We’ll try to get a copy of the letter posted on the website asap….It’s very well written and informative.

Posted from the Daily Graphic July 16 2008

The recent discovery of human remains at the Wilkinson Crescent construction site may mean the City and Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie have to slow down their plan to build a multiplex at the exhibition grounds on the Island.

On July 11, Dakota Tipi First Nation Chief Cornell Pashe sent the city a letter asking to discuss their plans to begin construction on the recreation facility.

The letter refers to the remains of five adults and one child that were found by construction workers while repairing Wilkinson Crescent on May 30. The letter states more remains have since been discovered in the excavated soil from the Wilkinson Crescent site, which the contractor had used to build up the Crescent Lake embankment across from Yellowquill School.

According to the letter, “the current excavation appears to have disturbed a Dakota burial site,” and according to elders at least four other sites of significance are located in the Island Park area, including along the golf course and on the east of of the racetrack oval on the exhibition grounds.

Although Pashe explained he does not want to impede or slow the multiplex project down, in an interview with The Daily Graphic yesterday, he said he wants to make sure the history of his people is respected whenever the city digs into the ground.

“It wasn’t my intention to disrupt or be pulled into the multiplex situation, because I have children that utilize the arena, and I’m all for it,” he explained. “I’m happy that they were able to erect a building that is going to meet the needs of everyone, but at the same time, my intent is to try and have the issue resolved with our claims that we have with the federal government.”

The Dakota Tipi have been working with other Dakota First Nations in Manitoba to gain unextinguished aboriginal title in significant portions of southern Manitoba from the federal government, and Pashe is hopeful that significant sites, like the one found on Wilkinson Crescent, which was estimated to be between 150-200 years old, will help prove to the government the Dakota-Sioux people were here before the city was settled. He also wants to make sure the remains of his forefathers are dealt with respectfully at the Wilkinson site, and any other construction site in the city.

“It’s not that I want Island Park, and it’s not that I want Portage la Prairie, ” explained the chief. ” It’s just for the ancestors, for the hard times that they went through”

Portage mayor Ken Brennan told the Daily Graphic he has read the letter, and he completely understands where Pashe is coming from. A meeting has been set up a meeting between the two leaders later this week to discuss the concerns Pashe raised in the letter.

” We certainly are sensitive to some of the things he has brought out in the letter, and certainly we’re sensitive to fact that we have disturbed a gravesite” explained the mayor. ” The chief is representing his people well here, and Cornell has always been an upfront guy with me”

“I think he’s doing what he has to do; we have to be respectful, and we have to work through it to get it done properly”

The mayor is confident that a compromise can be reached, so work can begin at the site by some time next month.

“We’ve only got one shot at this. and we have to keep moving on it,” he said. ” If there is any delays, then we lose this construction year and we’re in big trouble.

The mayor and chief have scheduled a closed door meeting for Thursday morning at city hall to discuss the issue.