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John Long a fur
trader passed through Pays Plat in 1777, as the French called it or PawGwaSheeng
as it was known to the Ojibwa people living here there are not many written
records of Pays Plat prior to his travels here.
In 1863 the
Catholic Church built a mission here as there were many people living here
at certain times of the year, some of the estimates are around 150 people from different
clans.
When the treaty was signed in
1850 Pays Plat existed but because of the crowns hurry to conduct a treaty
nobody was
informed of the proceedings as most were probably in their hunting
territories at the time and so the people here were not a part of the
treaty process in Sault Ste Marie in September of 1850 and did not sign a treaty with the crown
ceding their traditional territories to them.
The
Governments unilateral action to add the People of Pays Plat to the RST
1850 Treaty and allocated a reserve of one square mile to them although
the reserve was not confirmed until after the CPR went through the
immediate area in 1883.
In 1885 the government
recognized a Chief in Pays Plat who was Ka ba me ga sa or Joe Eagle and
the second chief was Chakask
When the CPR was built
through Pays Plat in 1883 the Church was already here
built in 1863,
later on four more right
of ways would pass through the reserve
In the late 1930's the
highway went through the reserve on the south side of the church over the
graveyard, and in the 1957 the new high way relocated south of the old
highway by about 300 feet going over the graveyard yet again.
in 1957 the first hydro
line went through the reserve and again in 1968 which was of no benefit to
the band until an agreement was made between
Ontario hydro and the band in 1991
the Chief of the Pays Plat Band was a
Custom or Hereditary Chief by the name of Louie Mushquash who passed away in the
late 1960's.
After the passing of the late
Chief, the Band was without a Hereditary Chief for a while, as the next
Custom Chief in line
was only a young boy.
Gerald Bouchard was
associated with members of the Pays Plat Band for years and was asked by
the principal men living here to be their interim Chief until whenever they
remove him.
He was appointed Chief but
the DIAND mocked an election for their purposes and so he became
the leader of the pays plat band.
When he came up with the idea
to make snowshoes he asked the original members and principal men if
they would allow him to admit people into the Band to work in the
snowshoe factory as he needed people to work in it, he said he needed them
to transfer to the band so he could get housing money, he told the
original members that the profits from that factory would go to them the
original people and they could become wealthy if they built it and it
made money
There was Great concern of
the people of what
would happen if some of the strangers that came here to work caused trouble
or hurt an Original members and Gerald told the original members principal
men that if anyone caused trouble they
could kick them out of the reserve.
These discussions although
not written are binding, they are oral agreements between those involved.
With the permission of the
original members Chief Gerald N Bouchard accepted members into the
Band to work in the upcoming snowshoe factory there were no fancy termes
on the BCR's but only verbal agreements about the terms.
The integrity of the Pays
Plat Band rests on the fact that the Original members your ancestors
were here when the right of ways went through the Reserve and your
ancestors used the territories that we call traditional territories.
these traditional lands were mapped by Don Auger in the 1990s showing
which clans controlled what territories and we got a good representation
of the traditional territories of the Band.
We are only recent additions to the reserve population
we have no ancestry here and I am speaking of the Bouchards,
Achneepineskums, thompsons, johns, Morriseau's any family that was
brought in by Chief Gerald N Bouchard and after have
no right to the claims of the original pays plat band.
It is the original members of
the Pays Plat Band that give the claims their integrity,
The Original Members must affirm their right to their traditional chief their
traditional lands and their reserve
The Pays Plat Traditional
Chief should make a claim to these trespassers (highway and cpr ) the claims
of the right of ways going through their reservation are there illegally
and they owe millions to the band.
The Original members of the
Band must reclaim their rights by recognizing their traditional chief
and their right to pursue their claims on and off their reservation to
their Traditional territories
We need to understand that we
were invited to live here, allowed to work here, to hunt fish, trap,
forage and do business in the original peoples territories, but any claims
that involve ancestry, such as ancestral lands, traditional territories,
we have no right to them and we must recognize those claims are to the original
members.
We have no right to the
original members historical claims that involve ancestry prior to the
right of ways going through the reserve.. that is why the government says
that ther are no recognition to any claims because most of us have no
Ancestry in Pays Plat.
The Original members
along with their custom chief
give the claims their integrity.
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