friends and family of Taylor and the victim discuss
the case for six hours before deciding to banish
Taylor to an uninhabited island near La Rouge for
one year. Food will be delivered to the island once
a month, but otherwise Taylor will have no human
contact during his banishment. The unusual pun-
ishment emerges from a growing movement among
Canadian Natives appalled by the high number of
Natives serving time in prison. They hold that, fol-
lowing their traditions, Native lawbreakers should
receive alternative sentences determined by the peo-
ple of their communities.
June
Disney’s Pocahontas premieres.
Walt Disney Studios releases Pocahontas, an animated
theatrical feature film about the life of the daughter
of Chief Powhatan and her contact with the Virginia
colonists in the early 17th century (see entry for DE-
CEMBER 1607). Although well received by the general
public and critics, many Indians take exception with
the film’s disregard for the known historical facts about
Pocahontas. In the movie, she meets the English as
a beautiful woman, whereas the actual Pocahontas
was no older than twelve at the time. The plot also
resurrects the legend of Pocahontas as an eroticized
helpmate of the colonists—a popular 19th-century
representation used to imply that “good” Indians en-
couraged whites to overrun their lands.
June 24
The Jemez Pueblo field criticism over
the gallo.
The annual St. John the Baptist Day celebration
at Jemez Pueblo is closed to the public following a
campaign of animal-rights groups against the gallo,
or rooster pull. During this ritual, which probably
originated with the Spanish conquistadores, men
named John or Juan honor their patron saint by
sacrificing a rooster. The rooster is buried up to its
neck in the ground of the pueblo square. On horse-
back, gallo participants compete to be the first rider
to grab the rooster’s head, which is often torn off
from its body. The Pueblo believe that the blood
from the rooster fertilizes and renews the earth.June 30 to September 17Native activists take over Gustafsen Lake.
A group of Natives began occupying a site sacred
to the Shuswap on Gustafsen Lake, in British Co-
lumbia. The activists came to the sacred grounds to
protect Percy Rosette, a Shuswap spiritual leader.
The legal owner of the site, Lyle James, a non-In-
dian rancher, had given Rosette his permission to
hold a Sun Dance at Gustafsen Lake in early June.
When Rosette later refused to leave the area, how-
ever, he was harassed and threatened by James’s
ranch hands. The activists are also angered by the
Canadian government’s delay in settling the land
claims of British Columbian Natives.
On September 11, two and a half months into
the tense standoff, a pickup truck carrying several
activists is blown up by a device planted by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The incident
leads to a 45-minute gunfight between the Natives
and 400 heavily armed officers. The activists sur-
render six days later.September 4 to 12The Chippewa occupy Ipperwash Park.
Claiming that the land belongs to them, about 30
Chippewa activists take over the Ipperwash Provin-
cial Park on the shore of Lake Huron in southwestern
Ontario. Two days later, one of the occupiers, 38-year
old Anthony “Dudley” George, is shot to death by
police. The protest ends after the Canadian govern-
ment on September 12 agrees to return the disputed
area to the tribe and to fund an environmental
cleanup of the site. (See also entry for MAY 1997.)November 11The Navajo Nation dedicates a memorial
park to Navajo (Dineh) war casualties.
At the Navajo (Dineh) capital of Window Rock,
Arizona, a ceremony is held to dedicate the Navajo