Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 5, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Horrible Home old mistakes on Reserve make for a wretched life sunday free november a5 by Tony Davis staff reporter its the mistakes made decades ago by the department of Indian affairs that now make it difficult for Pukatawagan to find enough Money for new houses to keep up with a growing chief Ralph Caribou a Case in Point the sewer sys installed in Pukatawagan in the the system want sunk deep enough below the per and has been plagued by ruptures and As Indian affairs intended the system to serve Only the school and teachers says when the band arranged for new Home financing from Canada mortgage and housing one of the conditions was that Homes have proper water and sewage so band residents began Hook ing up lines from the new Homes to the sewer overtaking its Indian affairs says poor maintenance practices by the band have made Pukatawagan Infra Structure problems according to Indi an affairs made a bad problem worse in 1970 by moving the com munits sewage Lagoon next to a River upstream from its drinking water sewage leached into the water causing serious health problems on the tuberculosis is a chronic prob and last year hundreds of Pukatawagan residents fled the Community after nine people contracted hepatitis from sewage contaminated drinking since last Indian affairs has spent million to chlorinated and clean the contaminated water another Case in Point Quality of current housing in the past five 10 Homes have been damaged or destroyed by a situation the band claims has been caused by faulty wiring and poor some of the Homes that have been destroyed were relatively built with Chc a band councillor in 1988 when the first of 133 Chc Homes built during a five year period went up at says Many of them May have construction i guess because we needed Homes so the previous band administration might have stretched the dollars for housing too Caribou one Day last March a White Guy dressed in protective cloth ing emerged from Caroline Dumas House with news that hit her like a he told me there was methane Gas under the he said we had to get the Gas buildup came from sewage that had seeped out of a deteriorated line running under her three bedroom so she and the three family education philhos3ackwinnipeq free press operations and maintenance capital band support funding band employment training development policing total 12 Dumas says Mathias colomb Cree nation protesters will stay at the Forks until Indian affairs ends reserves despite the hardships at the one big spirit is still in Good spirits by Tony Davis staff reporter health capital members who lived with like so Many other people on the located on a Majestic stretch of Pukatawagan ended up she now lives in her daughters with nine other the band Council had promised to relocate her but without the proper equipment to do the Job and a Lack of Dumas is still q q q while it is difficult to follow the paper Trail and assess there is Little doubt that residents Are band councillor Verna who blames a chronic tuberculosis problem at Pukatawagan on the cramped says More than 165 applications for new housing Are sitting on her Indian affairs also recognizes the despite a wet Blanket of despite a Teepee blowing and despite living uncomfortably for weeks in a tent City at the Caroline Dumas is still in Good she and rotating squads of Mathias colomb Cree nation residents Are determined to stay at the historic aboriginal gathering spot in Winnipeg As Long As it takes to get the department of Indian affairs to heed their Call to end a housing crisis at Ever since i came Here i have Felt truly alive and i feel an inner peace because i know i am with my people in this says As she sits near a crack Ling Wood fire in a Kitchen tent the protesters have set if i was Back in Pukatawagan i would stay Home All Day and hardly anyone would come and talk to now people come and i Tell them and we laugh a the Pukatawagan residents who say the housing shortage has led to disease and social havoc on their Reserve appear steeled for a Long during the thanksgiving weekend they pitched 15 Small tents and two Large teepees on Forks property along the West Bank of the red just South of the Provencher the Encampment took on an even More permanent Aura just Over a week ago when a 10metre High Complete with a woo burning stove and was its our new Community says one at any Given As Many As 70 band members including Small children puffed up in parkas and snowsuits Are calling the River Bank Patch Home for How Long it will be no one Well stay until Spring if we have vows Arthur despite his Speaks with the serenity of a Buddhist like big Hetty Speaks of How the hous ing protest has United Mathias colomb we Are one big spirit now because of Days at the Forks Are spent cooking looking after the and talking to natives from other reserves who drop by to offer led by chief Ralph the protesters have also marched frequently on the legislature to stir up interest in their band members say the local Media have largely ignored their there was a japanese tourist Here who is a and he said he was going to write about us when he gets says bight so at least our Story might be told in at the band holds pow prayers and pipe Cere monies around a Wood fire lit in a Rusty Oil night is also the time when members of the bands peacekeeping society patrol the Encampment in order to keep would be troublemakers stores at the nearby Forks Market have donated one Day the Kitchen tent was filled with bags of bread and tins of Stew donated by Mcdiarmid a company that does business with the a construction worker at the new Norwood Bridge brought a bucket of students from the University of Manitoba also sent Chicken to the a White lady came up to me a few Days ago and said she wanted to Wash my bag of says who walks with a i told i dont want you to do my but she took it any and later she brought me Back some Nice warm blankets i invisible foe stalks band