Blockades, Our land claim in the mid 1980s was all talk, never making progress and the chiefs were not pleased, many of the chiefs wanted to do something about the situation, we talked about demonstrations but nothing happened until Oka, At the time I was Grand chief of the lake superior region of the Union of Ontario Indians as well as the chief of pays plat, in my discussions with the chiefs on the subject we would leave it up to the individual bands to support Oka in their way and not a regional effort, we chose to make the CPR right of way the issue, as they owe the band millions since the early 1880s How ever three of us decided to act in accordance with each others actions as we had in common disputes with the rail road companies. Long lac would be the first to go and the community blocked the railroad and I attended as the grand chief in support of the band, When they were removed from the tracks Pays Plat used a pair of jumping cables for a car, to trigger the signals and let the Canadian Pacific Railroad that the tracks were blocked , it was reported that we had blocked it with ties and old rails, We blocked it for a few days and then were peaceably removed from the Ontario provincial Police after intense negotiations on the terms. Then Pic Mobert took a stand against the CPR. Which I attended as the Grand chief to the Lake Superior Region of the Union of Ontario Indians. Our band was sued on behalf of the CPR for losses which amounted to around 40 million dollars, I stood up for that law suit and was ordered to not block the tracks again or face severe consequences. Ontario hydro Pays plat got an agreement with ontario hydro, and negotiated past grevences with the band, pays plat discussed the hydro right of way and had them agree to pay so much per mile for crossing the reserve, which they also agreed to add any future lands through the LLLB process to the agreement if the line went through them. LLLB process Soon after the oka and rail blockades incidents the Federal and Provincial Governments wanted to negotiate a process to add land to the reserves that would results in self government for the Bands and the 1850 treaty council was the organization that would guide that process, I was the President of the corporation. It didn’t take long until It was becoming obvious to me that the whole lllb process was just a government ploy to keep the Indians at bay and somewhat happy that they would get some of the action. The ndp seemed to take a role for a while but not long Our position: We started our negotiations with the intent of satisfying our needs for not only economic development but to provide for the intent of the Robinson Superior Treaty, which was our rules and regulations over a vast area within our traditional Territories. And a seat on the management of the resources of the rest of our territories. This position was rejected out right and so we discussed the reserve being the size of three townships as a reserve then 2 townships and then 1, we ended up with pretty well what were talking about today, I rejected it out right and told them this was our last chance to come to an agreement, we would never have an opportunity to discuss our land again, I was not about to agree to this piece of rock which cannot be developed except to take as much as we can along the ontario hydro right of way agreement that we negotiated. Im sure not satisfied that it took 30 years and it still is not donem nor am I happy about the amount of land negotiated. Aime Bouchard Phone: 807 823 0627 Email: aimebouchard@hotmail.com