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 November 04, 1990 Enclosed for your information are copies of newspaper articles on continuing tension in the Lubicon area. Regarding Lubicon efforts to prevent large-scale logging of unceded Lubicon lands prior to settlement of Lubicon land rights, Alberta Provincial Forestry Minister LeRoy Fjordbotten told reporters that the Lubicons have "no right" to block logging on unceded Lubicon lands. He claimed that unceded Lubicon land rights "has nothing to do" with what he calls Lubicon "land entitlement". He defined Lubicon "land entitlement" as the 95 square mile piece of traditional Lubicon lands proposed for a Lubicon reserve. And he implied that the Lubicon people only had land rights over this 95 square mile piece of land proposed for a Lubicon reserve. As usual Mr. Fjordbotten either doesn't know what he's talking about or he is deliberately obfuscating the situation. Actually unceded Lubicon land rights have everything to do with so-called Lubicon land "entitlement". And in fact the Lubicon people have every right to assert their legitimate jurisdiction over their entire 4,000 square mile traditional territory -- even under Canadian law. Under the Royal Proclamation of 1763 -- the operative legislation for the taking of aboriginal land in Western Canada -- aboriginal nations are recognized to exercise jurisdiction over their traditional lands unless and/or until a treaty is negotiated between such aboriginal nations and the British (later Canadian) Crown. Typically these treaties provide for the transfer of land rights over vast tracts of aboriginal land in exchange for smaller pieces of land "reserved for the Indians" -- so-called Indian reserves -- and specified rights and benefits. Until such a treaty is negotiated, however, the aboriginal nation retains sovereign rights over all of the land which it historically used and occupied. No treaty has ever been negotiated with the Lubicon people. The Lubicon people therefore retain unextinguished aboriginal land rights to their entire 4,000 square mile traditional territory --not just the 95 square mile area proposed for a Lubicon reserve. Moreover the Lubicon people will continue to retain jurisdiction over their entire traditional territory at least until a negotiated settlement of Lubicon land rights has been achieved. Under these circumstances the relationship between unceded Lubicon land rights and so-called Lubicon "entitlement" to reserve lands is direct and clear. Similarly clear is the right of the Lubicon people to assert jurisdiction over their unceded traditional lands. As for the other elements of an over-all settlement -- the rights and benefits part -- Alberta Provincial Attorney General Ken Rostad says that the Lubicons should "get on with building their reserve and let the courts settle financial and other outstanding issues on the land claim". On this score he definitely knows better. Aside from the obvious point that Canadian Courts (established by the Canadian Government under laws created by the Canadian Government and operated by judges appointed by Canadian Government) have proven incapable of providing fair and independent adjudication of disputes between Canadian Government and aboriginal people, Mr. Fjordbotten was represented from the very beginning in discussions between the Lubicons and the Province. The Federal Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer was fully vetted during those discussions between the Lubicons and the Province. Mr. Fjordbotten therefore couldn't help but be informed about the contents of the Federal Government's so-called offer, and anybody who knows anything about the Federal Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer -- including Alberta Premier Don Getty -- knows that it's not a serious offer which would enable the Lubicon people to "get on with building their reserve". Lastly Mr. Fjordbotten played his long anticipated "aboriginal card", charging that the Lubicon people are "jeopardizing" aboriginal jobs by seeking to protect Lubicon lands from massive logging activity. More along these same lines is expected shortly from both levels of Canadian Government, since it's now known that they've been working cooperatively for some time to try and involve aboriginal people in the forestry industry. Involving typically poor, unemployed aboriginal people in the forestry industry is neither particularly tough nor expensive. It comes under the general rubric of economic development and will likely consist primarily of helping to set-up small logging and sawmill operations required to feed the mammoth, multi-million dollar Japanese pulp mills. The aboriginal people who become so involved in the forestry industry will be assured that the environment upon which they've depended for countless generations will be protected. In any case, they'll be told, logging is going to proceed no matter what they do and they might as well receive some of the economic benefits. In addition, of course, some people are just simply for sale cheap. Such aboriginal involvement in the forestry industry will then be used to divide both aboriginal people and their potential allies in the environmental movement. It will be used to argue that logging is not destroying aboriginal societies but is rather providing aboriginal people with jobs. And it will be used to argue that environmentalists are trying to deny desperately needed jobs for unemployed aboriginal people. ***************************************************************************** #1, Article in October 30, 1990, Edmonton Sun LUBICONS THREATEN LOGGING COMPANY by Gord Bannerman Staff Writer The northern Alberta Lubicon band is threatening to disrupt operations of a logging company that sold wood chips to Daishowa Canada Ltd.'s Peace River pulp mill. Lubicon spokesman Fred Lennarson yesterday said Chief Bernard Ominayak has targeted Buchanan Lumber of High Prairie, which is cutting logging roads on disputed land claimed by the 500-member band. "What they're doing is they're cutting spruce trees and using them in their sawmill. Whatever they don't take, they're stacking and leaving for Daishowa," said Lennarson. "They're not going to allow that logging to proceed," Lennarson said. But he refused to say what actions the Lubicons are considering against the company's operations about 50 km northeast of the band's settlement at Little Buffalo, which is 360 km northwest of Edmonton. Ominayak couldn't be reached for comment. Lennarson said Daishowa and its logging contractors have a deal with the Lubicons not to log within the 10,000-sq.