Attachment #1: LUBICON SETTLEMENT COMMISSION OF REVIEW
10336 - 114 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5K 1S3
(403 488-4767 FAX: (403) 488-4698
STATUS REPORT (July 16, 1992)
The Lubicon Settlement Commission of Review was established in May, 1992.
The first task of the Commission was to invite the three parties to the
dispute, the Lubicon Nation, the Federal government and the Provincial
government, to attend before it to explain their respective proposals and
positions with respect to the dispute.
The Lubicon nation accepted the invitation and appeared before the
Commission for a public hearing on June 1 and 2, 192. At this time the
Federal and Provincial governments had not responded to the Commission's
invitation. At that hearings the Lubicon representatives were given an
opportunity to present their proposal and answer many questions that the
Commission had with respect to it.
The next hearings were held on June 29, 1992. By this time both levels
of government had refused to attend. The Federal Government stated that
it was subject to an agreement between itself and the Lubicon people that
provided that it would not discuss the negotiations or its position with
any other party. The Lubicon people advised that there was no such
agreement and that they would welcome the Federal government's appearance
before the Commission. The Provincial government advises that its
position is public and that nothing could be gained by it appearing
before the Commission.
On June 29, 1992 the Commission publicly reviewed the Federal proposal
and raised many of the questions it would like the Federal government to
address. A copy of these questions is attached.
On June 29, 1992 the Commission also heard from Bill Phipps of the United
Church of Canada and John Stellingwerff of the Christian Reform Church.
Both of these gentlemen visited Little Buffalo in June 1992 with the
ecumenical group of church representatives who had made a similar visit
in 1984.
The Commission was originally to have provided its final report by July
31, 1992. This will not be possible as the Commission does not have all
of the information it requires. It intends to pursue the questions
arising out of the Federal government's proposal as well as invite other
witnesses to attend before it. It also plans to visit Little Buffalo on
August 6 and 7 and to hold hearings in Peace River on August 7.
Once it has completed its assessment of the facts it will present its
final report. It will not at this time address any conclusions or
recommendations as it is not in a position to do so.
For further information contact:
Father Jacques Johnson (488-4767); Jennifer Klimek (425-2041/439-3928)
QUESTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE FEDERAL PROPOSAL
AS DISCUSSED AT JUNE 29 HEARINGS
The Commission has reviewed the Federal proposal and has the following
questions:
HISTORY
Why was a reserve not established in 1939?
Has the government ever recognized the Lubicon people as an Indian band?
If not, why not?
Why did the Woodland Cree obtain band status?
Does the government recognize that there has historically been an
injustice to these people?
What happened to the Fulton report? Was it ever made public? Why did
those discussions not continue? Why was this report not used for its
intended use?
Did the government suggest arbitration? Was a list of arbitrators put
forward by the government and accepted by the Lubicons? If so, why were
they never used?
What benefits have the Lubicons received to date? What are the reasons
for not settling this matter?
THE NATURE OF THE CLAIM
How does the government view the claim; is it a specific claim or a
comprehensive claim?
Has the federal government ever settled a claim on the basis of a
comprehensive claim with a band that is subject to a treaty?
If the Lubicons have never signed a treaty why is the government
reluctant to settle it as a comprehensive claim?
THE LUBICON AGREEMENT
Has the federal government reviewed the Lubicon proposal?
How does it view that proposal?
What is the government's view on the sections of the Lubicon proposal
that deal with self-determination and self-government?
What parts of the agreement, if any, have been agreed upon, such as
membership, reserve size, community construction and delivery of programs
and services?
Are there any legal impediments to accepting the Lubicon proposal? Doug
Hoover (Assistant to Tom Siddon) has advised that the federal government
could not accept this proposal even if it wanted to as it may be illegal.
What is the basis for this position?
THE FEDERAL PROPOSAL
Why does the government define their offer as being generous?
How does the offer compare with other offers being made?
How does the government propose these people are to develop an economic
base for their community?
Why are there no firm economic development strategies in the proposal and
how do they perceive the Lubicons as surviving with this proposal?
Is it imperative that all of the issues in dispute must be settled before
other parts of the agreement can be instituted, i.e. can the question of
aboriginal rights or self government be dealt with after other parts of
the claim are settled? Can the question of compensation be left until
after the economic and structural programs are initiated?
Are they concerned about the settlement of this offer being a precedent
for other claims?
The government proposal provides for funding under other programs.
However the Lubicons must apply for this funding and must obtain approval
before they are granted this money. There is no guarantee that they will
get it. How are these figured into the settlement?
Does the government recognize a claim for compensation?
How does the government propose to calculate the compensation as there
are four methods:
1. on the basis of damages for a lost economy;
2. on the basis of lost resources;
3. on the basis of loss of services since 1939 when the reserve
should have been granted;
4. on the basis of what DIAND gave other natives elsewhere?
The government has stated that the Lubicons could accept this proposal
and then have the compensation issue determined by the courts. Does it
still maintain this position? If so, how does it reconcile this position
with the fact that the agreement provides a release of the government of
any further claims?
Are they willing to raise the dollars from 1988 dollars to the current
value?
Is there any concessions the government is willing to make for the delay
in settling this claim such as using 1988 dollars or paying interest on
any sums?
Is the government willing to complete the negotiations in public?
QUESTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE PROVINCIAL PROPOSAL
AS DISCUSSED AT JUNE 29 HEARINGS
In addition to the questions raised with respect to the Federal
government the Commission has the following questions with respect to the
Province's position:
How does the Provincial government view the legislation that was passed
retroactively to deal with the caveat filed by the Lubicons?
Is the Provincial government willing to stand by the Grimshaw agreement
with respect to the land for the reserve?
What is the Provincial government's view on compensation?
What is the value of the resources that have been extracted from the area
over which the Lubicons claim aboriginal rights?
Is the Provincial government willing to impose a moratorium on any
further extraction or development on the disputed territory or to put the
money into a trust account until the matter is resolved?
Why cannot the vocational school be located on the reserve?
* * * * *
Attachment #2: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.)
Thursday, July 23, 1992
Pat Barford, CBC News
It's back to the drawing board tomorrow for the people trying to settle
the Lubicon Lake land claim. Tom Siddon, the federal Minister of Indian
Affairs, and Bernard Ominayak, the Chief of the Lubicon Lake Indian Band,
will hold private talks in Edmonton. The Lubicon, who live in the Peace
River country, have been trying to get a reserve since 1939. Byron
Christopher reports.
Byron Christopher, CBC News
Tom Siddon and Bernard Ominayak met about a month and a half ago in
Little Buffalo, home of the Lubicons. The two sat across from one
another at a table in a machine shed. But when it came to negotiations
they were miles apart. The government offer is worth up to $45 million
and the Lubicons say not all of that is firm money. The Band says the
government offer falls far short of what it would need to be self-
sufficient. The Indians say they need $170 million or so to build a new
economy since their old one -- hunting and trapping -- has been destroyed
by oil and gas development. Included in the Lubicon proposal is
compensation for resources taken from land the Indians maintain belongs
to them. The government, which says the area is Crown land, does not
want to pay any compensation. Last fall the Lubicons gave the government
a counter offer but they say the government has yet to comment on it.
Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #3: July 24, 1992, Tom Siddon letter to Chief Bernard
Ominayak
Dear Chief Ominayak:
I am pleased to provide you with a new federal offer to settle the claim
of the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation in reply to the settlement proposal
which your people put forward to the Government of Canada on November 1,
1991. I hope you will find that it responds fairly and generously to all
the elements in your proposal.
The attached summary and response deals with all the elements of the
Lubicon Lake proposal except the matter of band membership, since you
have not yet provided a list of your members. It is based on the
meetings that you and I have had, as well as the extensive negotiations
that have been going on between our officials and lawyers over the past
eight months.
Canada's offer is based on your information that there are 500 band
members. If the number of eligible band members turns out to be greater
than 500, Canada is prepared to increase our offer; alternatively, if the
number of eligible band members is less than 500 then our offer will be
reduced.
Based on 450 of the estimated 500 band members living on reserve, Canada
is prepared to offer $53.3 million in benefits over five years to settle
your claim. Of this, $20 million would be payable in the first year
after settlement excluding operating funds.
You will see that the new federal proposal goes well beyond our 1989
offer in several important ways. First, it includes an expanded and more
flexible economic development package totalling $12.5 million, to better
enable your people to build a sound economic future for themselves. We
are also prepared to offer $2.5 as an incentive to settle the claim.
Our new offer also provides for the arbitration mechanism which your
lawyers and my officials agreed to recommend on July 8. This would allow
the band to address its claim for compensation through binding
arbitration.
Approximately $38.3 million of the offer would be made available for the
construction of a new community for your band. Due in part to the
declining construction costs, my officials are confident that your
capital plan can be completed within the $38.3 million if it is
constructed in accordance within national service standard levels and by
efficient management practices. The final figure will be confirmed once
your population has been verified and the work of your consultants in
estimating the costs for the construction of the community has been
complete.d This includes up to 120 new and relocated houses, full water
and sewer services, roads, electricity and natural gas distribution, a
band office, community hall, health centre, fire station, school and
teachers' residence, as well as project management and planning costs.
In addition to Canada's offer, the Government of Alberta will contribute
95 square miles of land, of which 79 square miles would include full
mineral rights. The value of this land at current market prices is $10.5
million. Alberta has also to date offered $9 million in financing to
help resolve the claim.
The total federal and provincial package thus amounts to more than $73
million based on your estimate of 500 band members. We look forward to
receiving your list of band members who agree to participate in the
collective adhesion to Treaty Eight as soon as possible so that this
package can be finalized.
We are ready to add to this settlement package a five-year Alternative
Funding Arrangement (AFA) to provide the band with $17.7 million in
operating funds which will be phased in as community construction is
completed.
I hope you will agree that the new offer is a fair and generous one,
worked out through careful and painstaking negotiations in good faith
between us and our officials and lawyers. Once you and your band council
have had a full opportunity to review the attached proposal, I would urge
you to let me know if you feel that there are any areas requiring further
discussion. You may also wish to suggest next steps. For example, if
the proposal generally meets with your approval, you may wish to consider
having our negotiators draft an agreement-in-principle which you could
take to your members and I could take to Cabinet for approval. It would
also be useful for us to continue discussions with Alberta.
I hope that the many months and years of effort on both our parts will
now bring this claim to a satisfactory and final conclusion so that your
people may begin at last to build a brighter, more prosperous future.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Siddon, P.C., M.P.
* * * * *
Attachment #4: July 24, 1992, Federal Government document entitled
"Comparison of Federal (1989) Offer, Federal (1992) Offer"
(Not included -- available by mail upon request)
* * * * *
Attachment #5: Transcript of CFRN TV News Broadcast (6:00 P.M.)
