In my opinion a decision had already been reached before the meeting got underway.  The meeting was open to the public and people were allowed to speak, but it mattered little what was said as an agreement had already been made between the two parties.

    It was agreed upon by the commissioners and Mrs. Moris’ lawyer that 3.7 acres would be sufficient to allow for all of the graves to be protected, even thought all of the graves have not yet been found.  This 3.7 acres would not be fenced in, as a fence would hinder the cultivation of the field.  It was stated that the use of little flags would be sufficient to delineate the cemetery.  The farmer, who leases the land, agreed to allow passage from the roadside stop, through his field to the graveyard.  A 4 foot wide path  was judged to be wide enough for people to walk to the graves.  There would be no structured walkway as that would hinder the cultivation of the crop around the gravesite. Thus visitors would have to walk through the grass, mud or snow depending on the weather and soil conditions.

    It was further stipulated that if the crops were disturbed on either side of the path or outside of the confines of the graveyard, the lawyer alluded to the fact that access could be denied.  Then later he stated that if the crops were damaged the farmer would have to consider  putting up a fence to prevent further damage to his field.

    While driving back home we were asking ourselves, what if the farmer ever decided that he no longer wanted people to pass through his field, he could easily say that there was damage done and how would we know if it was true?  Or how would we know if some other person took it upon themselves to damage the surrounding crops just to spoil things for the descendants.  We are in a precarious position, even though we will have access.

    We asked to have all of the graves found and year round access to the burial ground. There must be something else we can do to make our position more secure.  Do you have any ideas?  We need help from all of the friends of the Metis people and  Metis people who have relatives in the Pembina Graveyard!
 

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