NO JUSTICE GIVEN TO RUBY DENIS DESECRATION OF HER GRAVE SITE

NO JUSTICE GIVEN TO RUBY DENIS DESECRATION OF HER GRAVE SITE

Messagepar admin » Sam 5 Jan 2013 22:39

June 23, 1997
Terri Harris, Director
Indian Registration and band lists Directorate
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, North Tower
Hull, Québec
Ottawa, Ontario K1A OH4

Dear Miss Harris,

Please be informed of the following:

On June 21 1997, I was requested by the family Denis-Pollard to perform a traditional funeral service for Elder Ruby Denis Pollard according to the traditional laws of the Maliseet people. Ruby Denis Pollard was a citizen of the Maliseet Nation at Ile Verte and a band member of the Viger Indian band. Her status number was 0540025601 and her citizenship number was 1989-0015. It was her last request to be buried at Cacouna reserve like her Great Grandfather, Célestin Denis, Captain and well known Chief of the Amalécites of Ile Verte.

It is also my duty as the executor of her last wishes to inform the Traditional Maliseet Council, the Viger Indian band council, the other Maliseet communities, the Canadian and Québec Governments that this funeral service took place on the Cacouna Indian reserve in respect of traditional burial laws of the Maliseet Nation.

The funeral service took place on the Antoine Launière lot, the only lot on the reserve of Cacouna. Permission to use the lot for a funeral service and a burial place was previously granted by Antoine Launière and the Launière Family succession.

This lot was at one time occupied and owned by Celestin Denis and then by his son Edouard Denis. It is also according to the Denis family oral history the place that Célestin Denis was buried. The lot was then sold in 1918 by John Denis,son of Edouard Denis to Jos Launière because the Denis family could no longer hold title to the land on the Indian reserve as Caroline (Athanas Denis), wife of Edouard Denis was stricken from the band list for residing for more than six months a year in the United States to support her children in the fall and winter months.

The lot was then legally transferred to Antoine Launière by his father, Joseph Launiere in 1961. Antoine Launiere occupied the lot until he passed away in June of 1997. This lot is located on the ancestral territory of the Maliseet Nation were the Traditional Council of the Maliseet Nation still assert its original jurisdiction and its traditional burial laws.

I performed with great respect and dignity the traditional funeral service of Elder Ruby Denis Pollard which she had requested I comply with when it was her time for her departure from this world to join her ancestors. The funeral service was performed with the presence of Irvin Polchies, Traditional Chief and Elder from the Maliseet Nation at Woodstock, Barbara Nicholas Elder and Grand daughter of Charles Nicholas of Viger Band number 47 now living in Tobique and Paul Pollard junior son of Ruby Denis-Pollard.

About 60 peoples came to Cacouna to participate in funeral service and witness the burial of her last remains in the ground. They were Elders Eva Athanas and Jacqueline Launiere, and other citizens of the Maliseet Nation at Viger, Honorary Chief of Viger Joanne Aubin, relatives and friends from other Maliseet and Wabanaki Communities such as Peter Dana Point, Oromocto, Indian Island, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, Odanak, and Pleasant Point. Traditional Chief and the current Indian Act Chief Floyd Bernard of the Maliseet Nation in St-Basile attended the funeral service.

On that specific day, the current Abenaki Chief of Viger, Bernard Jenniss cruised many times with his car the road boarding the reserve, but he never took the time to stop and pay his last respect to this most respectable Maliseet Elder or her family. He himself was a witness to the funeral service which took place on June, 21 1997.

Elder Ruby Denis-Pollard is now resting beside her Great Grandfather Célestin Denis. The grave is located approximately 9 steps from the side door of the Denis/Launière Family house and approximately 20 steps from the paved road boarding the reserve of Cacouna. She is resting between a Mature Sumach tree and a maple tree at the upper centre part of the reserve next to the small house. A mound of stones of approximately 3 feet wide by 6 feet long framed with four hugh bolders at each corner mark the grave site. The grave is facing the St-Lawrence River and cannot be disputed or not be recognized as a traditional Maliseet grave site by the band council of Viger or the Government of Canada.

The family has the intention to install a conventional marker before the end of August of 1997, written in Maliseet. The marker will be installed at the same time the family will gather once more to perform the final steps of her traditional funeral service to commemorate the full circle of the 4 seasons following her death.

This parcel of land will remain as a sacred ground as it did in the past, under the protection of traditional burial laws of the Maliseet people. It must be respected as such by the Maliseet Indian Band Council of Viger, the Wabanaki Nations , and the governments of Canada and Quebec.

This letter dated June 23, 1997 will serve as a certificate of internment for Elder Ruby Denis-Pollard on the reserve of Cacouna located on the ancestral territory of the Maliseet Nation.

May she rest now in peace for ever and ever.

Claude Aubin,Honorary Chief
Maliseet Indian band of Viger
1309 Grande Allée
Aylmer, P.Q. J9H 5C9

WITNESSES:

HUSBAND ___________________________________Paul Pollard Denis
SON ___________________________________Tim Denis Pollard
SON ___________________________________Paul Denis Pollard
SON ___________________________________John Denis Pollard
DAUGHTER ___________________________________Carla Denis Pollard

C.C. Traditional Council of the Maliseet Nation
Maliseet Indian band Council of Viger, Tobique, Kingsclear,
Woodstock, St-Bazile, St-Mary's, Oromocto, and Houlton.
Abenaki Indian band Council of Odanak
Abenaki Indian band Council of Bécancourt
Ghislain Picard, Grand Chief, Assembly of First Nations Quebec

FURTHER BE INFORMED OF THE FOLLOWING:

It was also the wishes of Elder Ruby Denis Pollard to provide protection for the grave site of her Great Grandfather Célestin Denis buried on the reserve of Cacouna. The grave site was threatened to be disturbed and dug up by the current band council for development. For a long time she was scared of seeing the remains of her Great Grandfather dug out by a bulldozer for the development of this half acre Indian reserve proposed by the current band council of Viger.

