Negotiations during the period from November 29th through December 15th concentrated on land, membership, Lubicon self-government and construction of housing and community facilities. While apparent progress was made in each of these areas during this two week period, final agreement wasn't achieved with regard to any of them, plus other items, like socio-economic development and compensation weren't discussed at all. It was therefore mutually agreed by the Federal and Lubicon negotiating teams to continue the talks into the following week. On December 21st Lubicon representatives met with Mr. Burney and Mr. McKnight to review negotiations and make decisions about next steps. At this point a "framework agreement" on Lubicon self-government had been successfully negotiated, but there was still no agreement on land or membership, there was still no agreement on a number of basic community facilities like a health unit or community hall, and there had still been no discussion at all on socio-economic development or compensation. Mr. Burney and Mr. McKnight assured us that they'd have the membership problem solved by the following morning. They said that resolution of the land problem would have to wait until after Christmas when Provincial Lubicon negotiator McCarthy returned from holidays. Regarding still outstanding community facilities and socio-economic development projects, Mr. Burney proposed to involve officials from other Federal Departments to see what they could contribute (only officials from the Federal Department of Indian Affairs had been involved to that point). And on the question of compensation, Mr. Burney proposed to cover all of the other items on our mutually agreed agenda but ask the courts to decide compensation. We agreed to continue meetings in January but made clear that compensation would have to be an integral part of any settlement agreement. The membership problem wasn't solved the next morning, as promised by Messrs. Burney and McKnight, and resolution of the membership issue was therefore also carried over until after Christmas. On December 30 we received a letter from Mr. Burney proposing the following: "1.) During the week of January 3, 1989, that Mr. Whitehall and Mr. Lennarson deal with the sundry details of membership by telephone or fax. "2.) That during the week of January 3 and January 9, 1989, that Mr. Malone deal with surface leaseholder problems, the development of a substitute oil and gas lease (to the satisfaction of Alberta and the Band) and discuss with Alberta their involvement in a socio-economic package. "3.) Canada, the Band and Alberta establish a team to finalize arrangements to explore ways and means to obtain for the Band a socio-economic package. "4.) During the week of January 16, 1989, that our negotiators attempt to conclude on behalf of their principals any necessary details dealing with the implementation of the Getty-Ominayak (land) proposal, membership, Alternative Funding Arrangements (for funding of on-going programs and services), reserve construction, hunting and trapping compensation, and the framework agreement on self- government. "5.) On January 23, negotiators meet to reassess progress and the possibility of signing a final agreement." Noting that Mr. Burney's December 30th letter failed to mention the compensation issue, we wrote him back the same day, agreeing to his proposals for continuing work on land and membership, but reiterating our position on compensation and socio-economic development. Our letter read, in part: "While Mr. Malone might want to talk to Mr. McCarthy about Provincial Government participation in a socio-economic (compensation) fund as early as January 9th (when Mr. McCarthy returns from holiday), we would want to meet with representatives of the possibly relevant Federal Departments discussed on December 21st before meeting and/or involving their Provincial Government counterparts. Although the Provincial Government does owe compensation for damages and resources extracted from unceded Lubicon land, and although Provincial Government programs and services may ultimately prove to be of some help in meeting our on-reserve socio-economic objectives, on-reserve socio-economic development clearly remains the constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government. We would therefore propose to talk to representatives of possibly relevant Federal Departments much as we talked (before Christmas) to representatives of the various programs of the Department of Indian Affairs, about both what's possible given their respective program budgets and authorities, and also about ways to meet on-reserve socio-economic objectives which might fall outside of their normal program budgets and authorities (including, perhaps, Provincial Government participation)." Regarding Mr. Burney's suggested timetable for the signing of a final agreement, our December 30 letter read: "It should be possible to conclude agreements on land, membership and the Trapper's Support Program during the week of January 16th. It should also be possible to conclude `framework' agreements on the related issues of self-government and Alternative Funding Arrangements, where we can jointly subscribe to the implementation of certain pre-agreed principles, although we do not think that a `framework agreement' approach will work equally well in the areas of reserve construction and on-reserve socio-economic development, where all we can really do is agree to the establishment of a defined mechanism for pursuing hopefully productive talks. WE THEREFORE BELIEVE THAT THE PROGRESS WE'RE ABLE TO MAKE TOWARDS AGREEMENTS ON RESERVE CONSTRUCTION AND A SOCIO-ECONOMIC PACKAGE WILL DEPEND UPON MEETINGS WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE