A quest for Aquash

While searching through my Globe and Mail online (thanks to their amazing non-delivery) I clicked on the National- BC tag and saw a small article on a current murder trial for he 1976 killing of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash.

Years ago I remembered watching a movie on tv about her, but had not given the topic much thought since. However, coming across this tidbit of an article led me to look further. Wikipedia has a page about her life which has a lot of great links to find out more about this fascinating women's life.

She was found outside Pine Ridge Reservation in February 1976, and was buried initially as Jane Doe due to overexposure and her hands were cut off and sent to the FBI for identification. Later her body was exhumed and she was found to have been shot in the back of the head.

How could this have been missed before? It seemed like a typical police investigation on a reservation though. I had been told of how a person on my reserve had been shot in the back of the head with a rifle and local police labeled the death as a suicide.

Anna Mae, Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia, was an activist, a mother and a prominent member of American Indian Movement. I will be ordering her DVD through NFB and remembering this woman's life.

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Peter Rosenthal, a good man

Yesterday's news about the return of Ipperwash back to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stoney Point ON was certainly blessed news.

However, the news of the co-management certainly did not seem like a complete return to me. I think that the government and the community has had enough say in what happens to the land that does not belong to them.

I also came across a Toronto Life profile on Peter Rosenthal, the lawyer who represented the Stoney Point Chippewas at the Ipperwash Inquiry. He is also presently representing Shawn Brant, Mohawk activist currently facing 12 years of jail time for his closure of the CN rail line between Toronto and Montreal.

The accumulation of all this news has really made me want to celebrate Peter Rosenthal. What a kind and generous man. He is a math professor who takes on social justice cases on the side. In the Toronto Life article by Sylvia Fraser the case he has taken on of Wyann Russo, victim of a brutal attack by her husband, is discussed. He purposely chooses cases were people may not otherwise have representation and works pro-bono.

This man works for the social justice of Ipperwash Chippewa's and battered women alike, he is my kind of man. I hope that he inspires more lawyers to do good work like he has done.

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