Canadian Press
Brandon Sun
July 9th, 2007
FORT QU'APPELLE, Sask. (CP) - A Saskatchewan First Nation wants construction halted near an ancient aboriginal burial site after an animal bone was recently found there.
Contractor Marvin Golemba is building two evaporation pools, part of the lagoon expansion in the Rural Municipality of Fort Qu'Appelle. The pools are being built near the boundary of Standing Buffalo First Nation.
He said the RCMP had the bone examined and a town secretary told him it was that of a buffalo, so he kept working.
But band officials say they want the digging stopped because the area contains an ancestral aboriginal burial site, dating back generations.
A provincial government archeologist found three partial skeletons in the area in 1982 and since then it has been classified as a ancestral burial site.
On Sunday, the band asked the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Whitecap First Nation to help them to try to delay construction.
Band lawyer Mervin Philips said a provincial official with the Heritage branch told them last week the government will not stop the digging.
Government and RM officials could not be reached for comment.
Golemba said he will continue construction but will shift to other parts of project away from area that has caused the controversy.