Lubicon Lake Indian Nation Little Buffalo Lake, AB 403-629-3945 FAX: 403-629-3939 Mailing address: 3536 - 106 Street Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4 403-436-5652 FAX: 403-437-0719 May 14, 1990 Retyped for your information is a copy of an editorial which appeared in the Calgary Herald regarding the recent U.N. Lubicon decision. The editorial provides insight into the way representatives of the Canadian Government are characterizing the decision behind closed doors in background media briefing sessions. Following the editorial is a copy of a letter to the editor from Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak reacting to the editorial. It'll be interesting to see if the Calgary Herald prints the Chief's reaction, and, if so, whether the Calgary Herald reprints the Chief's reaction in its original unedited form. ************************************************************************ Editorial - Calgary Herald, Sat. May 5, 1990 UN PLOY BACKFIRES Aside from some low-percentage bid to embarrass Ottawa, it was never clear what the Lubicon Indians thought could be gained by hauling the federal government before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The point of the exercise is even more obscure now that the panel has released its findings. True, the UN body did rap Ottawa on the knuckles for violating Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political which deals with minority groups in member nations being allowed to practise their own religion, culture and way of life. But the contravention is, at best, technical. What is far more important is that the commission, instead of chastizing Ottawa, agreed that the federal government concocted a new band, the Woodland Cree, to split and undermine the Lubicon. In fact, two commissioners said the entire matter was so contrived the panel should not have agreed to hear it. Even if the Lubicon case had been endorsed holusbolus, commission findings are symbolic and without legal or binding power. So the side trip to the Geneva-based organization again underscores the lamentable fact that negotiators for the northern Alberta band are far more interested in abstract ideology than an agreement which will benefit the poverty-stricken members of the band. Canadians want this issue settled. It has dragged on for 51 unconscionable years. Ottawa has reiterated that its generous offer based on $45 million in economic aid still stands. But when it was first presented 16 months ago, Chief Bernard Ominayak and band adviser Fred Lennarson were contemptuous, calling the package an insult. Now that their attempts to embarrass Canada on the world stage have backfired, perhaps they'll come to their senses and return to the bargaining table. This much is certain. Until somebody does, the Lubicon world will continue to be one of squalor, ill-health and narrow opportunity. *************** Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak's Response: 7 Lubicon Lake Indian Nation Little Buffalo Lake, AB 403-629-3945 FAX: 403-629-3939 Mailing address: 3536 - 106 Street Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4 403-436-5652 FAX: 403-437-0719 May 13, 1990 The Editor Calgary Herald 215 - 16th Street S.E. Calgary, AB Dear Sir/Madam: While the Lubicon people of course agree that everyone has a right to their own opinion, we also believe that responsible editorial comment should be based on facts. Your May 5th editorial on the recent UN Human Rights Committee decision finding Canada to be in violation of the civil and political rights of the Lubicon people not only ignores but misrepresents the facts. You say that Canada's violation of Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is at best a technical violation. In fact it's a real and substantial violation, with real and substantial consequences for Canada's international reputation. The UN Human Rights Committee first found that the Lubicon people couldn't achieve effective redress within Canada -- a decision of considerable significance in and of itself. Then, after broadening the cultural, religious and linguistic rights protected under Article 27 to include economic and social activities as essential parts of culture, the Committee -- in the longest decision it has ever rendered -- indisputably found Canada to be in true violation of Article 27. As a result of this UN Human Rights Committee finding Canada will now be reported to the General Assembly of the United Nations as a violator of human rights, along with other violators of human rights like South Africa, and will be reported to the General Assembly annually as a violator of human rights so long as the current situation continues. Efforts to trivialize this violation, as countries found to be in violation of international human rights standards so often do, only serve to make such violations all the more apparent and serious. You say that the Committee "gave no credence to the key complaint that the Federal Government concocted a new Band...to undermine and split the Lubicon". In fact creation of the new Band was never a "key" Lubicon complaint, and the Committee didn't dismiss recent charges pertaining to creation of that new Band because those charges lacked credibility. The key Lubicon complaint was destruction of the traditional Lubicon economy and way of life, which the Committee found in its decision to be substantiated, and charges pertaining to creation of the new Band were rather dismissed for procedural reasons regarding rights of submission. You claim that "two (Committee members) said the entire matter was so contrived that the (Committee) should not have agreed to hear it". In fact the two Committee members to whom you refer said no such thing. Rather one argued that "the right to enjoy one's own culture should not be understood to imply that the Band's traditional way of life MUST BE PRESERVED INTACT AT ALL COSTS (original text underlined)" -- something which the Lubicon people of course never asked nor hoped to achieve -- and the other made a technical legal argument, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, that all domestic recourse hadn't been exhausted. Additionally your questionable focus on the comments of these two Committee members seriously distorts the reality of the decision by ignoring the fact that the other 16 Committee members -- the vast majority -- fully supported the decision. You dismiss the Committee decision as merely "symbolic" and describe the Lubicon UN complaint as a "side trip... (which)... again underscores the lamentable fact that negotiators for the northern Alberta Band are far more interested in abstract ideology than an agreement which will benefit the poverty-stricken members of the Band". In fact the Lubicon people went to the UN only after nearly 50 fruitless years of seeking protection of our rights within Canada, and Canada has now been found in violation of an International Covenant to which Canada is a proud and often boastful signatory. The learned editors of the Calgary Herald might consider such a finding to be of little consequence, but we humbly suggest that there are some very good and substantial reasons for Canada to honour its international agreements. As for the "abstract ideology" to which you refer, we have no idea what you're talking about and frankly don't think you do either. You describe the Federal Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer as a "generous offer based on $45 million in economic aid". In fact it's neither generous, an offer of $45 million nor money for economic aid -- as anyone who has read the offer -- including Alberta Premier Don Getty -- can tell you. Presumably you arrived at this ill- informed description of the Federal Government's so-called offer the same way you arrived at your conclusions about the UN decision -- not by reading it, but by simply accepting without question the Federal Government's misrepresentation of it. Lastly you suggest that the UN decision might cause the Lubicon people to "come to (our) senses and return to the bargaining table". We would only point out that it was not the Lubicon people but the Federal Government who deliberately terminated negotiations with a surprise "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer known in advance to be unacceptable, since it made no provision for the Lubicon people to once again become economically self-sufficient, and it is not now the Lubicon people but the Federal Government who are preventing resumption of negotiations -- by refusing to discuss anything other than Lubicon acceptance of that same unacceptable so-called offer. Sincerely, Bernard Ominayak, Chief Lubicon Lake Indian Nation ************************************************************************ For more information contact web:car by e-mail or in writing Aboriginal Rights Support Group Committee Against Racism P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6