[IPSM] [Fwd: Elder 'hurt' by lockout at office ]

[Janice Billy]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Elder 'hurt' by lockout at office
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 20:30:29 -0400
From: "RUSSELL DIABO" <rdiabo at rogers.com>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>



Daily News Online
Elder ‘hurt’ by lockout at office

by Michele Young

A Neskonlith Indian Band elder who has been involved in protests at Sun 
Peaks Resort says she was “disappointed and hurt” to find herself locked 
out of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council office earlier this month.

Irene Billy said she, along with elder Sarah Deneault and protest camp 
spokeswoman Janice Billy, went to the office on the Kamloops Indian 
reserve to deliver a letter to tribal council chairman Nathan Matthew.

Billy, 76, said the trio went to the office and were met by two security 
guards. She said she then heard the doors clang shut.

“They locked the doors and wouldn’t let us in,” she said Tuesday.

But Matthew, reached in Vancouver Wednesday afternoon, said he wasn’t 
aware of the incident and wasn’t in Kamloops on the day that Billy 
referred to.

“This is an unfortunate situation and I don’t have any more comment 
until I have spoken to the elders,” he said, adding it isn’t the intent 
of the tribal council to keep out people who have legitimate business in 
the building.

He did say security staff is at the building, but noted it isn’t just 
the tribal council that has offices there. He said he would speak to 
those who were at the meeting and the elders to find out exactly what 
happened.

Janice Billy, Irene’s daughter-in-law, has been active in organizing 
protests and camps at Sun Peaks. Irene Billy said she and Deneault have 
been involved with the demonstrations, too.

She suspected their involvement with the protests was the reason behind 
the lockout.

“I was very surprised. And to leave the two elders — Sarah is about 85, 
86 — and to leave us out there. I was very surprised to come to the door 
and not be able to get into our Shuswap Nation Tribal Council office.”

Billy wouldn’t say what was in the letter addressed to Matthew, but 
noted he is representing the tribal council in trying to resolve the 
issue. Eventually, she said, Neskonlith band councillor Judy Wilson 
spoke to the trio and took the letter for Matthew.

“He’s supposed to be talking to us about our problems at Sun Peaks, 
about the expansion and development,” she said.

“The SNTC office is supposed to be for all the natives of British 
Columbia. I was surprised and I was disappointed and I was hurt. To 
think our own people would lock us out. … It’s degrading their own 
people. I was very hurt.”

Deneault wrote a letter to the RCMP policing the Kamloops Indian 
reserve, where the tribal council office is located. In it, she pointed 
out that she is on the Secwepemc Cultural Education Society language 
working committee, which is in the same building. She said she was 
barred from entering the society’s offices and now fears she doesn’t 
have free access when she has matters to discuss there.

“I do not feel safe or secure when I enter the area nor do I feel I have 
to be treated like a criminal when I want to enter my own offices,” she 
wrote.

Billy said area natives are divided on the Sun Peaks protest issue, with 
which she has been involved for the past four years.

“It’s getting pretty frustrating anyhow. This has taken a lot of my time 
and anxiety and stress,” she said.

“It seems that all the natives are split on it, instead of uniting. It’s 
frustrating that some people don’t understand, some understand but are 
scared to come out and voice opinions. … I hope in the near future that 
we will come together and resolve it. Take away some of this anxiety and 
stress and strain.”

Billy said the land around Sun Peaks was lush before it was turned into 
ski runs, housing and a golf course. Her grandson shot a large moose 
there last year, so native hunting still goes on. But she said she’s 
beginning to feel defeated.

“I know we’ve lost the land now,” she said.

“But I don’t want to give up. It’s our hunting grounds up there. And 
just a few feet this side of Sun Peaks, there are huckleberries.”

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