To the editor:
Down in the basement of the Okeefe Ranch Museum there are maps of the areas set aside for [Indian] Bands, then the subsequent theft of those lands by the ranchers, then the appropriation of more lands by the railroads and highways. All in a progression of maps.
In most cases, the government routed those through the reserves because the ranchers caused a stink. Ranchers even objected to the use of Crown land because they held range leases.
To even entertain a referendum is participating in buying stolen property.
It was not CN’s land to sell. They should be charged with fraud for selling land with no title.
The Government of Canada is under clear obligation to return that land to the impacted Bands and families, with negotiations opened on how to do remediation of the toxins on it.
The First Nations are holding the high legal ground here.
Nobody talks about the negatives of a rail to trail. Ask anyone who actually has lived next to one and you get an earful.
Nola Marth,
Lake Country