Friday, July 24, 1992
cccc
Susan Amerongen, CFRN TV
The federal government has come up with a new proposal for the Lubicon
Indian Band in a bid to settle the Band's long-standing land claim. The
Federal Indian Affairs Minister isn't providing any details, but Tom
Siddon did say the new deal addresses the Lubicon demand for money to
help reach self-sufficiency.
* * * * *
Attachment #6: Transcript of CKUA Radio News Broadcast (12:00 Noon)
Friday, July 24, 1992
CKUA News
The federal government has responded to a settlement proposal by
Alberta's Lubicon Indians, but neither side is saying what that response
is. Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon came to Edmonton today to
meet with Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak in the latest round of talks
aimed at settling the Band's 50-year old land claim. But as CKUA's Erin
Carpenter reports, both men are keeping mum on what's being discussed.
Tom Siddon, Federal Minister of Indian Affairs
Given the thought and the discussion that's occurred between the parties,
I hope this will be a good foundation for a deal.
Erin Carpenter, CKUA News
That's about all the Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon would say about
Ottawa's response to the Lubicons' latest proposal for a settlement.
Siddon met with Chief Bernard Ominayak for about an hour this morning,
but afterwards neither would say much about their meeting. The Lubicons
are seeking $170 million from the federal and Alberta governments in
compensation, lost energy royalties and to help build the infrastructure
for a settlement in northern Alberta. Tom Siddon gave Ottawa's response
to the Lubicon proposal today, but Chief Ominayak says he'll have to
examine it with Band members before deciding what to make of it.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
I haven't looked at it in detail at all. There were other issues that we
discussed and I think worked out today and hopefully we'll get into
further productive discussions.
Carpenter
Ominayak says he hopes to respond to Ottawa's counter-proposal within the
next three weeks. Erin Carpenter, CKUA News, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #7: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.)
Friday, July 24, 1992
Pat Barford, CBC News
The Lubicon Cree Indians have another land claim offer from the federal
government to think about. The Minister of Indian Affairs gave the
Lubicon Chief a new proposal this morning when the two met in Edmonton.
The Lubicon Cree, a small Band of Indians in northwestern Alberta have
been trying to get a reserve for more than half a century. Byron
Christopher has the story.
Byron Christopher, CBC News
Chief Ominayak and Tom Siddon met for more than an hour behind closed
doors. Each had their own advisers. And when the meeting broke up,
neither Ominayak nor Siddon would give reporters details of the offer.
But each appeared to hold out hope that a deal could be worked out.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
I hope that we're able to close the gaps that have been there. As long
as the Minister is prepared to meet and have the will to try and settle
the Lubicon situation I'm sure we're going to be able to do that.
Hopefully in the next little while rather than waiting another 50 years.
Tom Siddon, Federal Minister of Indian Affairs
It's fair to say, I think Chief, isn't it that we want to find a way to
get with funding the construction of a new community for the Lubicon
people?
Christopher
Chief Ominayak says he'll show the offer to his people then get back to
Tom Siddon in a couple of weeks. Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #8: Transcript of ITV News Broadcast (10:00 P.M.)
Friday, July 24, 1992
Gordon Steinke, ITV News
There's optimism tonight that a 50-year struggle by the Lubicon Lake
Indian Band is nearing an end.
Jacqueline Clarke, ITV News
Ottawa has offered the Lubicon Cree a new deal to try to settle the
Band's long-standing land claim. Details aren't being released but as
Jay Witherbee reports, there are signs an agreement is close.
Jay Witherbee
A new offer for Alberta Lubicons. More than the federal government has
offered before, but it's still unknown if it will be enough to settle a
50-year old land dispute. The Lubicon Cree are seeking a reserve in
northwestern Alberta and millions of dollars compensation for oil and
timber resources taken from traditional lands. They also want a better
life for their people -- roads, schools, houses and jobs. The building
blocks for a community. Details of the federal offer aren't being
released, but this is the fourth meeting between Siddon and Ominayak this
year, perhaps an indication that an agreement is close at hand.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Hopefully in the next little while rather than waiting another 50 years.
Witherbee
Ominayak says the next two months will determine if an agreement in this
long dispute is possible. It appears there are still gaps to be filled.
Siddon and Ominayak will meet again in three weeks once the Chief has had
time to study this latest proposal. Jay Witherbee, ITV News.
* * * * *
Attachment #9: July 25, 1992, Edmonton Journal article
SIDDON SWEETENS PROPOSAL TO LUBICONS
But Cabinet must approve
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton
The Lubicon Cree received a new federal offer Friday that could end their
50-year quest for settlement before autumn.
No details were released, but Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon hinted
that the new proposal includes more money than Ottawa's last take-it-or-
leave-it, $45-million offer.
However, "everything that is in excess of what was proposed previously
will be subject to cabinet approval," he said after a one-hour meeting
with Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak.
"When you see the elements of this proposal you will see that it is our
best effort at responding to the matters the Lubicon people have raised,"
Siddon told reporters.
Ominayak said the latest offer is "somewhat different than the past but
we need two or three weeks to look at it in detail."
"Hopefully, we have been able to close the gaps."
The Lubicon have been seeking $170 million -- $100 million of it in a
trust fund created with equal contributions from Ottawa and Alberta.
Ominayak would not discuss the offer until he presented it to band
members at Little Buffalo, 500 km north of Edmonton.
Both men sounded more optimistic after their meeting Friday than they did
after their first encounter last year and their last meeting in June at
Little Buffalo.
After the visit by the Indian Affairs minister to the Lubicon community,
Ominayak said Siddon was trying to confine the band to the original $45-
million offer.
Siddon said then that the federal offer would be "vastly less" than $170
million and felt the demand for a $100-million trust fund might best be
decided in court.
But on Friday the minister said he hoped to avoid the confrontations of
the past.
"We shouldn't allow disputes about legal aspects to get in the way of the
process," said Siddon. "I would like to see us get on with the
construction of a new community, and the beginning of a new future for
the Lubicon."
The Lubicons' $170 million plan would replace traditional hunting and
trapping with an agricultural community carved from the forest
surrounding Little Buffalo.
Also at the meeting were Bob Sachs, the Lubicons' lawyer, and Victor
Buffalo, chief of the Samson Cree Nation, which has contributed to the
Lubicon claim fight with a $500,000 loan.
* * * * *
Attachment #10: July 28, 1992, Edmonton Journal Editorial
OPTIMISM ON THE LUBICON CLAIM
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon has just tramped across his line in
the sand. Wonder of wonders, the Lubicon Lake Cree land claim might be
settled in this lifetime after all.
The federal government put a new offer before Chief Bernard Ominayak last
Friday. Neither side is willing to release the details yet, but the
chief apparently found the offer sufficiently reasonable to take back to
band members for consideration. This is better news than we've had from
Little Buffalo in months.
Anyone who has followed the Lubicon story for a year or two -- or a
decade or two -- will know better than to predict an instant settlement.
This is a complex land claim with an acrimonious history and even the
government's honorable attempts at compromise have soured quickly.
(Dishonorable attempts have been far more numerous, but just as futile.)
At last, Ottawa budged. Siddon and his predecessors had insisted for too
long that a $45-million package would be a take-it-or-leave-it offer.
When Ominayak rejected the proposal as inadequate and unfair,
negotiations dwindled into silence. Prospects for a fair settlement have
looked so bleak in the past two years that some band members, and many
outsiders, frequently despaired that any deal would be reached at all.
Perhaps fearing another rejection, Siddon is cautious about this
overture. He insists that "everything that is in excess of what was
proposed previously will be subject to cabinet approval." It is
difficult to imagine that the minister could have improved a multi-
million dollar offer without the prior knowledge, and consent, of his
cabinet colleagues. In any case, the Lubicon Lake Cree should give
serious consideration to this overdue proposal.
The federal government has yet to fully acknowledge its responsibility
for the Lubicon Lake band's legitimate grievances, and perhaps it never
will, but at least Siddon is ready to negotiate again. There is reason
for optimism if not celebration. Whatever happens between Ottawa and the
Lubicon band in the months ahead, this unresolved claim can't be allowed
to drag into the next century.
* * * * *
Attachment #11: July 30, 1992, Edmonton Journal article
SOURCE CLOSE TO LUBICON TALKS UNIMPRESSED BY FEDERAL OFFER
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton
The latest federal offer to the Lubicon Lake Cree -- said to be worth $73
million -- is "more smoke and mirrors," says a source close to the
negotiations.
Presented last Friday at a meeting between Indian Affairs Minister Tom
Siddon and Bernard Ominayak, chief of the northern Alberta band, details
of the offer have been kept secret.
Neither side would confirm the rumored value of the package that Siddon
said last week "is our best effort at responding to the matters the
Lubicon people have raised."
Ominayak said then the latest offer is "somewhat different than the past
but we need two or three weeks to look at it in detail."
The Lubicon have been seeking a package valued in 1988 at $170 million --
$100 million of it in a trust fund that would be created with equal
contributions from Ottawa and Alberta, and $70 million in community
development costs.
The federal government's previous offer for community development was
worth a maximum of $45 million in 1988.
Ominayak would not discuss the offer until he presents it to band members
at Little Buffalo, 500 km north of Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #12: August 03, 1992, Windspeaker article
LUBICONS GET NEW PROPOSAL
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon presented a new offer on the 50-year-
old Lubicon land settlement dispute to Chief Bernard Ominayak.
Neither side was releasing details of the proposal after a one-hour
meeting in Edmonton. But Siddon suggested the new proposal includes more
money than the government's $45 million, take-it-or-leave-it offer that
has been a long-standing point of dispute.
"When you see the elements of this proposal you will see that it is our
best effort at responding to the matters the Lubicon people have raised,"
he said.
Any offers over the original $45 million will have to be approved by the
federal cabinet, he added.
Ominayak said he wants two or three weeks to study the proposal before
discussing it publicly. He said the latest offer "is somewhat different"
from its predecessors.
The Lubicon are seeking $170 million compensation for loss of traditional
lands around their Little Buffalo reserve 500 km north of Edmonton. Over
the years, the band has lost much of its traditional hunting and trapping
lands to oil, gas and forestry development.
Of that money, the Lubicon want $100 million put in a trust fund made up
of equal contributions from the federal and provincial governments.
Siddon said the trust fund issue might best be decided by the courts.
Siddon and Ominayak last met in June, when Siddon travelled to Little
Buffalo. Following that meeting, Ominayak said the Indian Affairs
minister was trying to confine the band to the original $45 million
offer.
Siddon then insisted the federal offer would be much lower than $170
million.
The meeting ended with Ominayak demanding a detailed federal response to
the band's settlement proposal, which was promised earlier.
