Launching of The Blue Ribbon Campaign

At 12 noon June 16, 1999, Five Metis elders assembled near the Pembina Cemetery in Pembina, ND.  They were there to launch a Blue Ribbon Campaign initiated by Mare Boelter of Arizona.   Mare initiated this campaign after discovering that the graves of her ancestors were in the middle of a farmer’s field and that the public was not allowed access to the oldest cemetery in North Dakota.   She suggested that since the descendants could not get near the graves of their ancestors, ribbons could be tied to the fence to show that the loved ones are not forgotten.  Mare created a website that allowed people to send in their requests for a ribbon to be tied on their behalf.

The ribbons that the relatives requested were inscribed with the names of the deceased and with short messages of love and remembrance.  There was a teddy bear attached to the fence in remembrance of all of the children that had died there.  The elders performed the work in a reverent and loving manner using a smudge of sweetgrass and being lead by one of the elders in thoughtful meditation on the lives and deaths of these our ancestors.

The work is not over, we are going to need the support of all of the Metis and friends of the Metis in the US and Canada to write letters of protest to the Governor of North Dakota and to the County commissioners.  These mailing addresses and e-mail addresses can be found on the Pembina Cemetery website at www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/1797/    Please help us to get these people to stop the desecration of our ancestor’s graves.  We need to act quickly because they are supposed to render a decision on Tuesday, June 22.

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