(Continued from last message) Mr. Siddon said "It wouldn't help to have a house or a school twice as big as necessary". He said "We are talking about training and some compensation and mediation on a larger amount". Mr. Siddon said "If a significant amount of financial assistance is available your people need to look at the economic development opportunities so that they have some future". Chief Ominayak said "I agree in general but not on specifics". He said "Your offer doesn't provide what we need to take advantage of the economic development opportunities in a vastly changed world not of our making". Chief Ominayak said "We can't agree to give up our aboriginal land rights in order to mediate compensation based on those aboriginal land rights". "In the past", the Chief said, "we have agreed to put the question of defining the kind of rights aside to see if we could achieve agreement on the elements of a settlement including compensation". He asked "If we cede our rights first, how can we then negotiate a settlement based on those rights?" Chief Ominayak said "Premier Getty proposed a three person independent tribunal, with you selecting one person, us selecting one person and the first two selecting a third to decide the questions which we can't settle through negotiations". He said "That might respond to the concerns of your legal people". He said "I'm sure that Premier Getty wouldn't make a proposal which isn't consistent with Canadian law". Mr. Siddon said "If we agree to go back to the reserve that was promised and some benefits as provided by Treaty 8, if there's an obligation tied to lost programs, benefits and services -- that can be mediated but that requires an acceptance of Treaty 8". "The only other way", he said, "is compensation under aboriginal title but that has to be settled legally". Mr. Siddon said "I think it might be possible to find the right words through negotiation but in the final analysis you ask me to disregard the law and I can't do that". Chief Ominayak said "Both levels of Canadian Government bend and twist and break the law as they see fit". He said "We wouldn't be in this predicament if Canadian Government respected its own laws". "However", he said, "we're now in a position where we need a fair and just settlement and the question is how do we achieve that". Mr. Siddon said "I'm prepared to deal with rights under Treaty 8 in the fullest and fairest amount but I can't break the law". He said "The Federal Government transferred the land to the Province in 1930". He said "The law is that they own it". Chief Ominayak repeated "We seek a fair and just settlement without bending or breaking any law but we need to understand what we mean when we speak of a process to accomplish that". He said "We won't confine ourselves to a treaty signed nearly 100 years ago by others, which we never signed and which clearly doesn't even reflect what they agreed at that time". He said "If either level of Canadian Government can provide a document or any proof that the Lubicon people ceded their aboriginal land rights in any legally or historically recognized way we'll change our position". Mr. Siddon said "I thought we were making good progress on building a community and creating a reserve". "My understanding", he said, "was that we were very close a month ago". "That's why I don't understand", he said, "the recent public statements that negotiations aren't going anywhere". Chief Ominayak said "I thought that we were going somewhere too until we received the first and second bibles". Mr. Siddon asked "What second bible?" Mr. Wouters said "A community construction package; an information package on what programs are available; we're proceeding with soil and water testing and Lubicon negotiators wanted to come back and talk about some other items like the ice-skating rink and the swimming pool". Chief Ominayak asked Fred Lennarson to "describe the first and second bibles". Fred Lennarson said "Federal settlement proposals book number one tabled on March 12th of this year is largely a verbatim reiteration of the 1989 so-called take-it-or-leave-it settlement offer which even Premier Getty publicly described as deficient in its provisions for supposedly enabling the Lubicon people to once again achieve economic self-sufficiency". He said "Federal settlement proposals book number two tabled on May 6th of this year is essentially book number one plus over a hundred pages of standard Government program information sheets on programs available to Indians in Canada, treaty and non- treaty alike". Mr. Lennarson said "Overall the numbers in books one and two are revised upward somewhat from the take-it-or-leave-it offer but not enough to take into account the impact of inflation from 1988 to 1992". "The end result", Mr. Lennarson said, "is that the total value of current Federal proposals in real dollars is actually significantly less than the so-called take-it-or-leave-it offer -- to the tune of an estimated 8 to 10 million dollars less". "The basic difference between Lubicon proposals and Federal