Following the recent Edmonton meeting, Siddon said disputes over the
legalities shouldn't get in the way of the process.
"I would like to see us get on with the construction of a new community
and the beginning of a new future for the Lubicon."
Victor Buffalo, chief of the Samson Cree Nation, also attended the
meeting between Ominayak and Siddon. The Samson band has loaned the
Lubicon $500,000.
Meanwhile, the Lubicon Settlement Commission, a coalition of church and
social organizations studying the Lubicon situation, is planning to hold
public meetings in Little Buffalo in early August. Business and
political leaders from the nearby city of Peace River are expected to
make presentations.
* * * * *
Attachment #13: August 6, 1992, letter to Tom Siddon from Chief Bernard
Ominayak
Dear Sir:
The Lubicon people have now reviewed the documents you presented to me on
July 24th and I'm sad to say that supposedly new Federal Government
settlement proposals represent little that's new and fall far short of
claims made for them in both your cover letter and publicly by
representatives of the Federal Government.
You claim in your cover letter that supposedly new Federal Government
settlement proposals "amounts to more than $73 million based on (the
Lubicon) estimate of 500 band members". Moreover the related document
you gave me entitled "Comparison of Federal (1989) (take-it-or-leave-it)
Offer (and) Federal (1992) (equivalency) Offer" claims that the 1992
"equivalency" offer represents "substantially increased up-front funding"
over the 1989 "take-it-or-leave-it" offer as well as an "over-all
increase of $8,479,400". None of these statements are accurate.
THE IMPACT OF INFLATION
Lubicon settlement proposals are all calculated in 1988 dollars based on
actual cost estimates. Federal proposals are all based on 1992 dollars.
The documents you presented to me on July 24th treat 1988 and 1992
dollars as basically having the same value, which clearly isn't the case.
In order to produce the $73 million dollar number the documents you
presented to me on July 24th add $38.3 million in 1992 dollars from the
Federal Government for capital construction (worth about $24.2 million in
1988 dollars), a dubious $12.5 million in 1992 dollars from the Federal
Government for commercial and agricultural development (worth at a
maximum about $8.6 million in 1988 dollars), $2.5 million in 1992 dollars
from the Federal Government for a so-called "incentive to sign" (worth
about $1.7 million in 1988 dollars), an un-indexed $5 million from the
Provincial Government over a ten year period (worth about $2.3 million in
1988 dollars), a soft $3 million in 1992 dollars which may or may not be
available from the Provincial Government for construction of the proposed
community shop/vocational training centre (worth at a maximum about $2
million in 1988 dollars), $1 million from the Provincial Government to
build a Provincial Government road to provide the Provincial Government
with access to the shores and bed of Lubicon Lake ala the Grimshaw
Agreement (not included in Lubicon settlement proposals for obvious
reasons), and a highly offensive $10.5 million "contribution" supposedly
from the Provincial Government which your cover letter describes as "the
value of (proposed Lubicon reserve) land at current market prices."
Needless to say these numbers don't add up to the claimed "more than $73
million" any way you cut it, even if one accepts at face value the
transparent attempt to pump up the numbers by throwing in things like the
cost of the Provincial government road required by the Provincial
Government in any case and charging the Lubicon people for our own land.
"UP-FRONT FUNDING"
The "substantially increased up-front funding" claimed in the
"Comparison" document pertains basically to "socio-economic" or
commercial and agricultural development. It claims that the 1989 "take-
it-or-leave-it" offer was worth $10,675,0 and that the 1992 "equivalency"
offer is worth $12,500,000 -- a supposed increase of $1.8 million.
In fact the 1989 "take-it-or-leave-it" offer didn't provide the claimed
$10,675,000 at all but rather:
THE INTEREST ON A $5 MILLION DOLLAR FUND (supposedly to be used by
the Lubicon people as "seed" money in applying for normal
Government programs and services);
AGREEMENT-IN-PRINCIPLE FOR UP TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER $4 MILLION
for commercial development (provided that the Lubicons apply to
normal Government programs and meet normal program requirements);
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER $500,000 OVER A 5 YEAR PERIOD for "staff
support and other resources required" (the actual amount to be
determined God knows how);
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER $25,000 for "planning and legal fees to
reconfigure (the Lubicon management structure)" (the actual amount
again to be determined God knows how);
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF $50,000 to "undertake an assessment of (on-
reserve) sand and gravel deposits" (the actual amount again
determined God knows how);
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF $100,000 for a joint Government/Lubicon
Committee to study detailed Lubicon agricultural development
proposals worth over $18 million;
THE INTEREST ON A $500,000 FUND to cover the cost of the proposed
"Trapper's Support Program" (creatively re-titled by Government
bureaucrats a "Trapper's Transition Fund");
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER $100,000 to cover academic up-grading
and on-the-job training (as determined by a so-called joint
Government/ Lubicon "team");
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER $400,000 which might possibly be
provided over a three year period, provided that agreement can be
achieved on a jointly prepared Government/Lubicon "human resource
development program plan", and provided that the Lubicons can
successfully negotiate training funds from the Federal Department
of Manpower and Immigration based on that jointly prepared "human
resource development plan", and provided that the Lubicon people
can then match the Government's "up to $400,000" with up to
$400,000 of our own.
How one could possibly determine the dollar worth of such gibberish,
either in total or "up-front", is anybody's guess.
The Government's 1992 "equivalency" offer is admittedly simpler but
hardly more reassuring. It provides $25,000 for each Lubicon somehow
determined by the Government to be "eligible to receive socio-economic
funds". If there are really 500 eligible Lubicons as claimed by the
Lubicons, it says, the result would be a maximum of the $12.5 million
used in the "Comparison" document you gave me on July 24th.
However, as the 1992 "equivalency" offer also makes abundantly clear --
dependent upon whatever as yet unspecified criteria might be used by the
Federal Government to determine so-called "eligibility" to be counted in
the proposed socio-economic development funding formula -- the number of
supposedly "eligible" Lubicons could range anywhere from the 7 or less
claimed by the Province to be "eligible" a few years ago to the "between
250 and 300" claimed by the Federal Government to be "eligible" last fall
in its Alberta Report propaganda piece. Contrary to the impression
deliberately created by the documents you presented to me on July 24th,
reliable inside Government sources advise us that 300 people or about
$7.5 million in 1992 dollars -- worth about $5.1 million in 1988
dollars -- is in fact the number that the Federal Government has in
mind).
Thus while it technically isn't possible to assess the value of the 1992
"equivalency" offer with regard to commercial and agricultural
development, at least not without additional information about the
criteria the Federal Government proposes to use to determine so-called
"eligibility", best Lubicon information suggests that the 1992
"equivalency" offer in fact has a value of about $7.5 million in 1992
dollars or about $5.1 million in 1988 dollars -- certainly not something
which could be accurately described as "substantially increased up-front
funding" over whatever value one might somehow attribute to the socio-
economic section of the 1989 "take-it-or-leave-it" offer.
CLAIMED "OVERALL INCREASE"
The Government "Comparison" document calculates the total value of the
1989 "take-it-or-leave-it" offer at $46,539,000 and the total value of
the 1992 so-called "equivalency" offer at $55,018,400 -- a claimed
overall increase of $8,479,400.
In arriving at these figures the "Comparison" document says that it has
adjusted capital construction costs to take inflation into account (which
isn't true), is presuming that there are 500 Lubicons "entitled" to be
counted for purposes of calculating the $25,000 per capita in economic
development monies (although reliable inside Government sources advise
that the Government is only prepared to count between 250 and 300 as
"entitled"), and that the Government has added another $2.5 million as a
so-called "incentive to settle".
Even if one takes these Federal Government numbers at face value, which
one clearly cannot do with regard to such things as proposed socio-
economic funding, the Federal numbers are comparing 1988 dollars in the
so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to 1992 dollars in the so-called
"equivalency" offer. When one really adjusts the numbers to take into
account the impact of inflation, the so-called "equivalency" offer has a
claimed value of only $37,742,622 in 1988 dollars compared to a claimed
value of $46,539,000 in 1988 dollars for the so-called "take-it-or-leave-
it" offer -- an effective loss of $8,796,378 instead of the claimed
overall increase of $8,479,400.
MEMBERSHIP
Although the "Comparison" document conveniently fails to mention it, the
1992 so-called "equivalency" offer returns to both the unacceptable
"counted-once rule" (with regard to the socio-economic funding formula)
and to the equally unacceptable condition that the Federal Government
must "verify who on the Band's membership list are eligible to
participate in the adhesion". The agreement made in December of 1988,
which was predictably not spelled out very clearly in the so-called
"take-it-or-leave-it" offer but neither is it denied, provided that all
Lubicons on the Lubicon determined membership list are entitled to
adhere, and that everybody who adheres thereby becomes entitled to both
the full benefits of the settlement agreement and of treaty status. In
this regard the so-called "equivalency" offer represents significant
regression over the progress made during negotiations in December of
1988.
CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION
Excepting only some relatively minor, seemingly almost inadvertent
differences the capital construction section of the supposedly new
"equivalency" offer is essentially the same as so-called Federal books
one and two, which were essentially the same as the so-called "take-it-
or-leave-it" offer.
For example Program Planning and Management has inexplicably decreased
$5,000 from $1,585,000 to $1,580,000.
Inflation adjustment has decreased over $650,000 from $3,680,767 to
$3,019,100.
Instead of simply deleting development of a natural gas utility, as was
done in Federal books one and two, the supposedly new "equivalency" offer
indicates that development of a natural gas utility is "subject to
further discussions". (As the Lubicon people have pointed out many times
to seemingly uncomprehending Federal negotiators, "subject to further
discussions" is not an "offer".)
Regarding construction of a combined community shop/vocational training
centre, the supposedly new "equivalency" offer no longer attaches a
letter from Regional Indian Affairs Director General Gary Wouters to
Lubicon lawyer Bob Sachs saying that the Province is considering a
proposal from an unknown source -- certainly not the Lubicon people -- to
contribute up to a million dollars towards the addition of an industrial
arts shop on the proposed high school. Instead it says cryptically that
"Options may exist to incorporate these facilities into the proposed
school design to enhance the usage of both facilities". Presumably the
latter is just a deliberately less explicit way of saying the former. In
neither case do we have a serious proposal for construction of the
absolutely essential combined community shop/vocational training centre.
On water supply we were disappointed to see that the supposedly new
"equivalency" offer repeats earlier rejected Federal proposals to haul
water from Cadotte or Joker Lake.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Even assuming that one accepts without question the highly dubious
$10,675,000 socio-economic (commercial and agricultural development)
number claimed for the "take-it-or-leave-it" offer, and the equally
dubious $12,500,000 number used in the supposedly new "equivalency"
offer, just the impact of inflation reduces the claimed $12.5 million in
1992 dollars to only $8,575,000 in 1988 dollars -- an effective loss of
over $2 million from the $10,675,000 claimed for the "take-it-or-leave-
it" offer.
