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[article provided by Lona. Thanks!]
http://www.newsindex.com/cgi-bin/result.cgi?http://www.nationalpost.com/news.asp?f=000224/215310&s2=national
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Blackfoot upset by suggestion they have smuggling motive
Robert Remington
National Post
PEIGAN NATION, Alta. - Native leaders in Alberta responded with dismay
yesterday to suggestions they were pursuing their own border crossing
with
natives on the American side so they can smuggle drugs and other contraband
in sacred ceremonial bundles.
"Native people are very strong in their culture. If you did something
like
that, it would be a bad omen," said Edwin Small Legs, a councillor
for the
Peigan Nation.
Mr. Small Legs is one of the proponents of a native-only border crossing
linking the 33,000 members of Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of 17,000
members of three Blackfoot tribes in Alberta, and 15,000 Blackfeet
in
Montana.
Derek Konrad, Reform's Indian affairs critic, this week questioned why
the
Blackfoot Confederacy wants its own crossing. "Are they objecting to
checking for drugs or contraband? I'm sorry, that's what borders are
for,"
Mr. Konrad said.
"When people say things like that, we're going to be looked down upon
as
troublemakers," Mr. Small Legs said yesterday.
Blackfoot leaders say they are subjected to probing questions by border
guards about the contents of ceremonial bundles -- tobacco, pipes,
eagle
feathers and other objects wrapped in animal skins -- that are used
in
sacred ceremonies.
Michel Cleroux, a spokesman for Revenue Canada, which is responsible
for
border inspections, says Canada Customs has no intention of setting
up
native crossings, although it is willing to meet with native leaders
about
concerns.
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