year-old Mary Wahobin, her grandfather was chief of the Lean Man-Assiniboine First Nation.

 

She says he was persuaded to give up his land in 1905.

 

Wahobin says an Indian agent told Wahobin’s grandfather the land was too rocky to farm — even though it’s now occupied by farmers.

 

Members of her band have been living on the Mosquito-Grizzly Bear’s Head-Lean Man First Nation ever since.

 

Indian Affairs spokesman Trevor Sutter confirms a claim was filed with the department in 1995.

 

He says an extension was requested in March of this year in an effort to gather more evidence and “refocus” the claim.

 

According to Sutter, the claim is still in its preliminary stages.