Recent articles concerning the government and the affairs of SIGA cast aspersions on the competency of the First Nations leaders and were condescending to treaty Indians.

These reports come at a pivotal time in Saskatchewan. The government, which is backed by the nuclear industry, is facing an election. It’s no secret that the industry wants permission to dump radioactive waste in Northern Saskatchewan, and would welcome legislation that makes this possible.

At the same time the government has provided millions of dollars to the University of Saskatchewan to create a Nuclear Studies Institute, giving the nuclear industry a way to infiltrate our university.

It’s exactly at this point in time it would serve both the government and the nuclear industry well to cast doubt on the Indian chiefs, with the rest of us are being forced toward the slippery, irreversible slope of ruination from nuclear waste.

Just when hunger striker Emil Bell would be urging the chiefs to sign a petition and unite to protect their treaty lands from the nuclear industry, The SP, the government and the nuclear industry have seen fit to create confusion among their ranks and steal the real focus of their fight – the preservation of their treaty lands and their homes in the forests and among the clear waters of the North.

I hope the chiefs will unite and succeed in holding strong against a dishonourable government led by a dirty industry. We should support them and vote for change in the election.

Martha Kashap

Saskatoon