No status at gas bar

First Nations man speaks out about what he sees as unfair treatment

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A First Nations man who lives off-reserve in P.E.I. says he is treated differently because he’s not Mi’kmaq.

For instance, George Cheverie says his federal native status card is no longer recognized at the Abegweit gas bar that used to give him a full discount on fuel and tobacco. Now he just gets an HST discount.

Cheverie was born and raised on P.E.I. and is a status Soto Indian, which falls under the Ojibwe umbrella. He is not a registered member of the Abegweit First Nation.

“It’s bizarre and disgusting,” Cheverie told The Guardian about being denied a discount at the gas bar. “Our cards are irrelevant. I don’t find other First Nations groups who do this.”

The executive director and legal counsel at the Mi’kmaq Confederacy, Don MacKenzie, says not every status card is covered under federal law.

“They are not recognized under the Indian Act, no matter what they call it. It’s where the cards fit into the law or they don’t. It wasn’t a choice of the confederacy’s or the Abegweit Gas bar.”

A letter from the Abegweit First Nation states that only members of the Abegweit First Nations Band will receive the full tobacco and fuel discount. Anyone else with a proper government-issued status card can still receive the HST discount off total purchases.

Cheverie says he would like to support the confederacy, but he doesn’t feel represented there.

“It doesn’t look like a native organization, it looks like a white organization. You go to the gas bar and it’s hard to find a native person working there. It perpetuates a stereotype that we’re inept and can’t do our own work. It’s disrespectful and discouraging to native people.”

Cheverie was a board member of the Native Council of Prince Edward Island for over 25 years and has been involved in native issues all of his life. He got involved with NCPEI to represent people who live offreserve, he said.

The Guardian asked the human resources adviser for the Mi’kmaq Confederacy in Summerside about the organization’s hiring policy.

Tabatha Bernard says they put out an application to the public and look for the person best suited for the position with preference given to Aboriginal applicants as long as they are qualified for the job.

Cheverie says more can be done to reach out to aboriginal people who are not Mi’kmaq.

“I’m not alone. There are a lot of people who grew up here and their reserves are elsewhere,” he said.

“They should be building bridges between other native people, not walls.”