"Indian Union to Hold Queen's Park March"

About 100 Indians are expected to join a march on Queen's Park today to demand a new Indian development agency that would be entirely outside the provincial government.

A spokesman for the Union of Ontario Indians said delegations from at least nine reserves will march from the Canadian Indian Friendship Centre on Beverley St. and demonstrate outside the Parliament Buildings.

"We're really going to make our presence known," the spokesman said.

The protest will bring more pressure to bear on John Yaremko, the minister of social and family services, who faces censure motions from both opposition parties in the Legislature this afternoon.

Yaremko was hounded by the opposition through 50 hours of debate on his department spending estimates. The critical barrage reached a climax Friday after 7 of the 10 top officials in his Indian development branch resigned claiming they were continually frustrated in trying to devise programs to benefit Indians.

One of the other three said last night he was just sitting down to write out his resignation.

Yaremko yesterday attended a Victoria Day celebration on the Six Nations reserve near Brantford, but did not publicly mention the crisis in his department and refused to discuss it with reporters.

Chief Wilmer Nadjiwan, president of the Union of Ontario Indians, worked with other Indian leaders yesterday to draft a brief he hoped to present to Premier John Robarts today. He said the Indians will present "a constructive proposal" to take the place of the development branch program.

Nadjiwan said it calls for "a lot more autonomy and decision-making" for Indians in the proposed new development branch that would be "right out of the government."

Nadjiwan resigned from the department's Indian Advisory Board May 7.

On Saturday Ontario Liberal Leader Robert Nixon also urged that administration of government programs for Indians be taken out of the government's hands and given to a special committee, including Indians reporting directly to the premier.

Two of Yaremko's officials were barred from a weekend meeting of Indian leaders in Port Arthur. The meeting was called by the Union of Northwestern Ontario Native Organizations to draft a list of grievances for Yaremko when he visits the area next month.

J.M. Dufour, director of the Indian Development Branch, was to have attended, but after he submitted his resignation the department sent two substitutes.

W.G. Smith, director of field services, and Wilfred Welldon, who advises Indian bands on setting up their own welfare administrations, were refused admittance to the meeting.

Among those present was Ralph Bruyere of the Couchiching reserve near Fort Frances, a member of the Indian Advisory Board. Bruyere said he might resign when the board meets Yaremko Friday.

Tom Kioke, 24, one of the three branch officials who did not resign last week told The Star last night he intends to quit.

Kioke, an Indian, said he could no longer carry on although the $5,200 annual salary was the most money he had ever earned.