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
September 10, 1991
Enclosed for your information is a newspaper article up-dating
the mail-out of last January 10th on the 98% clear cutting of an
environmentally significant stand of white spruce located north
of traditional Lubicon territory in a Canadian National Park
called Wood Buffalo National Park. You'll recall that Wood
Buffalo National Park is an area of international ecological
importance formally recognized by the United Nations as having
the same World Heritage Site status as the Pyramids and the Grand
Canyon. You'll also recall that the huge Japanese forestry giant
Daishowa is responsible for logging both Wood Buffalo National
Park and the unceded traditional Lubicon territory -- in both
cases working through wholly-owned subsidiaries rather than under
its own name.
The story of Daishowa clear-cutting Wood Buffalo National Park
broke in December of 1990 precipitating a massive public outcry.
Responding to that massive public outcry Federal Environment
Minister Robert de Cotet lamely offered to buy back from a
wholly-owned Daishowa subsidiary named Canfor the rights to
clear-cut 49,700 hectares of Wood Buffalo National Park. (49,700
hectares is about 122,811 acres, or over 190 square miles, or
nearly 500 square kilometres.)
Daishowa representatives shrewdly agreed to talk to Federal
representatives about the possibility of selling back the cutting
rights in Wood Buffalo National Park while at the same time
stepping-up their logging operations there to 24 hours a day.
They also announced that they wanted to negotiate "suitable
replacement timber rights" from the Alberta Provincial Government
-- from whom they've already purchased the hardwood timber rights
to 40,710 square kilometres of northern Alberta at the bargain-
basement price of only 28 cents per cubic metre. (By way of
comparison the same wood costs $10.58 per cubic metre in the
neighboring Canadian Province of British Columbia, $22.00 per
cubic metre in Austria and a whopping $70.00 per cubic metre in
Japan.)
At the time that Daishowa simultaneously agreed to talk and
stepped up their logging operations in Wood Buffalo National Park
to 24 hours a day, it was obvious to anybody with two brain cells
that "suitable" replacement timber" would be hard to come by,
that Daishowa would insist upon "suitable replacement timber"
from the Province as part of any deal to sell back Wood Buffalo
logging rights to the Federal Government, and that Daishowa would
engage in as much foot dragging as possible during any such talks
WHILE CONTINUING TO CLEAR-CUT WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK 24 HOURS
A DAY. (It was apparently not obvious to representatives of the
Federal and Provincial Governments, or perhaps, as they have both
done with the Lubicons on previous occasions, both levels of
Canadian Government simply thought that the facade of
"negotiations" was the best way to defuse growing public outrage
over the appalling pillage going on in Wood Buffalo National
Park.)
It's now nearly a year later, the 1991-92 logging season is about
to commence, and, as the attached newspaper article reports, the
harvesting of trees in Wood Buffalo National Park "will continue
for at least another year...(and)...could go on indefinitely if
the current negotiations continue as they have for the past few
months". Park Superintendent Doug Stewart is quoted as saying
"One more year of logging is apparently what their financial
strategy has plans for, and, because they have a legal contract
with us, there's nothing we can do about that". Moreover
there've been no negotiations at all since last May "because no
common ground for an agreement has been found".
When the Lubicons sought to enjoin development activity in their
unceded traditional territory until the question of their unceded
aboriginal land rights could be resolved, both levels of Canadian
Government and the development companies argued a legal principle
called "the balance of convenience" -- basically that the
interests of the majority of Canadians in resource exploitation
outweigh the aboriginal land rights of a small number of Canada's
first people. Now Federal Government officials argue that
nothing can be done to protect the interests of the majority of
Canadians and of people around the world in a recognized World
Heritage Site because of the supposed contractual logging
"rights" of a Japanese forestry company.
In all of this it's easy to see that the only rights and
interests of any real concern to either the Mulroney or Getty
Governments are the rights and interests of those who seek to
continue exploiting Canada's natural resources for the benefit of
a small circle of their friends and associates.
* * * * *
THE EDMONTON JOURNAL, Tuesday, September 10, 1991
LOGGING IN NATIONAL PARK TO CONTINUE AS TALKS LAG
Ed Struzik
Journal Staff Writer
Fort Smith, N.W.T.
Logging in Wood Buffalo National Park will continue for at least
another year whether or not Parks Canada successfully concludes a
buy-out of Canadian Forest Product's timber lease.
"My understanding is that even if we terminate the agreement,
they would still have to cut for one more year," says park
superintendent Doug Stewart. "One more year of logging is
apparently what their financial strategy has plans for. And
because they have a legal contract with us, there is nothing we
can do about that."
The harvesting of trees in Wood Buffalo could go on indefinitely
if the current negotiations continue as they have over the past
few months. The two sides have not met formally since May
because no common ground for an agreement has been found.
In the absence of a buy-out, Canfor has already submitted its
annual operating plan for cutting trees in the park this year.
Government sources say the company does not plan to cut quite as
many trees this year, although the amount will still be
considerable. But the plan calls for cutting in an area that
Parks Canada wants preserved. Some of the largest white spruce
trees remaining the province are at stake.
Stewart would only say that Parks Canada is reviewing the
company's proposal. However, he added that Parks Canada is
determined to make sure that Canfor operates in a way that would
be acceptable in forestry areas elsewhere in the province.
Provincial officials have already indicated that Canfor would
never have been allowed to clear-cut on provincially controlled
lands the way it has been clear-cutting in Wood Buffalo over the
past decade.
Negotiations with Parks Canada have been complicated by a third
party at the table.
Daishowa Canada actually controls the timber lease. It gained
control when it purchased Canfor's Alberta operations more than a
year ago. To avoid a ministerial review of the lease which
expires in 2002, Canfor agreed to maintain its name on the lease
even though all the timber goes to Daishowa's High Level
operations.
Canfor official Darrel Mawhinney said Monday that the company
does not want to comment on either the buy-out negotiations or
the proposed operating plan for this year.