i would not say that there int a problem with Pukatawagan but it is a problem that is not a crisis per is How one Indian affairs official puts elected chief three years puts it much different with unemployment on the Reserve hovering at about 90 per band members rely on the Federal government to provide the funding to construct new Caribou estimates the band would need about 150 More Homes to make the Community an Indian affairs official says the department is concerned about and is attempting to come up with creative solutions so More Homes be helping the band get Bank financing to Purchase Mobile or As in the habitat for humanity program getting Reserve residents to invest More sweat equity into construction Are among the ideas being consid the official in hits hardest by Alexandra Paul medical reporter takes a heavy human toll in the some among aboriginal people there Are 60 to cases populate Only Canad Anborn its cases per from a historical Low of 86 cases in numbers Rose to 110 in 1993 and 116 last year across the one out of two untreated patients will die of a single patient can infect anywhere from four to 10 peo ple in a single it takes six months to beat to with but most people quit after seven to 10 per cent of All to cases in Canada Are Multi drug once called the murder capital of the Northern Manitoba Reserve of Pukatawagan beat Back violent death a decade now it is fighting a new threat twelve cases have been confirmed since novem Ber 1994 among the residents of this Cree Reserve 820 Kilometres Northwest of this May be the largest outbreak in any Small Community in said Kay a University of Manitoba professor of Community health in a 40yearold Man died of to on said who is also the medical health officer for the we dont think of to killing but that Why people Are so Wotton the disease is hitting single Young adults with no permanent we have a hard time controlling it because peo ple Are moving some houses have 20 people in Wotton Ernest is one of an estimated 300 peo ple at risk for the contagious disease that doctors thought they tamed until Castel and his wife Are living out of a bedroom he built in her parents dressed in Camp Castel sat on an up ended plastic milk Carton in a Teepee at the Forks last with quiet he echoed the sentiments of the doctors dangerous overcrowding on the Reserve must be he want without Hope nor did he show his yet its closing in on a month since he and about 70 other Pukatawagan residents pitched their teepees and tents within blocks of the Concrete canyons of downtown they Are protesting a critical housing shortage that has been a big Factor in the spread of last Castels family had a close Call with his two Brothers inlaw caught the his wife started to get sick and came South for a i wondered if i was going to get so i waited for Castel it never but in the Winter it could come both Castel and his wife Are in school Hes train ing to be a it turns out that fighting to is harder than bring ing violence under the Reserve Hast had a murder in four to is its a silent enemy you cant see and it creeps up on people with out them knowing Castel doctors and while the numbers dont make Pukatawagan the to capital of they come they have an extraordinary number of said Earl director for Manitoba Centre for tuberculosis More sweat equity on reserves urged by Tony Davis staff reporter officials with the Indian affairs department say housing shortages on Cana Das native reserves could be diminished if bands required Mem Bers to put More sweat equity or free labor into Homes built with Federal the Home building Charity Habi Tat for for builds its Homes for disadvantaged people by requiring that new own ers put in a certain amount of but using Money from federally funded capital often pay members in feds suggest natives donate their labor to ease housing shortage build their own say Indian affairs that increases the Cost of individual Homes and Means fewer can be Ralph chief of the Mathias colomb Cree nation in says his band is now looking at using More sweat equity when Homes Are Caribou has asked Indian affairs for a loan guarantee so More new Homes can be Federal Indi an affairs minister Ron Irwin has said he will look at the request but he has so far been firm that the band will not get any new Federal Money to build More on the province granted the band a oneyear permit for land held by Recap Manitoba to Cut enough logs so band members could build themselves 50 new band members says with 165 families on a waiting list for hous even More Homes Are heres a look at the various ways Homes Are funded and built in Canadas first nations using the capital budget native bands Are Given an annual budget for building sewers and water treatment they can spend the Money As they see any Homes built in this Way Are usually considered a band asset they cannot normally be sold to in some such As band members through a complicated acquire certificates of Possession that give them title to on Reserve such certificates Are rarely offered in Canada mortgage and housing Homes often using a portion of their capital budget As a Down bands will sometimes acquire Loans to build More Homes than they could if they relied solely on the Money in the capital Bud Chc Loans require a ministerial that should a band fall behind in its mortgage the depart ment of Indian affairs will cover in 130 Chc Homes were built Between 1987 and but the band fell behind on its mortgage and in april Indian affairs had to step in and make the bands payments on its million in Chc Mort Dennis an Indian affairs said the department will pay a shelter allowance to fam Ilies on welfare to cover rent on Chc working families Are expected to pay the rents Bill c31 Homes in 1986 the fed eral government passed a Bill to broaden the definition of who is a treaty for women who had lost their status when they married no treaty men had their status As a Indi an affairs began to build Homes for people who acquired status under Bill c31 and then wished to return to first nation ;