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Letters
I could land an interview with Jesus and some would still complain
THE DAILY GLEANER
Letter to the editor
20 Jul 2012 12:56PM
Re: Rebuttal to previous letters questioning pow wow behaviour
I was very surprised to read another letter to the editor about my style of covering events as a blogger.
Like the other letter, the author wrote false statements about me taking pictures at the recent pow wow.
I’m not deaf. Once the emcee shouted via the PA system that no pictures were allowed, I didn’t take any pictures.
As for covering the sad death of the Gallagher brothers in May 2011, I believe that I did a wonderful job of keeping the issue alive until Roy Gallagher’s body was found. I should have been given an award for my work.
On May 20 last year, while riding my bicycle, I noticed a nice native ceremony near the St. John River at Carleton Park honoring the Gallagher brothers. I quickly left my bike and took some pictures. I was told it was private so I left the area.
But sadly, some people were upset that I blogged the ceremony. It was in a public place and there were no signs telling the public not to take pictures or videos.
This blogger was invited to cover the pow wow because the people know I take good pictures. I have the eagle eye for pictures! I might add that I spent hours posting them on my blog.
One other individual told me last evening that he was asked to leave the pow wow because some people weren’t comfortable with his picture taking.
Since some are unhappy with my work. I have removed the links of the pow wow from my blog and will no longer attend future pow wows at St. Mary’s First Nation.
Maybe it will be different 10 years from now when the natives are a little more comfortable with social media, but I don’t see this happening in the near future. I might add many natives from St. Mary’s are very supportive of my work and told me to ignore the critics. Darn shame because as I wrote on my blog that there’s nothing more beautiful than a female native in regalia. It was fun and I wish future pow wows all the best!
But all is not lost. All my videos and pictures are going to the provincial archives and will be enjoyed by citizens 100 years from now.
Bottom line? I could land an interview with Jesus and some readers of my blog would still be unhappy!
Charles LeBlanc
Fredericton