POSSIBLY RELEVANT FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS WE DISCUSSED ON DECEMBER 21ST, AND UPON DISCUSSIONS REGARDING COMPENSATION OR ESTABLISHMENT OF A SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (COMPENSATION) FUND (Capitalization added)." Lubicon negotiators returned to Ottawa the evening of January 15th, participated in meetings on the still unresolved membership issue on January 16th, and then received a document from Federal officials the evening of January 16th entitled "A Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band". The Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" was intended by the Federal Government to cover all remaining areas including significant short- falls in required community facilities like a community hall, construction of required community commercial enterprises like a community store, and essential economic development projects like the clearing of reserve land for agricultural purposes. Basically the Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" consisted of "A $5 Million Development Fund to be used as seed capital to lever funding from the private sector and on- going government programs". The operative paragraph in the Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" reads as follows: "The Government has conducted an analysis of 19 projects, already funded by on-going (Federal Government) programs, which are similar to those proposed by the Lubicon Lake Band. Band or individual equity in these projects accounted for 16 per cent of total project financing. Based on this experience, a $5 million development fund, if fully dedicated to economic development, should be able to lever additional amounts potentially in the order of $26 million in public and private financing". The following morning Lubicon representatives rejected the Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" as a completely inadequate and unacceptable offer to settle Lubicon land rights, and a completely inadequate and unacceptable response to detailed Lubicon proposals for once again achieving social and economic self-sufficiency. We pointed out that the Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" consisted of little more than telling the Lubicon people to apply to the endless succession of typically inadequate and unsuccessful Federal Government programs which, in most instances, Federal officials had already admitted had "no capacity" to respond to our proposals--and/or to go to the bank and borrow the necessary money to try and re-build our shattered society. We made clear that any acceptable settlement package would at the very least have to provide the Lubicon people with the basic tools we need to try and re- build our shattered society without, on top of everything else, incurring an immense debt load. We described the Federal Government's "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" as tantamount to the most blatant form of unbridled colonialism, in which a colonial power deliberately and systematically destroys the institutions and economy of a less powerful people, plunders the valuable natural resources of that less powerful people, replaces the institutions and economy of that less powerful people with a regime of subsistence programs and services designed by the invading colonial power to maintain those less powerful people in a position of continuing dependence and subservience, and then further exploits that less powerful people by loaning them money required to buy essential goods and services from the invading colonial power. Federal officials responded to our rejection of their "Special Development Plan for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band" by calling for a break to consider whether or not it would "serve any useful purpose to continue with negotiations". Following that break Federal officials indicated that they were prepared to proceed with pre-agreed meetings involving representatives of hopefully relevant Federal Departments, supposedly to see what items might be covered by such Departments under existing program authorities with already allocated funds. Meetings were then held that same afternoon and evening with representatives of other possibly relevant Federal Government Departments, including the Department of Industry, Science and Technology (DIST), the Department of Agriculture and the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission (CEIC). These meetings proved to be little more than information sharing sessions during which representatives of involved Federal Departments described their programs and services, and Lubicon representatives spelled out and answered questions about our socio-economic development proposals. On January 18th Mr. Malone announced that the Federal Government had prepared a revised proposal supposedly dealing with all outstanding matters entitled "Lubicon Lake Band Framework Agreement for Socio- Economic Development". In presenting this so-called "framework agreement", Mr. Malone said, "All of my cards are now face-up on the table". He said, "I have nothing left to offer". He said, "That's the full extent of my mandate". The socio-economic development "framework agreement" which Mr. Malone then tabled included the 5 million dollar fund offered earlier "to ensure that the Band has ongoing seed capital to lever project funding from public and private sources". It made provision for training programs but provided no facility in which to conduct that vocational training. It offered to "seek ministerial approval in principle for (up to 80%) funding (of required community commercial enterprises like a community store)" but made no commitment to fund such enterprises. And it offered to set-up and fund