Page 8B

The Castlegar Sun

Wednesday, November 24, 1993

T iM-BR-MART

Congratulations Welcome to Castlegar.

We're glad to have supplied you materials.

MITCHELL 490- 13th Ave., Castlegar, B.C. SUPPLY LTD. 365-7252

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO DAVE AND THE RHC TEAM

MOONLIGHT STUDIO

LOGO DESIGN & SIGN PRODUCTION Ph: 229-5402 Fax: 229-5407

COLOURMIX==

ADVERTISING SYSTEMS INC.

CONGRATULATIONS

on your newest office in Castlegar

— Thank you for your Business —

2327 - 6th Ave., Castlegar, B.C.

1-800-667-2455 Phone: 365-7672 ¢ Fax: 365-7692

ADVERTORIAL RHC makes waves after testing waters

Tom Leckie

SUN STAFF

Network! Network! Net- work!

If there’s one advantage in particular for choosing RHC Realty when buying or selling your home or property, it might very well be the benefit of the com- pany’s ability to network throughout the province and across the country.

Recently opening an office in Castlegar, RHC is not a new business in the West Kootenay—far from

Harry Thind

Brian Euerby

Rose Meyer

it. In fact, RHC, which by the way, stands for Robert- son Hilliard Cattell, dates back to the year 1908, when it’s first office opened in Nelson. The name change to the three letter-initials came in the early 1980s

A successful firm, the company decided to move out of its comfort zone and test the waters in the

‘People are relocating here for a variety of different reasons, but I think the biggest reason is lifestyle.’

Castlegar has resulted in RHC becoming involved from its Nelson office, with a steadily growing

Castlegar market. The market, RHC decided they move is not one made out could better serve the of carefree zealousness however. For some time now, the market demand in

having a presence The result is improved market listings for Castle

433 Josephine St. Nelson, B.C. Vil 1wW4

Congratulations and all the best on your Grand Opening

— FOR ALL YOUR OFFICE NEEDS — Castlegar,” said Castlegar CASH REGISTERS ¢ COPIERS * COMPUTERS ¢ FACSIMILE

LANG

BUSINESS SYSTEMS (Nelson)

gar and area clients

“We have great resources available through our peo- ple working in Nelson, the Slocan Valley, and now

Office Manager and Real- tor, David Buss

The excellent market that Nelson has experienced for the past five vears is now surfacing in Castlegar “People are relocating here

for a variety of different Phone: (604) 352-1900

Fax: (604) 352-9800

reasons, but T think the

biggest reason is lifestyle

The Management & Staff

of

RHC REALTY

would like to invite you to

the

Grand Opening

of their

New Office in Castlegar. at 343 Columbia Ave.

On

Saturday November 27th 1993

at 2:30 p.m.

Stop by and enter our draw.

cilly

Since 1908

WELCOME RHC:

We're pleased you're a part of our community!

Wy

The Gastiégar Sun op a & “TWN

a tt

|Congratulations|

And thank-you for choosing Arrow Building Supplies

as one of your suppliers in your new Office.

S ARROW BUILDING SUPPLIES

2240 - 6th Ave., Castlegar * 365-2175 SS S_= ———S—— SS SS

— Congratulations — RHC Realty

All The Best For Your New Office We are proud you chose us to do your renovations

All You Need For Renovations

Garage Door Windows

Doors

Quality Products & Workmanship

222 - 102 St. Castlegar

Phone: 365-3461 Mobile: 352-4050

Castlegar area by actually

— DAVID BUSS

RHC Realtor and Office Manager

You just can’t beat the Kootenays.”

RHC is poised to meet the demand. “We fully intend on being open and available to everyone throughout the area through our Multiple Listing Ser- vice,” David continued

What that means for buy- ers and sellers of real estate, is a quick, wide reaching access to listings that has results nothing short of effective. As well, listings are all computer- ized. If you’re walking down the street and happen to check out the new RHC office, just enquire about the housing market in Cranbrook, Fernie or Grand Forks, youll get an answer in a matter of minutes through the Kootenay Real Estate Board Multiple List ing Service. RHC’s ability to provide such an out standing service is partly due to its affiliation with Royal LePage as an Asso- ciate Broker

“It really means absolute networking across Cana da,” David said

RHC is also planning to deliver to more than 15,000 homes, a paper than con tains a multiple of local listings

So if you're interested in buying or selling property in the West Kootenay, you're best bet will be to call up any one of RHC’s 14 sales people, two of whom are based in Castle- gar: Tom Leckie and Harry Thind; and Slocan Valley resident Brian Euerby

David is also a local resi dent, born and raised in Trail. He relocated to Nel son after completing his education at UBC followed by working as a Realtor in the highly competitive Van- couver market. Like many who relocate to the West Kootenay, David and his wife decided to give up the unreal pace of city life after have having a family

The Castlegar RHC office is currently prepar- ing for a grand opening, set for November 27, starting at 2:30 p.m.. At this time the general public is wel come to stop by and visit the new office and its staff and ask some questions The first smiles you'll see belong to receptionists Elaine Higgins and Rose Meyer. The two long-time Castlegar residents will be ready with hot coffee!