Government proposals", Mr. Lennarson said, "isn't that the Lubicons are proposing to build houses for non-existent people, but rather that Lubicon proposals represent an integrated, comprehensive approach intended to enable the Lubicon people to once again achieve social, political and economic self-sufficiency, while Federal Government proposals represent an approach which would provide the Lubicon people with housing and basic services but makes no credible provision for the Lubicon people to re-build a self-sufficient economy or once again manage their own affairs". "Items missing in the Federal Government's proposals", Mr. Lennarson said, "include a natural gas utility, a combined community improvement shop/vocational training centre, basic commercial enterprises, development of reserve land for agricultural purposes, a community hall, a community recreation centre, an old people's home, a day care facility, local communications capability and a combination fire hall/police station/court house and lock-up". "Regarding the so-called vocational training program referred to by Mr. Siddon", Mr. Lennarson said, "book number two includes a letter from Mr. Wouters to Mr. Sachs indicating that the Province is considering a proposal from an unknown source to contribute up to a million dollars to possibly pay for adding a typical industrial arts shop to the proposed community high school". He said "Mr. Wouters told me that a creative architect should be able to transform this 200 square metre typical high school industrial arts shop into something pretty close to what the Lubicons want". Mr. Lennarson said "The Lubicons have proposed a 2,500 square metre combined community improvement shop/vocational training centre where they could learn such things as heavy equipment operation and maintenance while actually maintaining community-owned road graders and four wheel drive tractors, and things like carpentry while actually prefabricating elements of their community construction program such as residential housing roof trusses". He said that he told Mr. Wouters that "it would be quite an architectural feat to transform a typical 200 metre high school wood-working shop and two car automotive shop into the 2,500 square metre combined community improvement shop/vocational training centre envisioned by the Lubicons". He pointed out that "The specifications for the proposed community shop/vocational training centre envisioned by the Lubicons weren't simply pulled out of the air but were provided to the Lubicons by the Provincial Advanced Education Department -- the people responsible for providing such vocational training in Alberta -- given the types of training the Lubicons are proposing to conduct". Regarding supposed compensation for lost programs, benefits and services", Mr. Lennarson said, "the Federal Government's proposal would provide $25,000 per capita for each person whose ancestors were supposedly not counted elsewhere as having received the so-called economic development benefits of Treaty 8". "This is a formula", he said, "which could hypothetically yield anywhere from near zero up to a maximum of about $12 1/2 million towards some $23 million in basic Lubicon economic development proposals". "It's interesting to compare this new Federal Government approach to calculating the value of lost programs, benefits and services", Mr. Lennarson said, "to the approach discussed in 1985 with earlier Lubicon Ministerial appointee the Honourable E. Davie Fulton, which", he said, "without bending or breaking any laws, and without addressing the question of treaty versus aboriginal rights, would generate in the range of $110 to $167 million". "This new approach to calculating the value of lost programs, benefits and services", Mr. Lennarson said, "thus represents another significant regression from earlier discussions". Mr. Siddon said "Our approach to these kinds of things is to make available (reserve) land and a new community and funds which the Lubicons can use to design their own economic development, plus to provide access to other Federal programs such as the Pathways to Success Program and the Aboriginal Economic Development Program". Mr. Siddon said "I believe strongly in education and training but it's not a matter of us telling you what's good for you". "If Mr. Lennarson says there's not enough money", Mr. Siddon said, "there are a number of programs to which the Lubicons can apply to make it bigger". Mr. Siddon said "I thought Mr. Wouters and Mr. Sachs were the negotiators". He said "I don't know where Mr. Lennarson gets off saying no progress is being made". He said "It's your right to decide how you want to proceed, how you want to spend your money, what programs you want to apply for". Mr. Siddon said "If Mr. Sachs and Mr. Wouters agree with what Mr. Lennarson says I'll be surprised". Chief Ominayak asked Bob Sachs to comment. Bob Sachs said "Back in February we looked at a time frame which has long since passed". He said "One thing is to make sure there is a full time, dedicated group of negotiators". Mr. Sachs