-km disputed area around Little Buffalo for a year or until Ottawa negotiates a land settlement. He said the band considers Buchanan Lumber a Daishowa contractor, although the company's owner Gordon Buchanan denies that. "We have absolutely no affiliation with Daishowa," Buchanan said yesterday. He said there's no deal to stack aspen for Daishowa, but admitted his company sold wood chips to the pulp giant last year and said it may do it again this year. Daishowa spokesman Wayne Crouse wouldn't comment on the issue and directed questions to the company's vice-president Tom Hamaoka, who didn't return a phone call yesterday. ***************************************************************************** #2, Article in October 30, 1990, Edmonton Journal FIRM BUILDING ROAD ON LUBICON-CLAIMED LAND Jac MacDonald Journal Staff Writer Edmonton A logging company is going ahead building winter roads to harvest lumber in Lubicon-claimed territory, a Lubicon Lake band spokesman says. "They are in there. It appears that they are making a road -- pre- construction of a winter road," band councillor Steve Noskey said Monday. The company is preparing access routes to timber-cutting areas allotted by the province, Noskey said. A winter road has been extended about five km in the past two-and-a-half weeks, he said. Noskey said he is trying to reach representatives of the company which he believes is a subcontractor for Buchanan Lumber of High Prairie. "I would think they have sense enough to get a hold of the band and see if we can sort this out in a peaceful manner," he said. If the loggers continue their work inside Lubicon-claimed territory, "there will be action taken by the band," he said. Representatives of the logging company could not be reached for comment. Neither Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak nor Buchanan Lumber spokesman Gordon Buchanan could be reached for comment. The band announced earlier this year that it would not permit any resource extraction inside the 10,000-square-km territory it claims as its traditional hunting and trapping area until it can settle its land claim with the federal government. ***************************************************************************** #3, Article in October 26, 1990, Windspeaker LUBICONS PREPARING FOR "ACTION ON THE GROUND" by Amy Santoro Windspeaker Staff Writer Peace River, Alta. The Lubicon Lake Indian Band is preparing for direct action "on the ground" to protect its traditional land, says Lubicon advisor Fred Lennarson. He says the band has no other option because it faces destruction as a society. Lennarson says the Lubicons hope to avoid violence "but when you have morons on the other side someone is liable to get hurt. "We have to do something. The government is waiting to see if we have any capability left," he says. Chief Bernard Ominayak would not release details of the plan saying it would jeopardize the band's position. Daishowa Canada, whose Forest Management Agreement (FMA) lies within the Band's land claim, announced it would postpone logging in the area until at least next year. But a subsidiary, Brewster Construction of Red Earth, along with Boucher Brothers Lumber of Nampa, are both scheduled to start logging on the disputed land as soon as the land freezes in mid-November -- and that is what has the chief concerned. "If we allow them to clear-cut, we may as well sign our death certificates," says Ominayak. "We won't let anything happen until our claim is settled." But Ominayak says he does not hold out much hope for a negotiated settlement with the current Conservative governments. Negotiations broke down with the federal government in January 1989 and talks with the province broke off in June 1990. When the provincial government and the Lubicons could not agree on a draft settlement, the province suggested the Lubicons support an independent three-person tribunal as proposed by Premier Don Getty in 1988. But that attempt failed when the parties disagreed on the members of the tribunal. Ominayak says the only reason the government suggested arbitration was to prevent the Lubicons from taking action by giving them some hope of a settlement. He says if both levels of government had the political will to negotiate, "we could have this matter resolved, but the governments aren't going out of their way to understand our position". Bob Hawkesworth, Alberta New Democrat Native affairs critic, says the government "is in bed with Daishowa and will do what it takes to keep the company satisfied." The 4,000 square mile Lubicon land claim lies within the pulp company's FMA, which puts Daishowa's source of timber at stake. ***************************************************************************** #4, Article in October 31, 1990, Edmonton Sun LUBICONS' THREAT DISMISSED FJORDBOTTEN SAYS LUMBER COMPANY HAS RIGHTS by David Quigley Staff Writer The Lubicons have no right to threaten to halt logging on land they are claiming and are also jeopardizing natives' jobs, says LeRoy Fjordbotten, minister of Forestry, Lands and Wildlife. The 500-member