In addition there are a number of significant differences between the
socio-economic development proposals discussed contained in the so-called
"equivalency" offer and proposals tabled with the Lubicon people by
representatives of the Federal Government following our June 5th meeting.
Proposals tabled with the Lubicons by representatives of the Federal
Government following our June 5th meeting were for a flat $20 million in
up-front 1988 dollars not tied to a per capita formula. The proposal
contained in the so-called "equivalency" offer is $25,000 per capita in
1992 dollars for each Lubicon somehow determined by the Federal
Government to be entitled to be counted, for a maximum of $8,575,000 in
1988 dollars from the Federal Government, plus an additional un-indexed
$5 million over a ten year period or $2,325,500 in 1988 dollars from the
Provincial Government.
Proposals tabled with the Lubicons by representatives of the Federal
Government following our June 5th meeting also were to invest the $20
million in up-front 1988 dollars ($29 million in 1992 dollars) at an
estimated 10% return and then draw on it annually over a 9 year period in
line with Lubicon cash flow projections. Using this approach it would be
possible for the Lubicons to cover proposed commercial and agricultural
developments worth over $23 million during the course of a 9 year
development period.
However covering proposed Lubicon commercial and agricultural
developments over a 9 year period or any other period is not possible
with the approach contained in the so-called new "equivalency" offer.
Even if one were to assume that the Lubicons would receive the maximum
possible amount under the per capita formula of $8,575,000 in 1988
dollars from the Federal Government, and the Provincial Government
actually provided the $2,325,500 in 1988 dollars up-front instead of at
the rate of an un-indexed $500,000 per year for a period of ten years,
the proposals contained in the supposedly new "equivalency" offer would
only provide the Lubicons with funds to cover the costs of the first
three of a projected 9 year commercial and agricultural development
period.
Interestingly the concluding paragraphs on the socio-economic section of
the supposedly new "equivalency" offer speculate about what would happen
if the Federal Government somehow determines that there are only 300
Lubicons entitled to be counted in the $25,000 per capita socio-economic
formula, generating only $7.5 million in 1992 dollars instead of the
$12.5 million used in the "Comparison" document obviously for propaganda
purposes. In this case, it says, the proposed socio-economic fund would
reach a deficit position in year 6 of the proposed 9 year commercial and
agricultural development period. Actually $7.5 million in 1992 dollars
is only $5,145,000 in 1988 dollars and the proposed fund would be fully
expended at the end of the second year of a proposed 9 year commercial
and agricultural development period.
The supposedly new "equivalency" offer then goes on to assert that a loss
of $5 million ($12.5 to $7.5) resulting from the Government only counting
300 out of 500 Lubicons to be entitled to be counted for determining
socio-economic funding "could be compensated for if enhanced by the $2.5
million compensation floor referred to by the Minister", which, it says,
is described in a note on page 1 of the supposedly new "equivalency"
offer. We would appreciate an explanation of how a $5 million dollar
loss can be made up with a $2.5 million "compensation floor". There is
no descriptive note on page 1 of the supposedly new "equivalency" offer.
"If the Federal offer were reduced because of a reduction in the
population figures from 500 to 300", the supposedly new "equivalency"
offer says, "one could argue that the band's economic plan should be
likewise reduced from $23.1 million (in 1988 dollars) to $13.9 million"
($7.5 million in 1992 dollars worth about $5.1 million in 1988 dollars
from the Federal Government; $5 million in un-indexed dollars to be
provided by the Provincial Government over a ten year period worth about
$2.3 million in 1988 dollars; the remaining $1.4 to $6.5 million being
another mystery we'd like explained).
We would also like to know how it would be possible for us to reduce the
cost of socio-economic plans designed to support a population of 500
people just because the Federal Government somehow determines that 200 of
our people supposedly aren't entitled to be counted for purposes of
calculating the Federal Government's proposed $25,000 per capita socio-
economic development funding formula.
Lastly the Federal Government's supposedly new "equivalency" offer says
that "the inflationary factor" between Lubicon proposals worth $23.1
million in 1988 dollars and Federal and Provincial proposals worth about
$7.4 million in 1988 dollars ($5.1 million from the Federal Government
and $2.3 million from the Provincial Government) can somehow be offset
"with earned interest" resulting from "advancing the Federal/Provincial
resources for socio-economic development up-front". Aside from noting
that the Provincial Government is not proposing to advance "resources for
socio-economic development up-front", we would like an explanation in
plain English as to exactly what this seeming gobbledygook means.
INDEMNIFICATION
Clause 3.3 of Section I of the Federal Government's supposed response to
Lubicon settlement proposals (areas for further discussion) indicates
that "a process will need to be developed whereby the Band will indemnify
Canada against future treaty land claims or severalty claims by all Band
members who are Indians but who fail to provide (specified) elections,
releases and indemnities..." We disagree and consider this proposed
"process" to be a clear abdication of the Federal Government's exclusive
Constitutional responsibility for dealing with aboriginal lands and the
rights of aboriginal people.
We can only be responsible for those people we represent. Any Lubicons
who for whatever reasons aren't included in a settlement agreement may
well retain a legitimate cause of legal action against the Government of
Canada. But the Lubicons who do participate in any settlement agreement
cannot and should not be expected to indemnify the Federal Government
against the consequences of the Federal Government failing to fully meet
its Constitutional responsibilities.
COMPENSATION/ARBITRATION
The Compensation/Arbitration section of the Federal Government's
supposedly new "equivalency" offer claims that "Canada has paid a level
for negotiations significantly higher than any other band in Canada, an
amount of $1.5 million plus another $250,000". This statement is not
true with regard to either the amount of monies paid to support
negotiations elsewhere or with regard to monies paid to the Lubicons
supposedly to support negotiations.
According to public information the amount of money paid by 1990 to
support Dene/Metis negotiations in the NWT, for example, was $40 million.
And the money provided to the Lubicons by the Federal Government was not
to support negotiations but to reimburse the cost of legal action by the
Lubicons which the Lubicons were forced to take after the Government of
Canada utterly failed to meet its legal obligations to the Lubicon people
under the Canadian Constitution.
Specifically the $1.5 million was provided basically to repay a bank loan
pursuant to a recommendation by Federal Inquiry Officer E. Davie Fulton
who concluded, rightly, that the Lubicons had no reasonable alternative
but to pursue legal action against the Government of Canada. $51,000 of
the $250,000 (actually $242,000) was provided to pay accumulating
interest on the involved bank loan while Mr. Fulton sought to obtain
funds from the Federal Government to repay the necessary bank loan. And
the remaining $191,000 was used to reimburse the costs of technical
experts required to support the necessary legal action (albeit their work
has also been used to support negotiations).
Lastly the Federal Government's supposedly new "equivalency" offer claims
agreement on July 8, 1992 to arbitrate compensation under the COMMERCIAL
ARBITRATION ACT. There was no such agreement between the Lubicon people
and the Government of Canada on July 8th or at any other time.
Instead there was agreement between lawyers for both sides to recommend
arbitration of compensation under the COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION ACT to their
respective clients. Lubicon lawyers did so but the Lubicon people have a
number of serious questions about provisions of the COMMERCIAL
ARBITRATION ACT which will have to be satisfactorily resolved before
agreement will be possible.
I regret to say that we do not consider the supposedly new "equivalency"
offer to be either fair or just. While minor, essentially cosmetic
changes have been made in Federal Government proposals they remain
basically the same as those contained in the "take-it-or-leave-it" offer
tabled in January of 1989. There is still no adequate provision for the
Lubicon people to once again achieve social, political and economic self-
sufficiency.
Moreover we are distressed by the demonstrably false claims made about
the supposedly new "equivalency" offer and over the continuing numbers
games it contains. It is frankly very hard not to conclude that the
Federal Government is not sincere about negotiating a settlement of
Lubicon land rights and is only seeking to maintain the pretense of
sincere negotiations in order to deflect criticism and buy time until the
Lubicon society deteriorates to the point where the Lubicon people can no
longer fight for our rights. This is a strategy which serves neither
your Government nor the Lubicon people well and I hope it will be
reconsidered.
Sincerely,
Bernard Ominayak, Chief, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
* * * * *
Attachment #14: August 06, 1992, Statement of Lubicon Lake Women to
Lubicon Settlement Commission of Review
We the women of Lubicon Lake Nation are tired. We are frustrated and
angry. We feel we cannot wait another minute to have our land claim
settled. 50 years is too long. In those 50 years we have watched our
land and lives be destroyed by Canadian governments and corporations.
Our children are sick from the drinking water that oil has spilled in.
They are sick from breathing the poisoned -- polluted air the pulp mill
has made. We are sick from eating the animals, animals that are sick
with disease from the poisoned plants and water. Our children have
nothing -- they can't breath -- even that has been taken.
Their culture, the bush life, has been destroyed by development. When we
were young we lived in the bush -- it was a good life. Now, we have no
traplines, nothing to hunt. There are no jobs, no money to live a decent
life. We see ourselves, our men and children fall into despair,
hopelessness, low-self-esteem and drinking. Families are broken like
never before. Drinking and violence rise as our spirits fall.
We live our lives in constant danger. Since the blockade we have been
afraid to go certain places in town. Our sons have been beaten by white
men when they say they are Lubicon. We are even afraid to say that we
are what we are! The roads are dusty and dangerous to travel. The
logging and oil trucks run us off sometimes. We have lost many young
ones because of the horrible roads. We are not even safe in the bush.
We are afraid to go in the bush because the white sports-hunters shoot at
anything that moves.
We ask why? Why us, what have we done to deserve such treatment. Why
can't the government settle with the Lubicon? Why have they spent so
much time and energy trying to destroy us rather than deal fairly with
us. What have we done, our children, our people? What wrong have we
done to the outside?
We are not dogs, but we are treated like dogs. We are people just like
you. We are equal. We have every right to be here, the Creator put us
here in this place. We are important. Our children are important -- our
future. We have lost more than your money can ever, ever buy, more than
you can ever imagine, our way of life that we loved, our culture, our
beautiful land, our health and our happiness. What else can we lose?
The Lubicon women demand an end to the physical, emotional, economic,
cultural and spiritual destruction. We demand an end to the invasion and
devastation to all spheres of our lives. We demand an end to the
government and corporation warfare with our lands and lives. We demand
an end to the mockery of our Nation! We demand an end to the genocide.
Hear our voice and our message -- we don't know if we'll be here
tomorrow.