The band council of Viger is composed strictly of Jenniss people who with other descendants of the Jenniss family used wrongful genealogy supported by Indian Affairs employees to soften the heart and open the door from this Maliseet Nation at Viger to gain membership. This permitted these non native people in just a few short years to take over the administration of the Maliseet Nation at Viger.

In order to soften the heart of the Maliseet further, and to be accepted as Maliseet under the Viger citizenship code, they stated they were related to Charles Nicholas of Tobique and a previous member of the Maliseet of Viger under the band number 47. This was wrongly supported by an Indian Affair employee and later revoked in a letter written by the registrar at Indian Affairs Terri Harris. Charles Nicholas is the father of Raymond Nicholas of Tobique. He has openly confirmed through family genealogy that the Jenniss are not related to him or his family.

The Maliseet Elders of Viger are holding papers demonstrating and proving the Jenniss were never related to the Maliseet people from any of the Maliseet Communities. The Elders of Viger and Indian Affairs hold proofs the Jenniss are not of Maliseet descent and were never tied to a Maliseet community and history.

The Jenniss and their descendants are well supported and protected by Indian Affairs employees who want to cover their mistakes. They were in 1991 seeking to live on any Indian reserve and were already refused band membership by the Abenaki, the Montagnais and the Maliseet of Tobique. They came from the general 816 list kept by Indian Affairs Canada.

Now in control of the Viger Band Council, the Jenniss demonstrated many times by occupying with a trailer and digging a permanent well on the lot of Cacouna legally owned by Antoine Launière, that they are not of Maliseet descent. They refused to recognize the Maliseet oral history and the private property owned on the Cacouna reserve by Elder Antoine Launière, and the uses of Cacouna for Maliseet traditional activities. It is well known by all Maliseet descendants of Viger that Cacouna was used as a political, social, cultural and sacred ground since the turning of the century, and shall remain as such in respect of all the Maliseet ancestors.

June 23, 1997

Mr. Robert Sauvé
Associate Deputy Minister
Secrétariat aux affaires Autochtones
875 Grande Allée Est, 2 ième étage
Québec, Province de Québec
G1R 5W5

Dear Mr. Sauvé,

Please be informed of the following:

On June 21 1997, I was requested by the family Denis-Pollard to perform a traditional funeral service for Elder Ruby Denis Pollard according to the traditional laws of the Maliseet people. Ruby Denis Pollard was a citizen of the Maliseet Nation at Ile Verte and a band member of the Viger Indian band. Her status number was 0540025601 and her citizenship number was 1989-0015. It was her last request to be buried at Cacouna reserve like her Great Grandfather, Célestin Denis, Captain and well known Chief of the Amalécites of Ile Verte.

It is also my duty as the executor of her last wishes to inform the Traditional Maliseet Council, the Viger Indian band Council, the other Maliseet communities, the Canadian and Québec Governments that this funeral service took place on the Cacouna Indian reserve in respect of traditional burial laws of the Maliseet Nation.

The funeral service took place on the Antoine Launière lot, the only lot on the reserve of Cacouna. Permission to use the lot for a funeral service and a burial place was previously granted by Antoine Launière and the Launière Family succession.

This lot was at one time occupied and owned by Celestin Denis and then by his son Edouard Denis. It is also according to the Denis family oral history the place that Célestin Denis was buried. The lot was then sold in 1918 by John Denis, son of Edouard Denis to Jos Launière because the Denis family could no longer hold title to the land on the Indian reserve as Caroline (Athanas Denis), wife of Edouard Denis was stricken from the band list for residing for more than six months a year in the United States to support her children in the fall and winter months.

The lot was then legally transferred to Antoine Launière by his father, Joseph Launiere in 1961. Antoine Launiere occupied the lot until he passed away in June of 1997. This lot is located on the ancestral territory of the Maliseet Nation were the Traditional Council of the Maliseet Nation still assert its original jurisdiction and its traditional burial laws.

LIST OF LETTERS TO BE ATTACHETO EACH C.C.
LETTER OF TERRI HARRIS STATING THE MISTAKE.
LETTER FROM JIM ALLEN STATING THAT THE JENNIS ARE NOT REGISTERED IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING BANDS
LETTER OF BRADLEY STATING THE JENNISS ARE ABÉNAKI
BILL OF SALE FROM DENIS TO LAUNIERE (PAUL MARQUIS, NOTAIRE)
REGISTRATION FRON JOS TO ANTOINE 1961 ( PAUL MARQUIS, NOTAIRE)
AFFIDAVIT OF RAYMOND NICHOLAS
DEATH CERTIFICATE FROM RUBY.
LETTER GIVING PERMISSION TO USE CACOUNA FOR FUNERAL SERVICE
COVER LETTER FROM THE POLLARD
PLEASEFIND ENCLOSED A COPY OF A LETTER AND ATACHEMENT SEND TO iNDIAN AFFAIR AND THE GOVERNEMENT OF QUÉBEC

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