a "joint (Federal/Lubicon) team" to study Lubicon agricultural proposals but made no commitment to fund Lubicon agricultural proposals. On January 19th Lubicon negotiators reacted to "the cards" which Mr. Malone had placed "face-up on the table" by telling him that there were cards missing--that he wasn't playing with a full deck. We pointed out that a number of basic community facilities like a community hall and old people's home still weren't covered, that there was still no facility in which to conduct essential vocational training, that there was still no commitment to fund required community commercial enterprises like a community store, that there was still no commitment to develop reserve land for agricultural purposes and that compensation still hadn't even been discussed. Until all of these matters had been resolved, we told Mr. Malone, there'd be no settlement agreement. Mr. Malone said that he'd need to consult with his "principals" before talking further. He said, "Tomorrow's not a Lubicon day", meaning that he had other commitments. He said that he had to return to Alberta for the week-end and wouldn't be returning to Ottawa until the following Monday. He said that he'd have to consult with his Federal Government colleagues on Monday. He therefore proposed that the next meeting of the two negotiating teams be scheduled for the following Tuesday, January 24th. He said that he'd have someone phone our representatives on Monday about time and place for the proposed Tuesday meeting. Having heard nothing from Malone and Co. by 5 pm Monday afternoon, and being concerned that representatives of the Federal Government all seem to vanish about that time of day not to reappear until the next morning, we phoned Mr. Malone's contact person in the Department of Indian Affairs, a man named Coulter, and asked about time and place for the proposed Tuesday meeting. Mr. Coulter told us that a meeting had been scheduled for the following morning at 10 am. He said that the Provincial negotiating team was in town and wanted to meet with us first to discuss some "land related issues". He said that the Federal negotiating team would then be arriving about 11 am. (This was our first notice that the Provincial negotiating team was in town and would be joining us the following day. We learned later that Mr. Malone had invited the Provincial negotiating team specifically to witness the tabling of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer, which Federal officials were so sure would be rejected that they literally had press materials prepared in advance describing that rejection.) Malone and Co. arrived at 11:30 am. After making some brief remarks about a proposed community satellite dish and transmitter, Mr. Malone announced that he'd consulted with his "principals" over the week-end and had "obtained permission to present a formal, written settlement offer". He said that this "formal, written settlement offer" was based on two principles: "1.) That the offer was fair to the Lubicon people, other native people and taxpayers; "2.) That the offer provide a land base and equal treatment for the Lubicon people, which", he said, "is what the Lubicon people say they want." Mr. Malone said that the "formal, written settlement offer" which he was tabling had been read by Indian Affairs Minister McKnight and by Stanley Hartt (Mr. Burney's replacement as Prime Minister Mulroney's Chief of Staff). He said that Mr. McKnight was prepared to recommend the settlement offer to the Federal Cabinet. He said, "I want to emphasize that this is a final, `take-it-or-leave-it' settlement offer". Mr. Malone said that the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave- it" settlement offer contained "two additions" to what the Federal Government had offered previously. First, he said, the Federal Government was prepared to establish a $500,000 trust fund, which, he said, invested at the rate of ten per cent per year would generate $50,000 per year to support the proposed Trappers Support Program. Second, he said, "the offer contains a guarantee of fairness". He said that "the Federal Government can see no grounds for compensation". "However", he said, "in order to guarantee fairness, we're prepared to proceed with all aspects of settlement without prejudice to the legal rights of the Band (to sue for compensation), as long as it's understood that the things provided (in the settlement agreement) will be offset against any award by the court". Mr. Malone said, "We now have two options". He said, "We can agree to proceed (to work out the details of the final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer) and maintain the news blackout, or", he said, "we can report back to our principals for instruction as to whether or not to continue the news blackout". Our representatives told Mr. Malone that they'd have to review the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer and consult with Lubicon leaders in Little Buffalo Lake before responding. The meeting was therefore adjourned until 3 pm that afternoon. After faxing copies of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave- it" settlement offer to our office in Little Buffalo Lake, and to Lubicon lawyer O'Reilly in Montreal, Lubicon negotiators reviewed the so-called offer and consulted by phone with both the people in Little Buffalo Lake and with Mr. O'Reilly. A review of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer made clear that the offer still didn't cover a number of basic community facilities like a community hall and old peoples home, still made no provision for a facility to conduct essential vocational training, still made no commitment to fund community commercial enterprises like a community store, and