* * * * *
Attachment #15: Transcript of CKUA Radio News Broadcast (5:15 P.M.)
Thursday, August 6, 1992
Don Bell, CKUA News
In the headlines:
The Lubicon Indians have rejected Ottawa's latest offer...and say it's
part of an effort to wear down the Band so it can't fight for its rights.
In a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon today, Lubicon Chief
Bernard Ominayak says Ottawa's offer contains only "cosmetic changes"
from its 1989 proposal and that it's unacceptable. CKUA's Erin Carpenter
reports.
Erin Carpenter, CKUA News
In a letter to Tom Siddon, Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak calls Ottawa's
latest offer "neither fair nor just". Siddon was in Edmonton just over
two weeks ago and made the offer to Ominayak at a private meeting.
According to information released by the Lubicon's Edmonton office, that
offer amounts to $72.8 million dollars for public works projects and
socio-economic development, slightly more than the $70 million the Band
is asking. But a Lubicon representative said the federal offer includes
$10.5 million for the land the Band already occupies, and that the rest
of the offer is in 1992 dollars, making its value even less than the
settlement the government proposed in 1989. The Lubicons are also asking
for another $100 million in compensation and lost resources, and the
letter indicates Ottawa's discussing going to arbitration on that. The
Lubicons say Ottawa's offer shows it's only pretending to work toward a
settlement. Spokeswoman Terri Kelly quotes from Ominayak's letter to Tom
Siddon.
Terri Kelly, Lubicon Advisor
(From Chief Ominayak's August 6, 1992, letter to Tom Siddon):
"It is frankly very hard not to conclude that the Federal Government is
not sincere about negotiating a settlement of Lubicon land rights and is
only seeking to maintain the pretense of sincere negotiations in order to
deflect criticism and buy time until the Lubicon society deteriorates to
the point where the Lubicon people can no longer fight for our rights."
Carpenter
The Lubicons are now waiting for a response from the Federal Government.
Officials from Indian Affairs weren't available to comment this
afternoon. Erin Carpenter, CKUA News, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #16: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.)
Thursday, August 6, 1992
Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News
The Lubicon Indians of northern Alberta have rejected the Federal
Government's latest land claim offer. The Lubicon Cree have been trying
to get a reserve in northwestern Alberta for more than 50 years. Last
month the Minister of Indian Affairs presented the Indians with a new
proposal, but Chief Bernard Ominayak says the offer is almost exactly the
same as the Government's "take-it-or-leave-it" offer of 1989. At that
time the Government offered a package worth $45 million. The Lubicons
said they needed 4 times that to rebuild their community. Ominayak says
the new offer merely contains cosmetic wording changes and in fact he
says it's worth $8.7 million less than the previous offer due to
inflation. Ominayak says it appears Ottawa just wants to keep up the
pretense of sincere negotiations to deflect public criticism.
* * * * *
Attachment #17: August 07, 1992, Edmonton Journal article
LUBICONS REJECT OTTAWA'S LATEST OFFER
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
The Lubicon Cree have rejected the latest federal settlement offer --
said by Ottawa to be worth $73 million.
The proposals contain "little that's new and fall far short of claims
made for them," Lubicon chief Bernard Ominayak said in a letter sent
Thursday to Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon.
Siddon described the offer in glowing terms after his July 24 meeting
with Ominayak. It was hoped that the latest offer would settle the
claim, which has been outstanding for 50 years.
"When you see the elements of this proposal you will see that it is our
best effort at responding to matters the Lubicon people have raised,"
Siddon said after the apparently amicable meeting.
But Ominayak's letter -- released to an unofficial commission that is
reviewing the Lubicon situation -- indicates that the two sides are as
far apart as ever.
"We do not consider the supposedly new offer to be either fair or just,"
said Ominayak.
"While minor, cosmetic changes have been made...the proposals remain
basically the same as those contained in the take-it-or-leave-it offer.
"Moreover, we are distressed by demonstrably false claims. It is very
hard not to conclude that the federal government is not sincere about
negotiating a settlement."
The key difference between the two sides, according to Ominayak, is how
Ottawa and the Lubicon value money.
Ottawa describes its offer in 1992 dollars while the Lubicon position has
been defined by the purchasing power of a dollar in 1988 when the federal
government made its last take-it-or-leave-it proposal of $45 million.
Siddon's most recent offer "treats 1988 and 1992 dollars as basically
having the same value, which clearly isn't the case," Ominayak said.
The 1988 Lubicon demand -- $70 million for community and economic
development plus a $100 million trust fund -- would cost $248 million
today while Ottawa's offer would inflate to $65 million, according to a
conversion formula developed by the provincial government.
The latest federal offer includes $38.3 million for construction; $12.5
million for socio-economic development; a $2.5 million signing incentive;
$5 million over 10 years from Alberta plus $3 million from the province
for a vocational training centre; $1 million for a road; and $10.5
million worth of land from Alberta.
Ominayak also charged in the letter that Siddon intends to reduce the
$12.5 million socio-economic package to $7.5 million.
The socio-economic package is based on a $25,000-a-person grant. The
band claims 500 members but Ottawa claims the band has lost members to
two nearby groups -- the Woodland Cree and Loon River Cree.
"Reliable inside sources advise us that 300 people or about $7.5 million
is in fact the number the federal government has in mind," Ominayak
wrote.
The deal reached a year ago with the Woodland Cree and the anticipated
settlement with the Loon River band have not weakened the resolve of the
Lubicon, said Walter Whitehead, a councillor and former Lubicon chief.
* * * * *
Attachment #18: August 1992 Alberta Native News article
LUBICON REJECT NEW FEDERAL OFFER
by Dale Stelter
The Lubicon Lake Indian Nation of northern Alberta has rejected the
latest settlement offer from the federal government. The Lubicon have
been trying to obtain a settlement of their land rights dispute for more
than 50 years.
Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon had presented the offer to
Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak in Edmonton on July 24th. At that time,
Siddon publicly described the offer in very positive terms, although
Chief Ominayak had not had an opportunity to look at it. Chief Ominayak
then took the offer back to the Lubicon community of Little Buffalo to
discuss it with band members.
The federal government maintains the offer is worth over $73 million, a
claim the Lubicon state is false.
In an August 4th letter to Siddon, Chief Ominayak wrote that the Lubicon
do not consider the new offer "to be either fair or just. While minor,
essentially cosmetic changes have been made in federal government
proposals, they remain basically the same as those contained in the
'take-it-or-leave-it' offer tabled in January of 1989. There is still no
adequate provision for the Lubicon people to once again achieve social,
political and economic self-sufficiency.
"Moreover, we are distressed by the demonstrably false claims made about
the supposedly new equivalency offer and over the continuing numbers game
it contains."
A key issue in the Lubicon response is that the new offer does not take
into account the effect of inflation upon the purchasing power of a
dollar, and treats "1988 and 1992 dollars as basically having the same
value, which clearly isn't the case."
In his letter, Chief Ominayak detailed a large number of other
shortcomings in the federal offer. For example, he wrote that the new
offer includes "a highly offensive $10.5 million 'contribution'
supposedly from he provincial government which your cover letter
describes as 'the value of (proposed Lubicon reserve) land at current
market prices'."
Lubicon band advisor Fred Lennarson said that such tactics are an attempt
by the federal government to make the offer appear to be worth more than
it actually is. "The federal government is not trying to deceive the
Lubicon people with this offer, because the Lubicon know better. The
government is trying to deceive everybody else."
In a prepared statement, Indian Affairs Minister Siddon expressed regret
that the Lubicon had rejected the latest offer. "This is one of the
richest offers ever made for the settlement of an Aboriginal claim," he
said. Lennarson countered that this statement is demonstrably false.
Chief Ominayak's letter was released to the Lubicon Settlement Commission
of Review on August 6th, when the commission held hearings at the Lubicon
community of Little Buffalo Lake. The independent, non-partisan
commission was set up earlier this year by the Alberta New Democrats, the
official opposition to the provincial government, to investigate the
Lubicon settlement issue and make recommendations.
The commission also held hearings in Peace River the next day. As this
issue goes to press, details of the Little Buffalo and Peace River
hearings are not yet available, but will be reported in the next issue.
* * * * *
Attachment #19: GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INFORMATION, August 1992
HISTORY OF THE LUBICON LAKE CLAIM
BACKGROUND
In 1933, the heads of fourteen Indian families living near Lubicon Lake
petitioned the federal government. They stated they were treaty Indians,
most of whom were members of the Whitefish Lake Band, which had received
a reserve in 1908. However, the families said they lived apart from the
Whitefish Lake Band and wanted a reserve of their own at Lubicon Lake.
In 1939, the government agreed to recognize them as a band and to provide
a 25.4 square mile reserve for their population of 127 people, in
accordance with the provisions of Treaty 8.
The Second World War intervened and, in the years following, the claim
was not pursued. During this period the band was treated like all other
bands. It received government support for housing, band salaries and
administration, education and social assistance.
THE LUBICON CLAIM
In 1980 the Lubicon Lake Band filed a statement of claim in the Federal
Court of Canada against Canada, Alberta and various oil companies.
The Lubicon claim was in three parts:
- they had aboriginal title; failing that,
- they were within the Treaty 8 area and were entitled to a
settlement based upon its benefits; and failing that,
- they were promised a reserve which they had yet to receive.
In their statement of claim, the band maintained it represented
approximately 200 people who sought title to 25,000 square miles --
approximately 10 per cent of the province of Alberta -- along with $1
billion in damages. Since the federal court can only hear actions
against the federal government and its institutions, the band later
initiated a second action against Alberta and 11 oil companies in the
Alberta courts.
The band's billion dollar claim, and a later demand that oil and gas
activity be shut down, captured the attention of the media.
The federal government has not accepted the band's claim to have
aboriginal title -- thereby rejecting their claim to 25,000 square
miles -- since aboriginal rights to land had been dealt with by Treaty 8.
It is, therefore, the second or third parts of the claim which Canada has
accepted and has been trying to settle.
The basis of the claim is found in Treaty No. 8, signed in 1899 between
the Federal Crown and the Indians of Northern Alberta, among others. The
Treaty provides for one square mile of land for a family of five, or 128
acres per Indian, plus other benefits. Both the federal and provincial
governments acknowledge that the land is owed and that the Treaty claim
is valid. The main obstacle to final settlement is the band's continued
demands for monetary compensation.
Alberta has offered the Lubicon Lake Cree 95 square miles of land for a
reserve, inclusive of mines and minerals. This meets a demand of the
band and has been accepted by it. It would create the sixth largest
reserve in Alberta, even though the Lubicon Lake Band is only the 29th
largest band in the province.