See you there!

PROFILE

November 24, 19

hy is it that the term ‘Native

Land Claim’ strikes chords

of fear in the hearts of many

non-native people? For

some, various extremes

come to mind, such as the image of Canadians

being forced from their homes, told they no

longer have rights over privately-owned land, or

suddenly Genied access to once readily available resources.

If you ask Sophie Pierre, she'll tell you the reason these images and foolish perceptions are plentiful is fear and a sheer ignorance of Aborigi nal people and their history by non-native peo: ple. Pure and simple

Pierre is a leader among her people. She is chief of the St. Mary's Band, one of five commu nities in Canada that make up the Ktunaxa Nation. Pierre was first elected in 1978. In 1988 she stepped back and served as a councillor until again being elected as chief in 1992

The Ktunaxa are a proud people, whose ances tors were nomadic, occupying this area for more than 10,000 years. Their territory, as explained by Pierre, spans the entire East and West Koote nays, north of the Upper Arrow Lakes to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, touching into Montana and Idaho.

Neighboring the Ktunaxa were the Interior Salish, who today have strong bands in the Okanagan, Shuswap and Colville areas

“There was definitely a shared land-use between the Ktunaxa and the Salish throughout the continuous occupation of over ten thousand years. That has already been proven,” said Pierre

The consistent sharing of land came to an end just over a century ago when white settlers inhabited the nation, and made their permanent homes here. Aboriginal people were placed on reserves: land, says Pierre, that the white man did not consider valuable. There is a hint of resent- ment in Pierre’s voice. “It really bothers me that some non-native people think they have really deep roots here. The time spent here by non natives is but a drop of water in a huge water bar rel of time, compared to that of our people.”

But Pierre is also a visionary, and so looks to the future with a new hope for her people. She and other Native leaders have been working hard to mend many of the social problems the people have experienced and in tum ‘empower’ the Ktu naxa nation. This also included re-establishing the traditional Ktunaxa tongue, much of which was lost after the residential school fiasco

The goal in this vision is to agree upon a treaty with the provincial government, one that will establish Aboriginal titleship of land—a lot of it

Here ts where the fear by non-natives begins says Pierre, and it’s born out of a confusion over termis such as Ownership or title

Title is not like you have in the Websters dic tionary. Aboriginal ttle 1s in each and every sin gle Aboriginal living within their traditional territory. We use the saine language but we have worlds-apart meaning of what these terms mean.

Language, culture, people and land: these are important factors when working towards any entitlement. Wrapping it all together is some thing called “governance”, whic! whe agains where non-natives believe they might soon find themselves on the short end of the iomahawk

“This is where we start to get to the meat of the issues.

Pierre says there are some Aboriginal people who are very sincere and strong in terms of their pursuit of sovereignty, not unlike the Quebec sit uation. And then you have the other extreme, like the Seachelt who have taken on their own form of government that is very much like a municipal form of government, and has been legislated by the federal and provincial governments. Some- where in between that wide swing, you have what the Ktunaxa are searching

So why, in 1993, are we still talking Treaty in this province? Because, says Pierre, there is unfinished business

‘Quite frankly, by the time settlement started in British Columbia [the settlers] felt pretty safe and secure in their numbers and no longer felt they had to negotiate treaties with the Native people. It was a lot easier to set aboriginal people on the shelf, to marginalize them. It was not quite that easy when they came across Ontario or the prairie provinces, but it was in B.C..”

In town last week to address the Castlegar and District Wildlife Association, Pierre reminded her audience that the Ktunaxa Nation has never, and still doesn't own the land upon which they are living. “We live on Indian reserves, but we live there at the pleasure of the crown, at the pleasure of the minister, under a piece of Canadi an legislation called the Indian Act. So I get very disturbed when I hear people say, ‘What do you Indians want? Why can't we all just be Canadi- ans? Why can’t we all be equal?