still made no commitment to development reserve lands for agricultural purposes. In other words, what the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer provided was houses in which our people could live on welfare--hopelessly dependent upon the outside world for everything from feeding our children to caring for our old people--but it provided absolutely none of the things which we would need to once again become socially and economically self-sufficient in a vastly changed world. Moreover, contrary to what Mr. Malone said when he tabled the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer, the so-called offer was definitely not without prejudice to Lubicon rights to seek compensation through the courts. Rather it contained as full and final a release of all of our legal rights as could be devised by Federal Justice Department lawyers, reading, in part: "8.7 In consideration of the rights and benefits provided by this offer, the Band and such persons who are entitled to adhere to Treaty No. 8, through the Chief and Council of the Band: (a) will cede, release and surrender to Her Majesty in Right of Canada (i) all their aboriginal claims, rights, titles and interest, if any, in and to lands and waters anywhere within Canada, and; (ii) all their claims, rights or causes of (legal) action whether collective or individual which they ever had, now have, or may hereafter have, or arising out of or by reason of Treaty 8, save as hereafter specifically provided; (iii) all their claims, rights or causes of (legal) action whether collective or individual which they ever had or now have as alleged in (legal actions filed by the Lubicon people); (iv) all their claims, rights or causes of (legal) action which they ever had, now have or may hereafter have under, or arising out of or by reason of any Imperial or Canadian legislation or Order-in-Council or other action of the Governor-in-Council or Canada in relation to Metis or half-breed scrip or money for scrip; (b) will agree, on their behalf, and on behalf of their heirs, descendants and successors not to assert any cause of (legal) action, action for a declaration, claim or demand of whatever kind or nature which they ever had, may have or may hereafter have against Her Majesty in Right of Canada or any province, the government of any territory or any person based on any claim, right, title or interest described in (a)." Asked by reporters about the obvious contradiction between the full and final release contained in the Federal Government's final "take-it-or- leave-it" settlement offer, and public claims by various Federal Government representatives that the offer was made without prejudice to Lubicon rights to go to court and sue for compensation, professional Federal Government propagandist Colby said Mr. Malone had offered to re- write this section of the offer but that Lubicon negotiators had rejected that offer. Mr. Colby's a liar. Although we had earlier rejected verbal proposals to settle other issues but refer the question of compensation to the courts, Mr. Malone made no offer to re-write any section of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer. On the contrary, Mr. Malone made clear that the content of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer was not open for discussion. Moreover, and specifically regarding verbal remarks which Mr. Malone did make when he presented the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer, section 8.14 of that so-called offer speaks directly to the value of such verbal statements. Section 8.14 of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer reads as follows: "8.14 This written offer is the entire offer and there is no representation, warranty, collateral agreement or condition affecting this offer, except as expressed within." Given the clear-cut and easily understandable content of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer, and the demonstrable fact that it made no commitments in areas absolutely essential for the Lubicon people to once again become socially and economically self-sufficient, Lubicon negotiators were instructed to reject the offer. Consequently, when the meeting reconvened at 3 pm, Lubicon negotiators told Mr. Malone that the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer was unacceptable. Mr. Malone responded to Lubicon rejection of the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer by asking Lubicon negotiators, "Perhaps you can tell me, and perhaps you can tell (Provincial negotiator) Mr. McCarthy (whom Mr. Malone had arranged to have in attendance for presentation of a final "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer which Mr. Malone knew in advance would be rejected), what the Lubicon people want". Mr. Malone said, "We've been talking for 6 weeks and we still don't know what you want". Lubicon advisor Lennarson told Mr. Malone that the Lubicon people had spelled out their position of the issues repeatedly and in detail and Mr. Malone knew it. Mr. Lennarson said that he couldn't imagine why Mr. Malone would make such demonstrably untrue remarks unless perhaps he was making them for the benefit of Provincial negotiators, whom Mr. Malone had obviously arranged to have in attendance to hear those remarks. Mr. Malone said, "Tell me and tell (Provincial negotiator) McCarthy what your bottom line is on compensation". He said, "We've been talking for 6 weeks and you still haven't stated your position on compensation". Mr. Lennarson told Mr. Malone that the Lubicon people had tabled a detailed position of compensation with the Federal Government as long ago as 1985 during the Fulton Inquiry. He said that Mr. Fulton had reviewed the Lubicon position on compensation in some detail in the Fulton