Last Saturday morning, anyone with a view of the Burns Lake Band (BLB) fence standing beside the BLB reserve would have noticed that a new series of slogans had emerged from the night.
The fence has been used in the past as a means for BLB members to express the concerns. The new graffiti included messages like ‘Neglected live here,’ ‘No democracy here’, and ‘Enbridge buys Indians - we said no’.
Mid-morning on Sept. 23, BLB counc. Dan George began removing portions of the fence. He said that he didn’t know who put the slogans up.
“We’re just getting tire of this billboard, it doesn’t look good on the rest of the community,” George said. “We told them last time after we cleaned it up [that we would take it down]”
Several BLB members arrived shortly after George began dismantling the fence, including BLB counc. Ron Charlie.
Charlie said that he also didn’t know who put the slogans up.
“The community uses it as a billboard to express their feelings right now,” he said. “People are getting fed up with them [BLB council without Charlie’s participation] making decisions on behalf of the burns lake band without consultation. We’re not saying that they’re making deals with Enbridge, but they are talking to people without consulting the members.”
A single Burns Lake detachment RCMP officer arrived on the scene, which ended with George freely leaving.