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 December 04, 1990 On November 30th Norcen Energy Resources issued a "news release" announcing Norcen's intention to re-start 18 oil wells located on unceded Lubicon lands. This so-called Norcen "news release" is in fact a skilfully prepared public relations missile intended to rationalize and justify Norcen's continued theft of unceded Lubicon resources. Entitled "SHUT-IN WELLS NOT HELPING LUBICON NEGOTIATIONS", the Norcen "news release" argues basically that Norcen shut-in the wells "in response to the Lubicon Band's stated intention to dismantle operating wells on unceded Lubicon territory owned by (Canadian Federal Government oil company) Petro- Canada or in which Petro-Canada has an interest". It says that the Band threatened to "dismantle" the wells "in order to get a resumption of stalled land claim negotiations". It says that "the Band and both levels of (Canadian) Government have said the shut-in wells are having no impact on the negotiations which are stalled once more." It says that keeping the wells shut-in is costing millions of dollars. And it says that Norcen therefore "plans to resume production over the next two weeks from 18 oil wells in the Lubicon Lake area...which have been shut-in since November 30, 1989". In fact the Lubicon people didn't threaten to "dismantle" the wells "in order to get a resumption of stalled land claim negotiations", and Norcen didn't shut-in those wells "in response" to such a threat. The Lubicon people acted to enforce legitimate Lubicon jurisdiction over wells in which Petro-Canada has an interest because the Canadian Federal Government is unwilling to negotiate a settlement of Lubicon land rights -- leaving the Lubicon people with little choice but to assert or effectively cede legitimate Lubicon jurisdiction over unceded Lubicon lands. And Norcen responded to Lubicon assertion of jurisdiction by shutting-in the wells rather than recognizing legitimate Lubicon jurisdiction over unceded Lubicon lands. Specific reactions to statements and claims made in the Norcen "news release" are as follows: The Norcen "news release" says "The Lubicon Indian Band...(has) ...been advised of Norcen's decision (to re-start the wells)". What this statement means is that the Lubicon people received a copy of the Norcen "news release" along with the media. The Norcen "news release" says that "The wells...were shut-in in response to the Lubicon Band's stated intention to dismantle... wells...owned by Petro- Canada or in which Petro-Canada has an interest". In fact the Lubicon position is that wells in which Petro-Canada holds an interest are required to recognize legitimate Lubicon jurisdiction -- by taking out appropriate Lubicon leases, licences and permits -- or such wells will be subject to removal as unauthorized projects on unceded Lubicon land. Norcen refused to recognize Lubicon jurisdiction, asking if the involved well installations would be removed if they were shut-in. The Lubicon people agreed to allow shut-in Norcen well installations to remain on unceded Lubicon land so long as there was no further effort to illegally extract Lubicon resources. The Norcen "news release" claims that "The Band says the action (Lubicon assertion of jurisdiction) was taken in order to get a resumption of stalled land claims negotiations". Band representatives have said no such thing. Rather Lubicon representatives have consistently and from the very beginning said that Lubicon assertion of jurisdiction is the only available alternative to a negotiated settlement of the jurisdictional dispute. The Norcen "news release" quotes Norcen Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Barry Cochrane as saying "the decision (to re-start the wells) was made because the shut-in wells are not helping anyone". He is quoted further as saying "The Band and both levels of government have said the shut-in wells...are having no impact on the negotiations which are stalled once more". Mr. Cochrane misses the point -- not likely by accident -- and again misrepresents the Lubicon position. By definition wells operating on unceded Lubicon territory under Canadian Government authorization undermine Lubicon land rights, just as wells operating in Canada under U.S. authorization would undermine Canadian land rights. Conversely wells operating under Lubicon authorization constitute recognition and support for Lubicon land rights, just as wells operating under Canadian Government authorization constitute recognition and support for Canadian land rights. Put in the most favourable possible light, the shutting-in of the wells by Norcen was an effort to avoid taking sides in the on-going jurisdictional dispute between the Lubicons and both levels of Canadian Government. Similarly re-starting the wells under Canadian Government jurisdiction exposes the people at Norcen for who and what they are -- clearly placing Norcen on the side of those who are seeking to complete destruction of the embattled Lubicon society in order to have unrestricted access to Lubicon lands and resources. Moreover no Lubicon ever said "the shut-in wells...are having no impact on the negotiations". Mr. Cochrane and his colleagues just simply made that one up to help construct their transparently fallacious argument in support of re-starting the 18 wells. Lastly Mr. Cochrane makes the irrelevant point that the shut-in wells are located "outside designated reservation lands". The relevant point is that there is no Lubicon reserve and won't be until there's a negotiated settlement of Lubicon land rights over the entire unceded traditional Lubicon territory. And until there's a negotiated settlement of Lubicon land rights over the entire unceded Lubicon traditional territory, the shut-in wells are clearly and indisputably located INSIDE unceded Lubicon lands. Enclosed for your information is a copy of Norcen's "news release" and related materials. