Jim Windle – Tekawennake
It appears Floyd and Ruby Montour's fight to preserve Johnson Tract land being clear-cut to make room for a medical centre, is a battle they are fighting alone. And now, due to a lack of support, it's a fight they have decided to give up on.
"Out of 13,000 people on this reserve, only Ruby and I were there to defend this land," he said Tuesday evening. "we put out a call for help and nobody came. I feel that we have no value anymore in this and it's time we call it quits."
The 70-something-year-old couple along with Wes Elliott and a handful of non-Native supporters stopped work, when clear cutting of the land at
Monday morning the Montours were back again to helplessly watch as chain saws cut down dozens more mature trees at a rate of about one a minute. Frantic calls for help fell on deaf ears and by
"We are both very disappointed," said Floyd. "This shouldn't happen after all we have been through. I know this is no popularity contest but in my heart I thought we were doing something important for future generations by protecting out land. I guess it's time we step back."
Meanwhile, in the face of everything they and others have done, a front page article in Tuesday's Expositor announcing a full scale assault on the rest of the Johnson Tract seemed to have been the last straw.
The Montours have also been on the front line on
"Everyone ahs the right to carry on and do what they can to stop this, and I hope someone does, but as for Ruby and I, we're through. We've had enough," he said.
They have both been very active since early on in the reclamation of the former
"We just can't carry on without the support of the community," he said. "As far as I'm concerned our men need to be men and protect this land, but I guess that's not the way it is."