And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 1999 09:16:09 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: CP rail blows up sacred rock
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Monday, August 09, 1999
CN Rail blows up Indian band's sacred rock
Kim Pemberton
The Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER - CN Rail became a target for outraged members of a British Columbia Indian
band when it blew up a large sacred rock in the Fraser Canyon.
Graham Dallas, spokesman for the railway, said CN workers blew the rock to smithereens
last month because it was considered a danger to work crews trying to clear a rock and
mudslide that derailed a CP freight line east of Vancouver. The rock - known as
momet'es - was on a reserve belonging to the Yale band, near Yale, B.C., but is within
traditional territory of Sto:Lo Nation.
Mr. Dallas said the company will request an inventory from the native band to
determine which rocks they consider significant.
"Our normal procedure is to consult with the landowners, but if it's a matter of
urgency -- life and death -- we have to take action," he said.
Mr. Dallas said the rock was hanging roughly 1,000 metres above the track in the
rugged canyon and said CN was not aware of the rock's significance to the Sto:Lo
Nation. Company officials felt it was important to blow it off its perch. But Ernie
Crey, of the Sto:Lo Nation, insisted momet'es was not a hazard because it was a
considerable distance from the railway line. He said its destruction was a travesty.
"It would be like going to Stonehenge and blowing up a few columns," Mr. Crey said.
Sonny McHalsie, cultural advisor to the Sto:Lo Nation, said momet'es was one of about
100 so-called "transformer rocks" in the band's territory. He said the Sto:Lo believe
some of their ancient ancestors were transformed into stone, and there are stories
that surround each transformation. Mr. McHalsie said this particular rock, shaped like
a pointing finger, was a reminder for people to be good.
"All the elders I've talked to are very upset," he said. "All of a sudden momet'es is
gone. It's been there for thousands of years and we thought it would be there for
another thousand years."
Archeologist David Schaepe, who works for the Sto:Lo Nation, believes the rocks should
be protected under the province's Heritage Conservation Act.
"Let Us Consider The Human Brain As
A Very Complex Photographic Plate"
1957 G.H. Estabrooks
www.angelfire.com/mn/mcap/bc.html
FOR K A R E N #01182
who died fighting 4/23/99
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.aches-mc.org
807-622-5407
