Lathlin lambastes chief of Cross Lake
By: Aldo Santin FP
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Oscar Lathlin said the chief of Cross Lake organized a rowdy protest against him as he tried to deliver a $1-million cheque last month.
Lathlin said supporters of Chief Jim Miswagon prevented him from leaving the community's airport to deliver the cheque to M ©tis people in the community.
"There was a lot of yelling and screaming going on so I decided to return to Winnipeg," Lathlin said.
The minister hosted a reception the following week at the legislature where the money was given to M ©tis leaders.
Lathlin said Miswagon twice prevented him from entering the community as he was campaigning in elections.
Lathlin said he believes he's being mistreated because of the band's dispute with Manitoba Hydro over compensation caused by flooding.
The Cross Lake band has received $56 million from Hydro in the last five years, Lathlin said, but added the community remains mired in poverty.
Lathlin said he suspects the funds have been used by Miswagon for lobbying efforts in the U.S. against Hydro.
"That money should have been spent on housing, social programs and economic development. That's what's frustrating me," he said.
Cross Lake is located about 520 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The community has about 7,000 residents, most of them band members but there is also a Metis group with its own council.
At the reception April 17, Lathlin gave the Cross Lake Metis the $1-million cheque for help in constructing an administration centre. He also gave $20,000 for an army cadet program.
Lathlin said Miswagon and his supporters have badly mishandled the dispute with Hydro.
He added he doesn't hesitate to criticize the chief. "I'm one of them," he said. "I tell it like it is. Under Jim Miswagon, there will be no progress and the people of Cross Lake will continue to live in poverty."
Lathlin, who was chief of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas for six years in the 1980s, said Miswagon must learn to negotiate if Cross Lake is to prosper.
"...You have to give and take. That's how we did it at OCN."
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca