IS GUSTAFSEN LAKE A SACRED SITE?
OR MORE? 100 Mile House Free Press June 28, 1995 Steven Frasher The medicine man sits in front of the rough-hewn council lodge he built for the first Sundance held here about seven years ago. His war chief sits quietly to the side. They are Shuswap traditionalists. But seated between them is their spokesman, an articulate Ontario Mohawk called Splitting-the-Sky, who heard about the Shuswap’s trouble at Gustafson Lake and came to offer his assistance. The celebration of the sacred Shuswap Sundance hasn’t often been smooth. The two square miles they identify as sacred grounds lie within privately held ranch lands of the James Cattle Co. The medicine man, the “keeper of the faith,” is Percy Rosette who, together with his war chief Ernie Archie, have been promoters of the traditional sacred ceremony. And they have been caught up in incidents that have brought unwelcome attention to their gatherings on the shores of Gustafson Lake, 35 km. west of 100 Mile House. The traditional Sundance is
