The Ojibwe Outsider

By Mary Gopher-Parenteau

A feel good contemporary Native American story based on real events that affected the mining and environmental laws in Montana!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098306588

Book preview

The Ojibwe Outsider

Mary Gopher-Parenteau

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-09830-657-1

ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-09830-658-8

© 2020. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Chapter One: The Kitchen.

Chapter Two: Southside.

Chapter Three: Red Thunder.

Chapter Four: The First Official Protest.

Chapter Five: Fasting.

Chapter Six: Racoons.

Chapter Seven: AFLCIO-Bill Yellowtail Campaign Rally

Chapter Eight: Last Official Protest.

Chapter Nine: We won, Victory.

Introduction.

The Ojibwe Outsider is a nonfiction book. If you are like myself, I did not know the difference in the beginning of writing this book. I experienced most of these events back in my twenties. I am now in my early fifties. These events changed my life and the people who are in this story. We had no idea going into this, how much of an impact that we would all make. Montana laws were created from these events.

The public and we were all educated about the devastation of open pit mining. I honestly believe that this was all meant to happen. I know we had spiritual guidance from a higher power. I tried to tell this in the story, the power of prayer. I am not trying to convert anyone or say my religion is better. Because of my beliefs, I believe that we are not supposed to be tearing up or destroying our planet.

In the beginning we learned about the open pit mining process and the federal laws that allow companies to come into our states. That the 1872 mining law needs to be challenged on a federal level. We had luck on our side when Montana voters passed I137. We were able to influence our home state about the danger of type of mining. Despite the drama, everything that needed to happen to complete this story, seemed to happen on its own.

I am grateful to have had this experience at such a young age and to have shared it with my parents and all the people in this story. Many of them are now deceased along with my parents. Through my research to document the legal side of this story, I know more now about all the issues that we were all faced with. I hope you all enjoy this story!

Chapter One

The Kitchen.

This story begins on the Fort Belknap Indian reservation in north central Montana. Home of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes. It was the late eighties, early nineties. The reservation is about fifty miles east of Havre, Montana. Tribal headquarters, referred to as the agency is a few miles from Harlem, Montana, a small farm community. Fifty miles south of the agency are the Little Rocky Mountains, they lie on the very southern tip of the reservation.

The Little Rocky Mountains stand alone on the prairie like an island, locals also refer to them as the, island mountains. The tribes were forced into signing the Grinnell agreement in 1895. From all the stories that were told by the tribal elders here.

Their ancestors were told by the U.S. government, if they did not sell their share of the mountains, they would face starvation. In the agreement the southern part of the reservation, approximately forty thousand acres of land was ceded.

Gold was discovered in these mountains by Pike Landusky and Pete Zortman in 1868. There are several small native communities along the foothills of the Little Rockies. Hays Canyon is a beautiful canyon where one can literally drive for miles along a gravel road through the canyon where the walls are solid rock. Several miles into the canyon is where the tribes conduct their sacred ceremonies, the Sun Dance and the Powwow.

The small community of Hays, Montana is at the mouth of the canyon. Fifteen miles east of Hays is a few more communities called Lodgepole and Big Warm and Beaver Creek. Fifty miles north are more small farms and ranches where tribal families live. Big Warm got its name from