In addition, in a formal offer made in January 1989, Canada offered $34
million to build a new community including up to 133 new houses, a band
office, sewer and water system, community hall and school. Canada also
offered to provide another $10.4 million for an economic development
package, all of which would not prejudice any further court challenges
the Lubicon Band might launch to win additional compensation under Treaty
8.
Both the Alberta and Canadian governments have tried repeatedly to
resolve the claim. Numerous attempts have been made to settle
outstanding differences but to date all offers have been rejected.
Fortunately, land is no longer an issue as the band has agreed to the
provincial offer of 95 square miles.
The band now seeks $170,000,000. Its case against Canada is a demand for
the band's share of programs and services since 1899 -- an issue which
Canada has invited the Band to pursue in the courts. The Lubicon Lake
Band has refused to do so.
In 1984, the Band started an appeal to the United Nations Human Rights
Committee. The Committee's finding confirmed what the Government of
Canada has already acknowledged -- that an obligation to the Lubicons
exists which must be settled.
The Human Rights Committee found that the offer which Canada has already
made to the band is fair and reasonable and would meet any obligation
Canada has under the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. After examining the facts, the UN agreed that the government
offer to the Lubicon Lake Indians is an appropriate remedy.
In an effort to renew dialogue with the Lubicons, Minister Siddon
requested a meeting in November 1991 with Chief Ominayak. The Minister
and the Chief have met several times since then, most recently in July
when he presented the Chief with the federal response to the Lubicon
settlement proposal.
The new federal offer for a settlement includes the following:
- Canada will provide a total of $53.3 million in benefits over five
years to settle the claim, based on Chief Bernard Ominayak's estimate of
500 band members, with 450 living on reserve. The band will receive $20
million in the first year after settlement excluding operating funds.
- Of this, $38.3 million will be made available for the construction of a
new community for the Lubicon Nation. This includes up to 120 new and
relocated houses, full water and sewer services, roads, electricity,
administration office, community hall, health centre, fire station,
school and a teachers' residence.
- Within this package, Canada will make available $12.5 million for an
expanded and more flexible economic development package.
- A $2.5 million "incentive" to settle the claim has also been added to
the federal offer to the Lubicon community.
- In addition to the federal package, the province of Alberta has offered
the band a total of 95 square miles of land, of which they would hold
full subsurface rights over 79 square miles of land. The current market
value for the land is $10.5 million. Alberta has also offered $9 million
in financing to date, to help settle the claim.
- The proposal calls for the use of binding arbitration based on an
agreed-upon question to resolve the issue of compensation, a key area of
disagreement in previous offers.
The new offer exceeds the federal government's 1988 offer by almost $8.5
million.
Canada is ready to add to this settlement package a five-year Alternative
Funding Arrangement (AFA) to provide the band with $17.7 million in
operating funds which will be phased in as community construction is
completed.
Operations Directorate
Communications Branch
DIAND
* * * * *
Attachment #20: GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INFORMATION, August 11, 1992
DETAILS RESPECTING 1992 FEDERAL OFFER TO LUBICON LAKE NATION
BRIEFING TO MEDIA BY TOM SIDDON, MINISTER OF
INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT
Chateau Airport Hotel
Calgary, Alberta
Tuesday, August 11, 1992
(Not attached, available by mail upon request)
* * * * *
Attachment #21: August 07, 1992, Government of Canada Communiqu�
SIDDON SURPRISED AND DISAPPOINTED BY LUBICON REJECTION
Edmonton (August 7, 1992) --
Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister, Tom Siddon, expressed
profound regret today over Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak's surprising
rejection of the new federal offer to resolve the Lubicon Lake Band land
claim.
"I am most surprised that the Band has rejected my offer because at our
last meeting with the Chief, I indicated that this offer was not a "take-
it-or-leave-it" offer, as there were many issues that required further
work and discussion before finalizing our position."
"This is one of the richest offers ever made for the settlement of an
Aboriginal claim. It goes significantly beyond previous offers and
responds in virtually every way to the proposal put forward by the
Lubicon," the Minister said. "It is based on lengthy, extensive
negotiations, both between Chief Ominayak and me, and between our
officials and lawyers. We have had every reason to believe we had worked
out the basis for a negotiated settlement together."
The new federal offer for a settlement includes the following:
- Canada will provide a total of $53.3 million in benefits over five
years to settle the claim, based on Chief Bernard Ominayak's estimate of
500 band members, with 450 living on reserve. The band will receive $20
million in the first year after settlement excluding operating funds.
- Of this, $38.3 million will be made available for the construction of a
new community for the Lubicon Nation. This includes up to 120 new and
relocated houses, full water and sewer services, roads, electricity,
administration office, community hall, health centre, fire station,
school and a teachers' residence.
- Within this package, Canada will make available $12.5 million for an
expanded and more flexible economic development package.
- A $2.5 million "incentive" to settle the claim has also been added to
the federal offer to the Lubicon community.
- In addition to the federal package, the province of Alberta has offered
the band a total of 95 square miles of land, of which they would hold
full subsurface rights over 79 square miles of land. The current market
value for the land is $10.5 million. Alberta has also offered $9 million
in financing to date, to help settle the claim.
- The proposal calls for the use of binding arbitration based on an
agreed-upon question to resolve the issue of compensation, a key area of
disagreement in previous offers.
The new offer exceeds the federal government's 1988 offer by almost $8.5
million.
Canada is ready to add to this settlement package a five-year Alternative
Funding Arrangement (AFA) to provide the band with $17.7 million in
operating funds which will be phased in as community construction is
completed.
"The Government of Canada is well aware of the social conditions which
exist among the Lubicon," Minister Siddon added. "Acceptance by the
Chief to negotiate on the basis of this offer would have addressed these
problems and resulted in job training and employment on reserve, not to
mention proper housing and infrastructure for all band members."
Minister Siddon concluded, "I am surprised that the Lubicon rejected this
offer outright. Two years ago the band went to the United Nations Human
Rights Committee, which told them that our original, less generous offer,
was appropriate. Each time the band delays the settlement of its claim,
the people are deprived of the economic and social progress to which they
are entitled and for which they have waited for too many years."
Ref: Wayne Hanna, Regional Communications Manager (Alberta), Indian
Affairs and Northern Development (403) 495-2815 or (403) 463-0945
* * * * *
Attachment #22: August 12, 1992, Edmonton Journal article
LUBICON TALKS TO CONTINUE, MINISTER SAYS
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
Calgary
Land claim negotiations with the Lubicon Lake Cree will not be allowed to
slide off the table, Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said Tuesday.
"I don't think the question is closed," said Siddon, who flew to Calgary
to brief reporters on the federal offer Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak
rejected last week.
Ominayak declined an invitation to meet in Calgary, but Siddon said he
hopes to meet or talk with the chief Thursday. Ominayak could not be
reached for comment.
Siddon values the latest settlement proposals at $73 million in current
dollars but Ominayak has said they contain "little that's new and falls
far short of claims made for them."
Ominayak's response "didn't square with the direction of our discussions
over five meetings. It didn't fit. I'm puzzled," Siddon said.
The federal offer includes $38.3 million for community construction,
$12.5 million for socio-economic development, a $2.5 million signing
incentive, $5 million over 10 years from Alberta plus $3 million from the
province for a vocational training centre, $1 million for a road and
$10.5 million worth of land from Alberta.
In 1988, the Lubicon wanted $70 million to develop an agricultural
community, plus a $100 million trust fund. Siddon has proposed that the
trust fund issue be settled by arbitration.
The key difference between the offer and demand, Ominayak said in his
letter last week, is how Ottawa and Lubicon value money.
The offer "treats 1988 and 1992 dollars as basically having the same
value, which clearly isn't the case," Ominayak wrote.
Siddon rejected Ominayak's criticism, saying inflation has been factored
into community construction costs.
Socio-economic development is "tied to a population of 500 members. the
amount is not rigid. But it is not a blank cheque, it is based on the
sizes of the community," Siddon said.
"There are other communities in the neighborhood. People may want to
choose whether they adhere to Lubicon or some other community,"
Last year, Ottawa settled with the nearby Woodland Cree, a band created
by Indian Affairs. The band includes some former Lubicon and its
creation was widely criticized as an attempt to undermine Ominayak.
The Loon River band, 50 km east of the Lubicon settlement of Little
Buffalo, elected a chief and council earlier this year and will also seek
a settlement with Ottawa.
Some Lubicon may be drawn to Loon River, Siddon said, but "to some extent
it's up to the chief and the Lubicon as to whether they can encourage
these people to join their community."
* * * * *
Attachment #23: DAILY CLIPPING SERVICE, REGIONAL ISSUES
August 12, 1992
By Jim Morris
CALGARY (CP) -- The federal government must know how many Lubicon Cree
will benefit from a land claim settlement before an exact dollar figure
can be reached, federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said Tuesday.
Siddon also said he was puzzled by Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak's
rejection of the Government's latest $73-million settlement offer.
"When I met with Chief Ominayak it was agreed the (cash) number was
dependent on population and flexible," Siddon said.
"I don't think the taxpayers would expect us to write a blank cheque
without regard to the registered population of the Lubicon Cree."
The government's $73-million offer was based on a Lubicon population of
500. It would increase or decrease depending on the Band's exact number,
Siddon said.
A stumbling block has been the Lubicon's failure to supply an exact Band
list.
"It's for the Lubicon Lake people to come forward and say what their
membership is," Siddon said.
"We cannot just agree to the suggestion 'We have 500 members, give us the
cash'. It's got to be related."
Ominayak rejected the government's offer last Thursday, saying only
"minor, cosmetic changes" were included and it was basically the same as
the "take-it-or-leave-it offer" put forward by the federal government in
1988.
"We do not consider the supposedly new offer to be either fair or just,"
Ominayak said in a letter to Siddon.
Another obstacle in settling the northern Alberta Cree Band's 50-year-old
land claim seems to be how Ottawa and the Lubicon value money.
Ottawa describes its offer in 1992 dollars while the Lubicon position has
been defined by the purchasing power of a dollar in 1988 when the federal
government made a proposal of $45 million.
The 1988 Lubicon demand of $70 million for community and economic
development plus a $100-million trust fund would cost $248 million today
while Ottawa's 1988 offer of $45 million would inflate to $65 million,
according to a conversion formula developed by the Alberta Government.
Siddon dismissed the Lubicon's argument.
"I find the debate about the indexing irrelevant because we have to know
the membership," he said.
Siddon acknowledged several northern Bands are still deciding if they
wish to join the Lubicon. The Lubicon might be waiting for a final offer
from the government as an enticement for these Bands, he said.
The government package included $38.3 million to build a new community; a
$12.5 million economic development package; 250 square kilometres of land
-- 204 of which the Lubicon would hold full subsurface rights to --
valued at $10.5 million; and a $2.5 million incentive to settle the
claim.
