War of the Words: Chiefs Issue Ultimatums as Grassroots Dance in Circles

"Band councils were imposed under the Indian Act not to unite our people, or to lead them in resistance, but to control them, to administer government policies, and to suppress any genuine grassroots resistance from emerging. This in itself was an act of division which created a special managerial class of Natives and led to the growth of an Aboriginal business elite whose interests are not in accord with those of real grassroots people."