Discussion Paper, which he again recommended that Mr. Malone read. Mr. Lennarson told Mr. Malone that they both knew the Lubicon people had been prepared to negotiate compensation all along but that Federal officials had deliberately manoeuvred to avoid discussing compensation. He said that the Lubicon people remained willing to discuss compensation but had no intention of tabling a "bottom line" on compensation without benefit of any discussions or negotiations, because, he said, such an approach would immediately transform that so-called bottom line into the starting point for compensation negotiations. Similarly, Mr. Lennarson said, the Lubicon people had tabled a position on compensation with the Provincial Government as long ago as October 14, 1988, which Provincial officials had also avoided discussing. Provincial negotiator McCarthy said that the Provincial Government was "prepared to participate in compensation in a secondary role but want to hear what the Federal Government is prepared to do before making any commitments". Mr. Malone repeated that the Federal Government didn't think that the Lubicon people had any compensation coming, but, he said, "in order to guarantee fairness", the Federal Government's final "take-it-or-leave- it" settlement offer was without prejudice to Lubicon rights to go to court and sue for compensation. Mr. Lennarson told Mr. Malone that the Federal Government's final "take- it-or-leave-it" settlement offer was clearly not without prejudice. He compared Mr. Malone's approach to that of Government treaty negotiators in earlier times; namely making verbal promises which were then not reflected in the written documents. Moreover, Mr. Lennarson said, if the Federal Government was really serious about "guaranteeing fairness", the question of Lubicon compensation shouldn't be argued before courts established by the Canadian Government, before judges appointed by the Canadian Government and within the context of a body of law created by the Canadian Government, but should rather be argued before Lubicon courts and Lubicon judges within the context of Lubicon laws--or, at the very least, before the kind of independent three person tribunal proposed earlier by Premier Getty, where each side would appoint one judge who would then jointly appoint the third. Mr. Malone repeated that the Federal Government's written offer was final and wouldn't be changed. Lubicon negotiators told Mr. Malone that the Federal Governments final written offer wasn't acceptable. By the time our negotiators had arrived at the Ottawa airport to return to Alberta, about an hour and a half later, professional Federal Government propagandist Colby had already issued prepared statements to the press including a one page summary on the Federal Government's "take-it-or-leave-it" settlement offer which claimed that the so-called offer included things which in fact it didn't include (like a community hall and medical centre); a two page press release on the collapse of negotiations which claimed falsely that we'd agreed on land, membership, community construction and delivery of programs and services but walked out over the issue of cash compensation; and a four page "Ministerial Statement" on the so-called offer and collapse of negotiations which basically repeated the same lies told in the first two documents, adding only introductory and concluding paragraphs expressing Mr. McKnight's supposed regret that we'd not accepted an offer which he falsely claimed "directly addresses the Band's priorities", "insures that training, employment and other benefits of construction would accrue to the Band", and "compares favorably with other recent settlements". Anyone familiar with the drafting of such statements knows that these three statements weren't drafted and approved for release during the hour and a half between the time negotiations collapsed and the time our people arrived at the Ottawa airport. Immediately following release of these three obviously pre-prepared public statements, Mr. Colby started calling reporters around the country, feeding them the Federal Government's artfully crafted propaganda line on the collapse of negotiations, arranging for and granting interviews, asking for and holding meetings with editorial boards, arranging to appear on telephone talk shows and calling press conferences for himself in selected places like the Alberta Provincial Legislature. Again anyone familiar with media campaigns of this sort knows that all of this activity on Mr. Colby's part wasn't simply the result of Mr. Colby spontaneously responding to media inquiries about the collapse of negotiations, but rather involved considerable pre- planning and preparation. Two days later the Federal Government's basic three piece disinformation package on the collapse of negotiations was being mailed out to people across North America and Europe who'd in the past written the Canadian Government expressing concern about the Lubicon situation--another major effort inconceivable without considerable pre-planning and preparation. One week later the Canadian Government completed a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee asking that the Committee dismiss the Lubicon compliant, because, it said, the Federal Government's final "take-it-or- leave-it" settlement offer supposedly proved "that effective domestic remedies have not been exhausted". The Canadian UN submission included the same deliberate lies about the Federal Government's so-called offer as were being publicly disseminated by Mr. Colby, and as were also being mailed out to people who'd written the Federal Government over the years asking about Lubicon Lake. Needless to say such UN submissions aren't thrown together overnight either.