Siddon said he's willing to meet with Ominayak to discuss the deal, but
warned the federal government doesn't have much more to offer.
"I'm at the edge, if not beyond, of my Cabinet mandate," he said. "This
(offer) is at the top end of any offer to any First Nation in Canada."
* * * * *
Attachment #24: August 16, 1992, letter from the Women of the Lubicon
Lake Indian Nation to Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon
The Women of the Lubicon Lake Nation invite you to address our people.
We would like you to bring your family and stay for a whole week. You
can experience first hand our living conditions, our poverty and our
frustration. You can tell us about ow "sad" you are about our rejecting
the "new offer". You can explain to us how you are giving Lubicon an
extra 10 million to buy our own land.
We would like any opportunity to meet with you so we could tell you, you
are playing around with our money, not the taxpayers! We know government
has investment sin Petro-Canada, Husky and so on -- you people have made
money directly from our land. Tell us the amount of money you people
have taken in oil; we want to know is it 1 billion or 5 billion?
And you have said this offer is generous to the Lubicon. In this "new
offer" your people have brought up the band membership issue, when it was
supposed to be resolved three years ago. Why? We will decide the
membership, not you or some strangers in Ottawa. This issue of control
over membership is non-negotiable.
We have something to say to you Mr. Siddon. Lubicon women would like to
ask, do you think we are growing stupid? This deal is worse than your
"take-it-or-leave-it" offer, any fool can see that. You have further
insulted our people by stating: "There are other communities in the
neighborhood. People may want to choose whether they adhere to Lubicon
or some other community." Are you saying that our Nation is like a
street in Edmonton, if we don't like this than we are free to move on?
Do you know that our grandmothers and grandfathers have fought over 50
years for their rights as Lubicon? Do you know that our people have
lived here for many, many years: it is our land and our Nation, not some
neighborhood!
No amount of money is going to make us give up being Lubicon or give up
our land. And no amount of "government created bands" are going to wipe
us out, rather you are forcing the Lubicon to work together as never
before. The women will work extra hard at not letting you destroy and
tear apart our families.
Everyone knows we do not want to be millionaires. We want decent living
conditions and a future for our children. We want you to settle the land
claim and use the proposal the Lubicon people negotiated a long time ago.
We want our land and lives to be left alone. Stop playing games with us,
and the public. We will fight with whatever means we have available to
us to get this land claim settled. We have kept quiet too long. Our
voices will be heard. We ask other women to help make our voice stronger.
* * * * *
Attachment #25: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (7:30 A.M.)
Wednesday, August 19, 1992
CBC News
A group of Lubicon women has sent a letter to the Minister of Indian
Affairs demanding he settle the Lubicon land claim. Fourteen women
signed the letter. About a week ago, Tom Siddon was critical of the
Lubicon for rejecting the Government's latest offer. A Lubicon
spokeswoman, Maggie Auger, says the offer wasn't adequate. She says the
Lubicon don't want to be millionaires. They only want decent living
conditions and a future for their children. Auger challenged Siddon and
his family to move to Little Buffalo, home of the Lubicon, for a week to
see what living conditions are like.
* * * * *
Attachment #26: August 17, 1992, letter from Calgary resident Elleonora
Jilek to Federal Minister Tom Siddon
August 17, 1992
Tom Siddon
Minister of Indian Affairs
House of Commons,
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H4
Mr. Siddon,
As someone who has been following the Lubicon Lake Cree issue for some
time now, I have come to the conclusion that the only thing your
department is interested in is preserving the department and controlling
a segment of the population that exists on a level comparable with any
deprived third world country. I have corresponded with at least 4
ministers on this issue, and have received, what I can truthfully call,
the standard, non response-type letters that I am tired of getting.
Overall, the statements included in all these letters, and I assure you,
I have received a fair share, is that your 'side' is always prepared to
negotiate fairly and in the best interests of the Lubicon people. When
some progress seems to be at hand, lo and behold, the question of 'valid
membership' and staying within the 'law of the land' find their way into
this quagmire of bureaucratic bull.
You have indicated on several occasions that the Lubicons could receive
both monies and programs that equal any in this country - that is, a
settlement that is as 'good' as any received by similarly-sized bands. If
this is the case, then the Lubicons' 'refusal' to accept your latest
'improved' offer does not come as any surprise to me. When I look at the
level of unemployment, suicide and utter hopelessness of many reserves, I
cannot believe that you would want to offer a similar situation to the
Lubicons. What we have is a whole department and special minister to see
to their needs (determined by the minister, not them) who even dictates
whether or not they are even Indians. Surely it is not your intention to
see the Lubicons forever dependent on welfare payments and social
programs as other bands?
The question of the 'improved' package deal, now supposedly worth an
additonal $27.3 MILLION more than the 1988 'offer' is one which perhaps
the Calgary Herald editorial board has taken at face value, and the
Canadian Press has been good enough to place at the disposal of the wire
services, but for many of those in the know, this so-called improvement
is nothing if not an outright lie, and a total disgrace to intelligent
people. Never before has a government had the audacity to count the
financial value of Indian lands, retained by natives as reserves from the
much larger traditional lands given up in the course of landclaim
settlements, as part of such a settlement. The reason for this
unprecedented manoeuvre is as clear to me as it is to other people with
half a brain, namely to deliberately mislead the general public and then
to paint the Lubicons as unreasonable when they do not go along with your
deceitful charades.
The fact is that your current offer, taking into account inflation, is
worth LESS than was your 1988 'take-it-or-leave-it offer'. So the higher
amount of the 1992 offer quoted by you is nothing but a lot of BS. The
decline in living standards of the Lubicons is of no consequence to you
when you try to convince the public that the latest offer is even more
generous than previous offers. This propaganda, thrown at the Canadian
public and espoused by mainstream media, is more suitable in Chile or
Argentina. The practice of exchanging land and riches for trinkets and
beads should be dead by now, but apprently not in Ottawa.
Perhaps you are incapable of understanding that people want, and deserve,
to determine their own destiny, without need of approval from some
privileged politician in the House of Commons. Even after your recent
visit to Little Buffalo, you are still able to overlook the poverty and
desperation of the Lubicons' situation. Whatever compensation will be
offered to the Lubicons, it will NEVER be enough to compensate them for
all the hardships, lost time, lost generations, and lost revenues from
resources extracted from their lands.
After 50 years of fighting politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, apathetic
people and forced change, I have hope that sooner or later the Lubicons
will win. They may become victims of neglect and genocide, but at least
you can have the satisfaction of having been part of that cleansing
process.
I hope you take this letter for what it is meant to be - a strong
condemnation of your actions, the actions of your bureaucrats, and other
accomplices. See you at the next federal elections!
c.c. Lubicon Lake Nation
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
* * * * *
Attachment #27: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (6:30 A.M.)
Friday, August 21, 1992
Phil Henry, CBC News
Thanks but no thanks. That's what the Minister of Indian Affairs is
saying to a request from the Lubicon Indians to live with them for a
week. The Lubicon Cree of northern Alberta have been trying to settle
their land claim for more than 50 years. This week a group of Lubicon
women asked Siddon if he'd spend a week in Little Buffalo to see first-
hand the poverty there. Siddon says he already knows what living
conditions are like in Little Buffalo and he wants to improve them.
Byron Christopher reports.
Byron Christopher, CBC News
The back drop to this story is that two weeks ago the Lubicon Cree turned
down another land claim offer from Ottawa. Chief Bernard Ominayak said
it wasn't good enough. That prompted Tom Siddon to say the Lubicon were
making a mistake because his offer was indeed generous. Enter a group of
Lubicon women. They said the Lubicon had been waiting since 1939 for a
land claim settlement and they're getting tired. They also made the
point that living conditions in Little Buffalo are terrible. Then they
invited Tom Siddon and his family to join them for a week. Yesterday
Siddon responded to the offer. A prepared statement was read by Wayne
Hanna with Indian Affairs in Edmonton. According to Tom Siddon, he
shares the objectives of the Lubicon women who want decent living
conditions and a future for their children. That's why, he says, he's
had a number of meetings with Chief Ominayak including one in Little
Buffalo. Siddon goes on to say that on no other land claim has a
Minister of Indian Affairs taken such an active, personal role. The
Minister says he still wants to negotiate a deal but he's yet to hear
from Chief Ominayak. He says perhaps the Lubicon women can convince
their Chief to return to the table, then have a representative of the
women join them in talks. Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton.
Henry
Meanwhile Lubicon Chief Ominayak says it's up to Tom Siddon to make the
next move. Ominayak says the Minister has yet to respond to the letter
he sent him more than two weeks ago. The two sides are far apart on the
amount of money needed to settle the claim. The Lubicons say they'll
need at least $170 million to become self-sufficient. Government says
it's offered the Band more than $73 million. The Indians deny that.
They say the federal offer is only worth about half that.
* * * * *
Attachment #28: August 27, 1992, Federal Government "Media Advisory"
OTTAWA (August 27, 1992) -- The Honourable Tom Siddon, Minister of Indian
Affairs and Northern Development, and Chief Bernard Ominayak of the
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation have agreed today, in a telephone
conversation, to meet in Edmonton, on Friday, September 4, 1992.
The purpose of the meeting is to resume negotiations aimed at reaching an
early settlement of the Lubicon Lake Nation land claim.
Details concerning the time and location of the meeting will be provided
next week.
Ref.:
Wayne Hanna, Communications, Alberta Region (403) 495-2815
* * * * *
Attachment #29: September 03, 1992, letter to the Editor of the Edmonton
Journal from Federal Minister Tom Siddon
LUBICON LEADERS HOLD ANSWERS -- SIDDON
I felt sad when I read the testimony of the Lubicon women who appeared
before the Lubicon settlement commission of review, sad because the
solution to the problems which they described is in the hands of their
leadership, which continues to reject it.
It has always been my goal to solve the problems of the Lubicon Lake
people. That is why I decided last November to work directly with Chief
Bernard Ominayak to settle this matter once and for all. I went to
Alberta five times this year to meet with him, including a meeting at
Little Buffalo, and I thought we were making real progress. Despite our
efforts, he has once more rejected a new offer, and the extensive
negotiations between his representatives and mine seem to have been
wasted.
I remain convinced that the offer is fair. It is one of the most
beneficial settlements ever offered to an aboriginal community, even
better than the offer deemed appropriate by the United Nations in 1990.
I am therefore perplexed by the Lubicon refusal to even discuss our
proposals.
I cannot insist that Ominayak talk to me, but I am more than willing to
talk to him if that is what he wants. The future of the Lubicons is now
in his hands.