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #1: Norcen Energy Resources Limited News Release Friday, November 30, 1990 Attention: Business Editors SHUT-IN WELLS NOT HELPING LUBICON NEGOTIATIONS CALGARY: Norcen Energy Resources Limited plans to resume production over the next two weeks from 18 oil wells in the Lubicon Lake area of northern Alberta which have been shut-in since November 30, 1989. The Lubicon Indian Band and the federal and Alberta governments have been advised of Norcen's decision. The wells, operated by Norcen, were shut-in in response to the Lubicon Band's stated intention to dismantle operating wells on "unceded Lubicon territory" owned by Petro-Canada or in which Petro-Canada has an interest. The Band has said the action was taken in order to get a resumption of stalled land claim negotiations. Barry D. Cochrane, Norcen's Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, said "the decision was made because the shut-in wells are not helping anyone -- the Band and both levels of government have said the shut- in wells, which are outside designated reservation lands, are having no impact on the negotiations which are stalled once more." Prior to being shut-in, production from the wells averaged 1,230 barrels of oil per day. Estimated foregone revenues since November 30, 1989, to date are $10.8 million, including $2.1 million in provincial royalties. Norcen's share of the shut-in daily production is 450 barrels and $3.2 million in foregone revenues. For further information: Ian Seph, Manager, Public & Government Affairs (403) 231-0106. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #2: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (12:30 P.M.) Friday, November 30, 1990 Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News Norcen Energy Resources says it will resume production of 18 oil wells on land claimed by the Lubicon Indians in northern Alberta. The wells are jointly owned with Petro Canada. They have been shut down for a year, after the Lubicon Indians threatened to dismantle the wells. Norcen says it's cost the two oil companies almost eleven million dollars in foregone oil revenues. Norcen says the Band said that closing the wells would help get the stalled land claim talks going again but that hasn't happened. Norcen says keeping the wells shut down is not helping anyone. The wells will be started up again over the next two weeks. A few minutes ago the Lubicon Indians vowed to defend their traditional territory as best they can. An advisor with the Band, Fred Lennarson, says the Lubicons can't hope to match the power of the police and the army, but he says the Band's traditional territory is huge -- 10,000 sq.-km -- and it will be difficult for the Canadian authorities to defend all of it. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #3: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (4:30 P.M.) Friday, November 30, 1990 Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News Trouble is brewing between the Lubicon Indians and a Calgary oil company. Norcen Energy Resources announced today it plans to re-open 18 oil wells on the Lubicons' traditional land. The wells were closed a year ago after the Lubicons threatened to take them apart. The Band was trying to pressure Ottawa to settle its land claim. Ian Seph, an official with Norcen, explained why the company decided to re-open the wells. Ian Seph, Norcen Energy Resources During the past year both levels of government and the Lubicon Band have said that the shut-in wells are having no positive impact on the negotiations. They're not helping the Lubicon negotiations. Jarmicka Norcen operates about 55 wells in the disputed territory. Its shut-in wells are jointly owned with Petro Canada. Norcen says the shut-in cost the two oil companies eleven million dollars in foregone revenues. Seph says Norcen may try re-opening the wells around the middle of next week. The Lubicons say they'll do everything in their power to protect their land. They say there are many oil wells spread out over a large area and it will be difficult for the police or the army to protect them all. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #4: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.) Friday, November 30, 1990 Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News There could be another stand-off involving the Lubicon Indians in northwestern Alberta. Norcen Energy says it will soon re-open 18 wells in territory used for hunting and trapping by the Lubicon. The company shut down the wells nearly a year ago after the Indian Band threatened to take them apart. The Indians still say they'll do whatever they can do shut down the wells. Byron Christopher has the story. Byron Christopher, CBC News The Lubicons had threatened to take the wells apart to put pressure on the federal government. The Indians maintain their land claim, more than half a century old, has dragged on far too long. The problem is land ownership. The Indians claim they own their hunting territory, a 10,000-sq.