northern Alberta Indian band has vowed to take unspecified action against Buchanan Lumber of High Prairie, which is building logging roads into an area about 50 km northeast of the band's settlement at Little Buffalo, 360 km northwest of Edmonton. But Fjordbotten said yesterday the lumber company is not building roads on Lubicon land. "The Lubicons are claiming a very large portion of northern Alberta and the area that they're claiming has nothing to do with their land entitlement," said Fjordbotten. "And Buchanan Lumber has been there for many years, employs a lot of High Prairie-area natives and has every right to cut trees in that area," he said. The Lubicons are claiming a 10,000-sq-km area around Little Buffalo as their traditional hunting and trapping land. Daishowa Canada Ltd., which operates a giant pulp mill at Peace River, has decided not to log in the disputed area for a year or until the band and the federal government reach a settlement on the Lubicons' 50-year-old land claim, according to band spokesman Fred Lennarson. While Fjordbotten understands the Lubicons are striving to resolve the land claim issue, "they certainly shouldn't be stopping the businesses in High Prairie that employ a lot of native people from doing the job that they have to do." Last year the band rejected a federal settlement offer of $45 million on a 246-sq-km reserve. The Lubicons want $167 million in economic compensation. ***************************************************************************** #5, Article in November 01 1990, Edmonton Journal MINISTER BACKS LOGGING ON LUBICON-CLAIM LAND LUMBER FIRM ENTITLED TO HARVEST, FJORDBOTTEN SAYS Roy Cook and Jac MacDonald Journal Staff Writers Edmonton A High Prairie lumber company has every right to harvest timber on lands claimed by the Lubicon Indian band, Alberta's forestry minister says. LeRoy Fjordbotten said Tuesday that instead of interfering with local industries, the band should resume negotiations with Ottawa to settle its long-standing land claim. "The Lubicons are claiming a very large portion of northern Alberta and the area that they're claiming has nothing to do with their land entitlement. Buchanan Lumber has been there for many years. It employs a lot of native people in the High Prairie area and has every right to cut trees in that area," he said. However, Buchanan Lumber, which has been building a winter road to provide access to timber-cutting areas has scuttled its plans to log this winter. Its road infringes on the 10,000-square-km which the band claims is its traditional hunting and trapping area. "I have changed my mind about going in there. Even with police protection, it wouldn't help," said Nick Olanski, owner of Olanski and Sons Contracting of High Prairie. Olanski said Tuesday that he changed his plans to log spruce and aspen in the Lubicon-claimed lands after talking to band councillor Steve Noskey Monday evening. "According to Noskey, he said they will stop the logging one way or another," Olanski said. "I don't want to put my equipment in there and if something happens, it is going to cost a lot of money," he said. Olanski said he was about to go in and harvest spruce on behalf of Buchanan Lumber of High Prairie, which holds an Alberta Forest Service timber-cutting license for the area. Buchanan owner Gordon Buchanan and Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Olanski said he offered to enter the area if Buchanan offered to reimburse him for any damages or losses to equipment. "I told him we could go in there if he is responsible for everything. He said he couldn't do that." The decision to abort logging this winter will throw 10 to 15 people out of work because there is nowhere else available to log, Olanski said. He said he and others in High Prairie are not happy with the Lubicon decision. "People in the area are feeling the pinch now and they don't think much about this Indian uprising they have. That is all they talk about in town," he said. Olanski said his company was also told by the province that it had to cut down and pile aspen in the same area as a condition of its timber cutting permit. The aspen would have been purchased by Daishowa Canada Co. Ltd. as part of conditions laid down by the province, said Daishowa general manager Jim Morrison. "Because it is salvageable wood, it is not of significant volume to be of concern to us," Morrison said. Attorney General Ken Rostad said Tuesday if the band tried to block the road using illegal means, the province will send in the RCMP. "The laws of Alberta are for all Albertans. If somebody breaches them, we have a duty to take action against those people. But I would hope it wouldn't come to that." He called on the band to get on with the task of building its reserve and to let the courts settle financial and other outstanding issues of the land claim. Daishowa, which operates a pulp mill, has agreed not to log on the disputed lands until the and claim is settled. Fjordbotten said he's frustrated because the Province's attempt to mediate between Ottawa and the band have put it in the middle of the dispute. "The Lubicons and Ottawa have to get together and resolve it. The Lubicons have to be realistic and fair in what they're asking for and I think the federal government should be fair with them as well." "We're helping them in every way that we possibly can to resolve their land claim...But in the mean time, they can't claim a whole part of northern Alberta as part of their traditional land and stop people from doing the job that they have to do," he said. Fjordbotten told a legislative committee on the Heritage Fund Tuesday that the province may help the Lubicons and other bands with reforestation on their reserves. ***************************************************************************** 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