Tom Siddon, Minister, Indian Affairs and Northern Development
* * * * *
Attachment #30: September 03, 1992, Federal Government "Media Advisory"
EDMONTON (September 3, 1992) -- The Honourable Tom Siddon, Minister of
Indian Affairs and Northern Development will meet with Chief Bernard
Ominayak of the Lubicon Lake First Nation on Friday, September 4, 1992.
The purpose of the meeting is to resume negotiations aimed at reaching a
speedy settlement of the Lubicon Lake land claim.
The meeting will be held at: Chateau Louis, Conference Center, 11727
Kingsway Avenue, Edmonton, 10:00 A.M.
Ref.: Wayne Hanna
* * * * *
Attachment #31: September 04, 1992, Edmonton Sun article
OMINAYAK TO MEET SIDDON
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon is slated to meet Lubicon First Nation
Chief Bernard Ominayak in Edmonton today in an attempt to resolve the
band's land claim.
* * * * *
Attachment #32: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (7:30 A.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Phil Henry, CBC News
Talks are back on again in an attempt to resolve one of Canada's oldest
land claim disputes. Chief Bernard Ominayak of the Lubicon Cree Indians
of northern Alberta will meet in Edmonton this morning with Tom Siddon,
Minister of Indian Affairs. The main issue is money. Ominayak and
Siddon have met several times this year in an attempt to give the
Lubicons a reserve. The Band was promised a reserve in 1939.
* * * * *
Attachment #33: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (4:30 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
CBC News
Krysia, you mentioned that Tom Siddon was meeting with Chief Bernard
Ominayak. Is there any progress in that meeting?
Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News
Apparently they're stuck on the issue of Band membership. The Lubicons
have been trying to settle a land claim in northern Alberta for more than
50 years, and after a meeting in Edmonton today with the Minister of
Indian Affairs, Chief Bernard Ominayak says he's disappointed membership
has again become an issue. Dave Cooper reports.
Dave Cooper, CBC News
Chief Ominayak met with Tom Siddon, the Indian Affairs Minister, for
about 2 hours. The two have different opinions about whether any
progress was made in an effort to settle the Lubicon land claim. Siddon
says he thinks the meeting was a good one, but Ominayak doesn't see it
that way. He says the two sides are at an impasse over the question of
Band membership. And, Ominayak says, he thought that was settled long
ago.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
We have great difficulty in coming back to something that we had agreed
to and hoped that we had overcome some years ago. Hopefully we're able
to work around that, but our position is still the same -- the Lubicon
people will determine who our people are.
Cooper
Tom Siddon says the government needs to know how many Lubicons would be
covered by a land claim settlement. But he doesn't think the dispute
threatens negotiations.
Tom Siddon, Federal Indian Affairs Minister
I don't see any difficulty in accepting the Chief's proposals on how the
membership would be defined and what forms of restriction would apply.
The question of numbers is one where I'm not anxious for an immediate
result. I mean it's not a deal-breaker at this point.
Cooper
While the two sides don't agree on how much progress they've made, they
have agreed to meet again in a few weeks. Dave Cooper, CBC News,
Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #34: Transcript of CKUA Radio News Broadcast (5:15 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Erin Carpenter, CKUA News
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon came to Edmonton today to pitch
Ottawa's latest settlement offer to Alberta's Lubicon Cree Indians. It's
the third round of negotiations aimed at resolving the Band's 50 year old
land claim. Last month the Lubicons rejected a federal offer of $53
million. They're asking for $170 million from Ottawa and Alberta in
compensation and funding for community infrastructure. Lubicon Chief
Bernard Ominayak met privately with Siddon for two hours today. The two
discussed the criteria for membership in the Band, but didn't reach an
agreement. The two sides will meet again in the next two or three weeks.
* * * * *
Attachment #35: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (5:30 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Krysia Jarmicka, CBC News
The Chief of the Lubicon Indians says the Band has reached an impasse in
negotiations with the federal government. Bernard Ominayak met today in
Edmonton with Tom Siddon, the Minister of Indian Affairs. After the
meeting both said they have to resolve the issue of how many people
belong to the Lubicon Band. Siddon says the issue doesn't mean a deal
can't be reached. But Ominayak says he's upset the Minister has raised
the issue which the Band thought was settled.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
As far as the Lubicon people are concerned, we are the people that are
going to determine our list and who our people are. It's not the
government that's going to determine who our people are and aren't.
Jarmicka
Tom Siddon says he needs an accurate count on the number of Lubicons in
order to justify any land claim settlement. Siddon and Ominayak will
meet again in a few weeks.
* * * * *
Attachment #36: Transcript of CFRN TV News Broadcast (6:00 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Daphne Kuehn, CFRN News
Another effort today to try to resolve the 50 year old Lubicon land claim
ended in failure. Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon met with
Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak to end the disagreement. Last month the
natives rejected a $73 million offer which included a 95 sq. mile
reserve.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Hopefully we get into some serious discussions this time around, instead
of playing games. I really don't have time for that any more.
Tom Siddon, Federal Indian Affairs Minister
I thought we understood the language of our respective views and that we
were very, very close. I still believe that to be the case.
Kuehn
The two sides apparently are stuck on how to identify who is a member of
the Lubicon Band. They will be meeting again in a few weeks time to try
to resolve the remaining issues.
* * * * *
Attachment #37: Transcript of CP News Report (6:47 P.M.)
Friday, September 04, 1992
EDMONTON (CP)
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon is hampering land claim talks with the
Lubicon Cree by playing games says a woman who met with the Minister
Friday.
"He should be ashamed of his continued deceit and the political games
that he plays with our future," Maggie Auger said after a group of
Lubicon women met with the Minister for two hours to discuss family
concerns in the 50 year old dispute.
Siddon "blew his top" at one point near the end of the meeting when the
women were pressing for an answer on an issue, she said. "He was
disrespectful and used coarse and vulgar language with our women and
elders."
The women, including elders and others from the Samson Band in Hobbema,
Alberta, had sought the meeting in hopes they could convince Siddon of
the human costs of not settling the land claim.
"It is time our Lubicon women step forward to fight for our children,"
said Auger, a mother of four.
Siddon then spent two hours with Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak. No
agreement was reached and most of that time was spent discussing the
criteria for band membership.
The membership issue was believed to have been resolved in 1988 but has
been renewed because of the proposed constitutional package, which
includes aboriginal self-government. Siddon said some specifics must be
addressed to deal with replacing the Indian Act and moving self-
government to band control.
Ominayak said while both sides agree on the estimated number of 500 band
members, he says it will be the Lubicon, not Ottawa, who determines
criteria for band membership.
There is little chance of reaching an agreement in the near future "if
we're going to keep going back on agreements" already made, Ominayak
said.
Siddon said the band membership issue "is not a deal-breaker at this
point. But there has to be a process for assessing members that I can
use when I go to my Cabinet colleagues."
Ominayak and Siddon agreed to meet in two to three weeks time.
In July the Lubicon rejected the latest federal offer, a proposal valued
by Ottawa at $73 million.
* * * * *
Attachment #38: Transcript of CBC TV News Broadcast (9:00 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Bob Chelmick, CBC News
Another attempt today to resolve the on-going dispute between the Lubicon
Indian Band and the federal government. The two sides met again in a
hotel in downtown Edmonton. Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon was
hoping to make some progress in one of Canada's oldest Native land claim
disputes. Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak said he was less optimistic
going into the meeting, and after spending the entire day in talks,
Ominayak and Siddon seemed just as far apart on the issue as always.
Tom Siddon, Federal Indian Affairs Minister
I'm not going to read anything into our discussions today. I'm satisfied
that we will be continuing to discuss one or two of the key sticking
points.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Our position is still the same -- that the Lubicon people will determine
who our people are, and that's a position that we're not going to walk
away from.
* * * * *
Attachment #39: Transcript of ITV News Broadcast (10:00 P.M.)
Friday, September 4, 1992
Gordon Steinke, ITV News
More discussions today on the continuing Lubicon land claim dispute.
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon met once again with Lubicon Chief
Bernard Ominayak in hopes of finalizing a settlement package with the
federal government. Ottawa wants control of determining the number of
Lubicon members, but Ominayak says that should be up to the Band.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Hopefully we're able to work around that. But our position is still the
same -- that the Lubicon people will determine who our people are, and
that's a position that we're not going to walk away from.
Tom Siddon, Federal Indian Affairs Minister
There has to be a process for assuring that when I go to Cabinet to seek
support for a final agreement we have a fairly good estimate of how many
people will be the beneficiaries of that agreement. So how we do that
will be the subject of further discussion.
Steinke
Both sides have agreed to meet once again in two weeks time.
* * * * *
Attachment #40: September 22, 1992, Letter from Red Deer resident John
Hamer to the Edmonton Journal
TRASHING OF LUBICONS COULD LAST FOR YEARS
Until there are some fundamental changes to the common law in Canada, the
trashing of the Lubicons by the federal government could continue for
years.
The Journal editorial, An Aboriginal triumph (Aug. 22) noted that the
constitutional agreement on native self-government "will not resolve the
Lubicon Lake Cree land claim."
Maybe we should look to the recent aboriginal land claim legislation in
Australia for guidance. In June, the Australian High Court ruled that
aboriginal land title could not be extinguished simply because of
colonization by the British, and that land rights would now be based on
the legal systems of the aboriginal people. The court observed that the
denial of those rights had led to the "discriminatory denigration of
indigenous inhabitants, their social organization and customs."
That quotation accurately describes what the Lubicons have been fighting
against for the last 17 years. It's been over two years since the UN
Human Rights Committee found that the Lubicons "could not achieve
effective legal redress within Canada" -- and nothing has changed.
I wonder if Canada's Supreme Court will agree with Australian Justice
Francis Gerard Brennan's statement that "It is imperative in today's
world that the common law should neither be, nor be seen to be, frozen in
an age of racial discrimination."
If the UN can't help the Lubicons, and constitutional reforms won't make
a difference, then maybe it's time our legal system took a long, hard
look at why racist legislation is allowed to stay on the books.
* * * * *
Attachment #41: September 22, 1992, Letter from Edmonton resident
Hermann Kirchmeir to the Edmonton Journal
IT'S TIME TO STOP CHEATING THE NATIVES
Owners of some 10,000 square km of land in northern Alberta, the Lubicons
are willing to sell all of it except 240 square km, a reserve to secure
their future.
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon offers to pay for it in money and
services -- and $10 million worth of land.
To pay with something they do not have is a century-old scam of Ottawa
men bargaining for native territory.
History shows that the reserves never have been, as Siddon wants us to
believe, a gift from the government to the Indians; they are unceded
lands, remnants of the Indian realm of old.
Isn't it time for the minister to quit the shameful governmental
tradition of cheating the natives, and to try something new instead like,
say, dealing in good faith?