-km area. But so does the Alberta Government. It is the Alberta Government that's given oil companies the green light to work in the area. Norcen says it decided to re-open the 18 wells because land claim talks were going nowhere. The company says having the wells shut down was not accomplishing anything. The question is: what are the Lubicons going to do now? That's what I put to Fred Lennarson, a Band advisor. Lennarson says the Lubicons will continue to oppose both the companies and the government. Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Advisor I think the Canadian Government and the oil companies are creating a situation kind of like Nazi-occupied France where the French resistance fighters didn't have the military might to directly engage the Nazi military machine, but there were things that the French resistance fighters could and did do. Christopher Ken Rostad is an Alberta Cabinet Minister who wears two hats. He's in charge of Indian Affairs and he's in charge of the Justice system here. Rostad is hoping nothing comes of this and that the Lubicon Indians do not interfere with the oil companies. Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #5: Transcript of CFRN TV Eyewitness News Broadcast (6:00 P.M.) Friday, November 30, 1990 Daphne Kuehn, Eyewitness News In northern Alberta the ingredients are present for more confrontations on the land claimed by the Lubicons. Norcen Energy of Calgary has announced it will re-open 18 oil wells on disputed Lubicon land over the next two weeks. Those wells have been closed down for a year because of the Band's on-going land claim. Norcen has decided to re-open the wells because the land claim talks are stalled. Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Advisor What they are doing is creating circumstances which, over time, will give the Lubicons lots of opportunities and lots of desire to hit them back. Kuehn Lennarson says the Natives have plenty of time to develop a strategy to fight the oil company. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #6: Article appearing in The Globe & Mail, Saturday, December 01, 1990 Norcen Norcen Energy Resources Ltd. of Calgary says it plans to resume production from 18 oil wells in the Lubicon Lake area of Alberta that have been shut in since Nov. 30, 1989. Norcen said the wells were shut in after the Lubicon Indian Band said it intended to dismantle operating wells on "unceded Lubicon territory" owned by Petro Canada or in which Crown-owned Petrocan has an interest. The band said the action was taken to get a resumption of stalled land claim negotiations, Norcen said. Prior to being shut in, production from the wells averaged 1,230 barrels of oil a day. Norcen said its share of the daily production is 450 barrels. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #6: article appearing in The Edmonton Journal, Saturday, December 01, 1990 FIRM TO REOPEN OIL WELLS ON LUBICON-CLAIMED LAND Move not tied to higher prices, Norcen says Jac MacDonald Journal Staff Writer Edmonton Norcen Energy Resources Ltd. will reopen 18 oil wells in the next two weeks on lands claimed by the Lubicon Lake band. "Reopening them will create some employment and cash flow in the area for subcontractors," Norcen spokesman Ian Seph said Friday. The company will resume production because both the federal and provincial governments and the Lubicon have said the shut-down of wells was having no effect on negotiations, Seph said. The wells, shut since Nov. 30, 1989, are partly owned by Petro Canada and Husky Oil. Norcen has been operating about 30 other wells without incident inside the 10,000-sq.-km territory which the Lubicon claim as their traditional hunting and trapping area. Seph said the decision to reopen the wells was not related to higher oil prices or to work being done in the area by two logging companies. About $20,000 damage was done last weekend when someone set fire to equipment owned by a sub-contractor working for Buchanan Lumber. Asked if Norcen feared its actions would increase tensions, Seph said the "Lubicons have never taken any illegal action against the oil and gas industry in the area." Petro Canada is not entirely pleased with the decision, spokesman David Hocking said. "We are reluctant to see this go forward but it's their decision and we understand how they have to be responsive to their shareholders." He couldn't say whether Petro Canada had any legal or contractual basis to stop the move. "It is the well operator's job to run the well." Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak could not be reached for comment. Band advisor Fred Lennarson said the Lubicon never made any statements saying the closed wells were not affecting negotiations. "No such discussion like that ever occurred." Norcen agreed to shut the wells because it didn't want to recognize Lubicon jurisdiction, and because the band agreed not to tamper with their equipment if it was shut-in, he said. Norcen is reopening the wells because of higher oil prices and because the logging companies have already begun working in the area, he said. "It's also related to their assessment that the Lubicons have very little wherewithal to defend themselves." He declined to say exactly how the Lubicon might react. "If you crush a people, you leave them few options". Seph said Norcen has been trying to reach Ominayak since early November without success, and sent a fax to the band office Friday morning to advise him of its decision. The company also released statistics Friday, indicating that prior to closing the wells, production from them averaged 1,230 barrels of oil per day. Lost revenues are an estimated $10.8 million, including $2.1 million in provincial royalties. Norcen's share of the daily production is 450 barrels. It has lost an estimated $3.2 million in revenues, the company said. As well as the band, Norcen has advised the federal and provincial governments, and the RCMP of its decision, Seph said. The company hasn't asked the RCMP for beefed-up patrols and no special security is planned for the well sites, each of which is valued at from $50,000 to $75,000. ***************************************************************************** Attachment #7: Letter from Lubicon supporter A.S. Andrucson to Norcen Energy resources, dated November 03, 1990 Dear Sir: I'm writing about your plans to reopen the wells you'd shut down around Little Buffalo. Public opinion must mean something to your company, otherwise you would not have sponsored this summer's North American Indigenous Games. Obviously it wasn't out of any great concern for Native people themselves, or you'd not be going against the wishes of the Lubicon Lake Nation and making plans to reopen the wells on their land. I know you have government-issued permits to operate those wells, but isn't it possible that the government that issued them had no right to do so? Who gave the government the right to decide who can and cannot do what in Lubicon-claimed territory? Sure, Canada gave control to Alberta, but who gave control to Canada, and when, and where is the proof? Maybe the only legal permits you can hold would be those issued to you by the Lubicons. There may not be any written proof that the Lubicons own that land, but neither does there appear to be any written proof that they don't. Do you have proof that you own your eyes and your heart? They're yours because they're yours and they'll remain yours until such time as you've signed something saying you've given them up for someone else to use. And Lubicon land is Lubicon land until they give it up. They shouldn't have to prove it's theirs; whoever wants to use it should have to prove it isn't. If they have given it up, why are they being asked to "...cede, release, surrender and yield up...all their rights, titles and privileges whatsoever, to the lands..." Maybe it IS still their land and maybe you DON'T have any right going in there without their permission. They aren't saying, get out and stay out, just get their permission first and agree to operate on their terms. Can you not do this? Sincerely, A.S. Andrucson ***************************************************************************** Attachment #8: article appearing in the Calgary Herald, Saturday, December 01, 1990 LUBICON WARN OF RENEWED STRIFE By Jim Cunningham (Herald writer) Alberta could face a confrontation like last summer's armed standoff in Oka, Que., if resource companies don't stay off Lubicon land, the chief of the band has warned. "Anything is possible," Bernard Ominayak said Friday, following a decision by a Calgary oil company to reopen 18 shut-in oil wells in traditional Lubicon territory near Little Buffalo in northern Alberta. Norcen Energy announced Friday it would reopen the wells in the next two weeks. They were shut in November 1989 in response to Lubicon threats to dismantle them. The chief said he hoped a violent confrontation like the one on the Mohawk reserves in Quebec doesn't happen. One Quebec policeman died in that incident. But if companies such as Norcen and logging firms which have been operating in the area traditionally claimed by the band don't cease operations, the band may be forced to respond, he said. "We'll pick the time and place whenever we want to move," Ominayak said. Last weekend $20,000 worth of damage was done to equipment at the Buchanan logging camp, located in the Lubicon's traditional hunting area. Ominayak said an agreement reached two years ago with Premier Don Getty, which set aside 245 square kilometres of northern Alberta bush for the band as a reserve, "has not been implemented in any way". And, he said, the federal government has done nothing since talks between Ottawa and the band broke down more than a year ago. Ian Seph of Norcen said the company has always cooperated with the Lubicon but keeping the wells shut wasn't helping negotiations between the band and the federal government. Norcen, which operates the wells for Petro Canada and other partners as well as itself, says $10.8 million in revenue has been lost since the shutdown. ***************************************************************************** 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