Reproduced for your continued information are some media reports about the latest developments on Lubicon Territory. ***************************************************************************** The Edmonton Journal, November 22, 1990 DAISHOWA BREAKING DEAL, LUBICON'S OMINAYAK SAYS Subsidiary's loggers will be removed, chief warns Jac MacDonald Journal Staff Writer Little Buffalo Daishowa Canada Co. Ltd. is breaking an agreement by allowing a subsidiary to log lands claimed by the Lubicon Lake band, says Chief Bernard Ominayak. "It is a violation," Ominayak said Wednesday. Loggers and equipment will be subject to removal without notice, but he declined to give details. "We can't say just exactly what we are going to do. Our intention is not to allow logging." In March 1988, Daishowa verbally agreed to stay out of the 10,000-sq.-km area claimed by the Lubicon until a land-claim agreement is settled with both the provincial and federal governments, he said. Jim Morrison, general manager of Daishowa's corporate offices in Edmonton, disagreed with Ominayak's understanding of the company's agreement with the Lubicon. Daishowa only agreed to stay out until the Lubicon concluded the so-called Grimshaw agreement with the province in November 1988, he said while confirming subcontractors for Brewster Construction Ltd. have begun clear- cutting 32-hectare stands of timber this week in an area 120 km northeast of Little Buffalo Lake. Daishowa's subsidiary, Brewster, simply has "no alternative" but to log the area, part of a forest-management area allotted to Daishowa by the province, he said. Brewster will cut spruce for stud lumber, and provide Daishowa with aspen and spruce chips for its Peace River pulp mill, he said. The company had previously said a Brewster worker found in the area by Lubicon councillor Walter Whitehead two weeks ago was acting on his own, not on company business. "Whether it was personal, or business, (the Brewster worker) certainly had a right to be there in terms of preparing for this logging activity," Morrison said, adding Daishowa "basically" hadn't changed its decision to stay out of Lubicon lands since last week when it said that it was sticking by its decision not to go into the area this year. "What (was) meant was we are not going into any new areas. That was the recognition that the company made to the Lubicon's very special situation." Brewster won't be logging new parcels of land within the Lubicon claim, but will cut in an area it has logged for the past 12 years, he said, adding "it would be a goodwill gesture not to log in the new areas." "As long as there are people logging in there, I don't think there is any goodwill gesture on anybody's part," Ominayak said. Daishowa and Brewster have acted "dishonourably" by breaking the agreement and recent public statements they would not enter the area, he said. Brewster operations south of Talbot Lake may damage his trap line which runs through the area, he said, adding cutting spruce stands will destroy habitat or martin and lynx. Morrison said company vice-president Tom Hamaoka has tried to advise Ominayak of Daishowa's intentions, but Hamaoka's calls have not been returned. Ominayak said he called Hamaoka back the vice-president wasn't available and hasn't returned his call. RCMP Staff Sgt. Lynn Julian of the Peace River subdivision said there have been no incidents with lumber cutting in the area. ***************************************************************************** Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.) Wednesday, November 21, 1990 Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News Tensions are mounting between the Lubicon Indians and logging companies. Logging companies have moved into the Lubicons' traditional area in northwestern Alberta. The Indians say the companies have no business there. They're threatening to kick them out. Byron Christopher reports. Byron Christopher, CBC News At the very heart of this dispute in land ownership. Who really owns the Lubicons' traditional territory? Two parties claim ownership -- the Lubicon Indians and the Alberta Government. The Province has given logging companies the green light to cut down trees in that area, and the companies are now doing that. Some of the wood is for the new Daishowa pulp mill in Peace River. A Band advisor, Fred Lennarson, says the Lubicon patience is wearing thin. Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Advisor For ten years the Lubicons have been trying to negotiate a settlement of their land rights while the other side has continued to exploit the resources, and things have reached a point now where if somebody doesn't draw a line someplace, all of the resources will be extracted. Christopher The confrontation is like a complicated chess game only there are more than two players. A key player is Daishowa. It owns a small company that's cutting down trees in the Lubicons' traditional area. The Lubicons have a problem with that. They say it violates an agreement they had with Daishowa that there would be no logging in the area until their land claim has been worked out, and land claim talks are going nowhere. Jim Morrison, a company official, declined to go on tape about the agreement, but he did say the company sees it differently. What it all boils down to is that trouble is brewing. Logging companies maintain they have a right to be there. And the Indians maintain they will protect their land. Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton. ***************************************************************************** Transcript of CBC TV Newsday Broadcast (11:00 P.M.) Wednesday, November 21, 1990 Larry Langley, CBC Newsday The Lubicons say their warning against logging companies is not a bluff. A showdown may be coming between the Lubicon Indians in northern Alberta and Daishowa, the operator of that new pulp mill near Peace River. One of Daishowa's subsidiaries is cutting trees on land claimed by the Lubicons. And the Lubicon Chief says the Band is determined to stop the logging. Graham Thompson reports. Graham Thompson, CBC Newsday Lubicon Indians want this logging stopped immediately. They say this land and these trees belong to the Lubicons. It's an issue that still has to be worked out under the Indians' land claim with the Alberta and Federal Governments. In the meantime, though, the Indians say no one should be logging here. The logging companies disagree and say they legally have the right to cut down trees here. The company cutting these trees will send some to its local sawmill and the rest to the new Daishowa pulp mill in Peace River. In the same area, another logging company owned by Daishowa is doing the same. That upsets the Lubicon Chief, who says Daishowa is reneging on a deal. Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation ...we've got an agreement with Daishowa not to come in here until this thing is settled. And yet, through different smaller logging companies which they have bought out or made agreements with -- they're still trying to take our trees. From our point of view, our trees aren't going to be taken. Thompson Ominayak won't say how his Band will stop the loggers, but he does not expect they'll use blockades as they did two years ago to stop oil drilling on their land...if the logging continues, however, Ominayak vows to stop it. Ominayak We've got to do something. I think they think we're bluffing. People have thought that before. Thompson Graham Thompson, CBC News, Edmonton. ***************************************************************************** Edmonton Sun, November 21, 1990 LOGGERS CUT CHIEF'S TRAP LINE DAISHOWA BLAMED by Gord Bannerman Staff Writer Daishowa Canada Ltd. is on a collision course with the Lubicon Indians after a logging firm the pulp giant owns cut roads through the band chief's trap line. Lubicon spokesman Fred Lennarson yesterday said Chief Bernard Ominayak this week discovered Brewster Construction Ltd. "had bulldozed a couple of logging roads at his trap line." AGREEMENT Lennarson said the work done by the Daishowa-owned logging company breaches an agreement the Lubicons had with Daishowa that, until Ottawa settles the tribe's land-claim dispute, there would be no logging in the 10,000-sq.-km area the band claims. "It appears from what we now know that this wholly owned subsidiary of Daishowa is proceeding to log on the Lubicon land and to provide wood to the Daishowa pulp mill in contravention of our agreement," Lennarson said. Jim Morrison, a Daishowa spokesman in Edmonton, confirmed Brewster is working in the area south of Talbot Lake, where Ominayak's trap line runs, and will be selling wood chips to the parent company's Peace River pulp mill. Talbot Lake is about 120 km north of the band's settlement at Little Buffalo, 360 km northwest of Edmonton. But Morrison contended that although Brewster is owned by Daishowa, it's operating on its own in the area as "it has during the past 12 years". Lennarson said the Lubicons are not "naive enough to believe the hand that picks your pocket doesn't belong to the body it's attached to." Ominayak has threatened to seize equipment belonging to any company that takes resources from the disputed land without getting an operating permit from the Lubicons and paying royalties to the 500-member band. $10M LOST Lennarson wouldn't say what action the band may take against Brewster. Ominayak couldn't be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Norcen Energy and Petro-Canada have lost close to $10 million in potential revenues since last November when the Lubicons forced them to close 20 oil wells on the disputed land. Spokesman said the companies have no immediate plans to reopen the wells. ***************************************************************************** The Lubicon people request that letters and phone calls and faxes of protest be sent to the following: Mr. Tom Hamaoka Vice-President Daishowa Canada Company, Ltd. 650 West Georgia Street Vancouver, B.C. V6B 4N8 Phone: 604-689-1919 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Government of Canada Ottawa/Hull, Canada Tel. 613-992-4211 FAX 613-005-0101 FAX 613-957-9553 The Hon. Thomas Siddon Minister, Indian and Northern Affairs Government of Canada Ottawa/Hull, Canada Tel. 819-995-4988 FAX 819-953-4941 FAX 819-997-0514 FAX 819-997-0268 The Hon. Jean Chretien Leader of the Opposition Parliament Buildings Ottawa/Hull, Canada Tel. 613-996-5084 FAX 613-995-5980 The Hon. Audrey McLaughlin Leader of the N.D.P. Parliament Buildings Ottawa/Hull, Canada Tel. 613-992-3602 FAX 613-996-9584 The Hon. Don Getty Premier, Government of Alberta Legislative Buildings Edmonton, AB FAX: 403-427-1349 The Hon. Ken Rostad Alberta Attorney General Government of Alberta Legislative Buildings Edmonton, AB FAX: 403-425-0307 The Hon. Robert Skelly NDP Aboriginal Affairs Critic Parliament Buildings Ottawa/Hull, CANADA FAX: 613-995-8880 The Hon. Ethel Blondin Liberal Aboriginal Affairs Critic Parliament Buildings Ottawa/Hull, CANADA FAX: 613-992-7411 The Hon. B. Hawkesworth NDP Provincial Native Affairs Critic Legislative Buildings Edmonton, AB FAX: 403-422-0985 The Hon. Nick Taylor Liberal Native Affairs Critic Legislative Buildings Edmonton, AB FAX: 403-427-3697 The Hon. Ross Harvey NDP MP, Edmonton East Parliament Buildings Ottawa/Hull, Canada FAX: 613-992-6864 ***************************************************************************** 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