That would be wonderful wouldn't it? contin. ued Pierre

‘The fact of the matter is, that we are not equal even today. When I hear non-natives ask ing questions like that, it tells me that my culture my thousands of years, means nothing to you because you have come here in the last one-hun dred and twenty-five years) Am I supposed to tt Wthat aside and embrace a Canadian fentity And Pm not sure what that identity + ind | would wonder if you even know

igain points to the fact that there 1s

Comments by St. Marys Band Chief Sophie Pierre, on the past, the future, and the suffering in between.

a lack of knowledge and appreciation of Indian his tory by non-natives, even though they have chosen to sditle”here

“And you have chosen to make your home among Ktunaxa territory, and add your history to a history that is thousands of years old. Why can't we celebrate in that? Why does it have to be confronta ional?’

In fact, says Pierre, native people, when talking Treaty, are really challenging the status quo

“And I say why not, Right now non-natives are very comfortable with the status quo.”

Pierre continued to say that if non-natives really knew how the Federal Department of Indian Affairs is spending their tax dollars, they would also chal lenge the status quo.

“Four billion of yours and my tax dollars are being dumped down this big black hole, that main tains third-world conditions in seventy-five per cent of Indian communities in this country. Now, are you really that satisfied with the status quo?”

What I want to see is real change, she says Another assumption often heard by Pierre is that Aboriginal people are where they are today because they want to be there

“While the conditions are much better in our community than they are in probably seventy-five per cent of all reserves, we have worked very hard to improve them. Yet we still have a high unem. ployment rate, a high dropout rate. With the current laws that exist in this country, we have been ensured that we will never become economically independent.”

To Pierre, this is why the Ktunaxa people are now demanding self-government

“We already have a separate order of govern ment. It’s a grey ared, and it’s called no government at all.”

Indian reserves are federal crown lands, and under the Indian Act, there has been a long-stand. ing confusion between the provincial and federal governments over laws and how they apply to reserves. One prime example is education. Cur rently there is no federal law that covers educa tion, yet it is the federal government responsible for Native peoples’ education. “That's why we had residential schools: the federal government gave the responsibility for our education to the Church.”

Following this, the federal government turned the responsibility for educating Indian children over to the provincial government, by way of pay ment for educating in traditionally non-native schools. But there was no requirement on the part

of the province to actually use the funding for edu cation, and as7a result, according to Pierre, the

didn't. Most recently, Native people buy space in schools for their children through the tederal gov

emment. And now, says Pierre, Native children in a school system are considered quite lucrative’ by many boards. Money talks.

Pierre used education as a prime example likely because she has gone through the system herself and managed to somehow keep her sanity

Now in her early forties, Pierre can distinctly remember the incident that made her decide she would be a survivor, despite the odds that have been stacked against her and her peers

When she was six-years-old, she was sent to a residential 1, where s! incd s an entire decade. Children attending the school did not leave for home at the 3:30 bell. Rather, the school could be compared to an academy, where students remained 10 months out of the year. Par ents were allowed to visit after church on Sundays and on the third Saturday of each month—if they could travel the distance to make the trip. Pierre remembers that the residential school was just across the river from her home. To this day she still wonders what was worse: being completely alienat ed from home or family, or being cut off yet still able to see home across the river

“I remember staring out the window, looking at our home, yet never able to go there.”

Hair was cut off, traditional clothes were out of the question, and strict rules were upheld by stern Catholic nuns.

Pierre shakes her head as she describes her child- hood, and that of her peers. “There were some nuns in there who were absolutely wonderful. But there were many others whose sole purpose was to beat the Indian out of the kid.”

It was this constant degradation of culture in the past that has resulted in the widespread social prob- lems of today such as alcoholism and sexual abuse, says Pierre.

“I don’t know why I was different. But for some reason, when I was told by my teachers that I would be nothing but a drunken Indian I couldn't accept that. Something inside me screamed ‘No’ and that was indeed a tuming point for me

Pierre was eight-years-old at the time

That strength has been with her ever since. After helping to pull many of her people “out of the bot tle” as she calls it, the Ktunaxa Nation is healthier now than it ever has been in the past five decades

Pierre, who plans to be part of the negotiating team for a Treaty and Native Self-government, says she hopes that non-natives will be well-versed in history before coming to the table to negotiate

And, she says with firmr there will be negotry ing. the provincial and federal government have ny choice in the matter

“Either that or it is taken tt h ns W don't want that tot bet we ‘re ready

Off the shelf and read