"the People's Paths!" NAIIP News Path! - Are You Going to Make Me Move?

Are You Going to Make Me Move?

By Joanne "Jake" Kaufman, CPT
the People's Voice ~ Wednesday, August 1, 2001

INDIAN BROOK, NOVA SCOTIA - Members of Indian Brook First Nation filed a land claim several years ago for 1900 acres, which would include the town of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. The Aboriginal peoples of Atlantic Canada never surrendered title to their lands or resources to the European newcomers and so these title issues are still unresolved.
After the claim was filed, a local woman phoned Indian Brook member Marie Robinson who told Christian Peacemaker Teams, "She was crying and carrying on even before she started talking... I thought it was a prank call. Then she started talking, saying, ' I have lived in Shubie all my life. Are you going to make me move if this land claim goes through?' "
Robinson says, "I told her that we would never do that. We know what it's like to be chased out of our homes. We would never do that to anyone."
As recently as 1950, Aboriginal people, including Robinson's grandparents, were forced to relocate from small reserves around Nova Scotia to Indian Brook First Nation in a government "centralization" project.

For more information contact CPT:
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
c/o Claire Evans, Administrative Coordinator
P.O. Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680
Telephone: 312-455-1199 ~ FAX: 312-432-1213
E-Mail: cpt@igc.org
Christian Peacemaker Teams - Canada Office
c/o Doug Pritchard, Canada Coordinator
1562 Danforth Ave, Box 72063, Toronto, ON M4J 5C1
Phone: 416-421-7079, FAX: 416-467-1508
E-mail: cptcan@web.ca
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative among
United States and Canadian churches committed to active
peacemaking, which prepares small teams to intervene in
violent and militarized regions using active nonviolence.
Four full time teams are currently located in Chiapas,
Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; Nova Scotia, Canada; and in
the Hebron district of the West Bank. There are four
regional groups: CPT-Northern Indiana; CPT-Ontario;
CPT-Boulder, Colorado; CPT-Cleveland, Ohio.