After issuing notices to former Waterhen First Nation residents who were relocated to Portage la Prairie after their forced removal in 1996, informing them they would be evicted today at 11:00 a.m., it was a no-show. Spokesperson Roland Roulette explains the residents were ready to face the authorities.

Roland Roulette"This eviction process is just a diversion," says Roulette. "Manitoba and Canada really are trying to take away the focus from what happened in 1996. This is the problem. Emergency housing was given here in Portage. But the question would be, why did they give emergency housing? Maybe you can ask Manitoba and see what they say."

Roulette notes, "We're talking about judges in conflict. Two of them actually. Not only that, in 1996 the people were charged. We appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. We won. Everything was sent back down from the Supreme Court of Canada back to Manitoba to retry the people. Manitoba refused. So the question would be, why did you remove people from the reserve? Why did the RCMP storm the barricade? You can go and ask Manitoba. The problem is they can't answer it."

"They can't say to the people who went to jail for three months, 'Well, because you put up a barricade for three months. You were bad,' " Roulette continues. "They can't say that because it's slander. They could be standing on the TV right and saying, 'You know what? We have convictions right here that show they were bad.' They don't have that. And that's why we're here today. This housing issue was said in 2010 they were going to forgive all the arrears and let them continue living here if they pay rent. No, that's a cover-up. They're trying to cover up what they did in 1996. That's why they're saying that. Then you have the minister of Indian Affairs saying, 'Well that's an issue that's between Manitoba and Waterhen.' No, INAC (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) was directly involved in the reserve. The reason we're here is that they didn't do anything in 1996 to fix the corruption."

After the failure to appear at the residents' homes, Roland adds he's not sure what happened.

"The Sheriffs have not come yet, nor have the RCMP," says Roulette. "So, we'll sit and wait, I guess, and see what happens."

Residents on 4th Street NW: (L-R) Sandra Catcheway holding Dominic Sanderson, Ricky Sanderson, Beatrice Catcheway, Lena Spence, Margaret Ferland, Rachel Vermette holding Sky Myan

Lena Spence and her sister Beatrice Catcheway live on 4th Street NW in Portage in a duplex and were also served eviction notices over the same issue. Spence says everyone was given a notice without any of their names included. Several wondered if it was because of the presence of the media.

"They gave everybody notices," explains Spence. "Names were not written in the notices, and we were merely addressed, 'Dear Tenant.' We have names but they were not there. They were going to be here this morning."

Car displaying protest posters at Oak Bay