Bury the hatchet on Plains battle, natives advise

Finally, someone is talking sense about 1759. Having watched the history buffs slug it out rhetorically with Quebec sovereigntists, the Huron-Wendat First Nation of is offering to perform a hatchet-burying ceremony on the Plains of Abraham, where a federally supported group had planned to re-enact the 18th-century battle that led to the conquest of New France. The re-enactment was cancelled due to nationalist outcry, and tempers have been thin ever since. It’s fun to think of the natives’ offer as mockery: if we can let this kind of thing go, they seem to be saying, why can’t you? But the aboriginals appear serious, saying their ceremony—which would include some sort  of treaty—would be modeled on the 1701 Grande Paix de Montréal, between France and 39 First Nations. "A treaty," says Konrad Sioui, grand chief of the Huron-Wendats, "would be a beautiful way to bring people together." Kumbaya, chief. Kumbaya.

The Gazette