Will needed for solutions

Dear editor:
For many years now, officially since 1873 but new relations date even further back in friendly barter and trade, the Ojibway Nation has co-existed with its immigrants in a manner exemplary of responsible nations.
If we take the time sincerely to understand, or at least consider, that the Ojibway Nation, by Treaty #3, opened up and influenced western migration and settlement, Canada could not be the great nation it has become today.
However, tensions do exist for many reasons. Not because of citizenry, but of government policy and failure to properly implement and administer treaties made between powerful nations. Both parties are equally responsible.
We can be proud of our local relations, sharing our lands, our resources, and our economy, but most of all our cross-culture families and relatives, be it Métis, aboriginal, or European and Asian, not to mention the aggressive but friendly sportsmanship in many fields.
This is paramount to any other issue whatever we may imagine.
We can be thankful that there is no Oka, Gustafson, or Caledonia, or the many other situations that happen elsewhere.
That is not to say the potential does not exist in our backyards. There are many in quiet process here, several in historic and costly frustrating years, others in deliberate bureaucratic manipulation, and especially within Indian industry interests.
We have Grassy Narrows First Nation mildly in open action for the past five years or more, protecting traditional lands and culture against destruction of their way of life and we should commend their resolve for all our future generations.
And they have done this as quietly as possible, true to Ojibway spirituality and respect. We should honour them.
And now, we experience the courage of the Ojibway Nation in the people of Couchiching First Nation and their leadership. Professional, peaceful, and powerful, with more to lose in personal relations among their neighbours than any of us all, they have shown us that solutions should be easy if there is a will.
And that is courage. We must honour them.
Never mind the politicians making useless noise for the next election, especially municipal in this case, stirring up its electorate and living off personal bias; the uneducated working stiff that loses a buck or two; or the media person looking to embellish or to seize on inexperienced media comments to sell a story by creating controversy from an otherwise legitimate event.
For me, I drove across the Noden Causeway four times just for the opportunity to pay a toll.
Sincerely,
Clifford Bob
Nestor Falls, Ont.