said "We've fallen behind the time frame the Minister and the Chief talked about". He said "This has caused me personally a great deal of frustration". Mr. Sachs said "I want to proceed as fast as possible on the technical stuff". He said "I want to proceed in an accelerated time frame and that hasn't taken place". Mr. Wouters offered "I can commit full time people to speed things up". He said "We can set some deadlines". Mr. Siddon said "One of the things that didn't happen is that we haven't had a (Ministers and Chief) meeting since February". He said "I have a time frame in mind too". He said "There will be an election in the next year". He said "I want a solution by then". Mr. Siddon said "I want to take to Cabinet in September a settlement proposal". He said "I hope to sign a memorandum of understanding in August that I can take to Cabinet, that Mr. Fowler can take to the Provincial Government and that Chief Ominayak can take to the Lubicon people". Mr. Siddon said "I'm not interested in playing to the media". He said "I can do that just as effectively as you can but I'm not interested in playing to the media". He said "I'm interested in solving problems". Mr. Siddon repeated "I'd like to have a memorandum of understanding in August, go to Cabinet in September and start construction in the spring". Chief Ominayak said "We can sign the Lubicon draft settlement agreement right now and save time". He said "It's already drafted in agreement form". Mr. Fowler said "Mr. Siddon has explained that we can't break the laws of the land". He said "We still need to find a process". He said "I believe in my heart that we can do that". He said "The Lubicons may not get everything they want, and the two Governments may give more than they think they have to, but somehow, someway we have to find a way to give the Lubicons what they need". Mr. Fowler said "We can't do it in one or two years". He said "That's why we have programs in place to help over time". Mr. Fowler repeated "We have to get a process in place". Chief Ominayak said "We need a process which will enable the Lubicon people to achieve a fair and just settlement". Mr. Siddon said "I want to make it clearly understood that I have no hesitation to talk to the press". "But", he said, "my recollection is that we weren't going to negotiate in the press". He said "We had the understanding that we would refrain from negotiating in the press". Mr. Siddon said "We have to find a solution". He said "I suggest that we meet again at the end of June". He repeated "I hope to sign a memorandum of agreement at the end of August". Chief Ominayak said "In closing, as far as the media is concerned, I wish you would keep in mind last November when you asked me for a private, confidential, off-the-record meeting with no media involved or informed and then met with the Editorial Board of the Edmonton Journal immediately before our meeting, told them about our meeting, implied falsely that I'd requested the meeting, told them that the take-it-or-leave-it offer wouldn't be changed except to be reduced to take into account the Woodland Cree and so on". Mr. Siddon said "I was only trying to help the people of Edmonton hear the other side of the story". He said "It hasn't happened since". Chief Ominayak said "Mr. Wouters has since had a private, confidential meeting with the senior management of the CBC". Mr. Siddon said "I can guarantee that won't happen again". Chief Ominayak asked again for a detailed response to the Lubicon draft settlement agreement. Mr. Siddon said "We will provide it but we won't necessarily agree with you". Chief Ominayak asked again for assurance that Lubicon settlement items will be included in the terms of reference of the independent cost assessor. Mr. Siddon said "We can include them but we won't necessarily agree with what the independent cost assessor says". Mr. Siddon said "Under the new funding agreements, the Chief and Council decide how they want to spend money". Chief Ominayak said "That's exactly what we're doing". He said "That's why we prepared and presented our draft settlement agreement". Mr. Siddon said "The figure we've worked up is for a fully modern community at about $30 to $35 million". He repeated "It will be the equivalent of any in Canada". He said "If you want to spend the money in different ways that's your decision". Chief Ominayak said "We can't make $200 million out of $35 million". Mr. Siddon said "I'm only talking about community construction". Chief Ominayak asked Mr. Fowler about previous Provincial commitments. Mr. Fowler said "Any commitment made by the Province still stands". Chief Ominayak said "The Premier told me $10 million which has since shrunk to $5 million". Mr. Fowler said "My understanding was $5 million". "But", he said, "I will discuss it with Premier Getty". He said "The Premier has said many times that he's totally bound by whatever agreement he made". Chief Ominayak said "Thank you for coming but I don't know if we're any further ahead". Mr. Siddon said "We've heard each other". Mr. Fowler said "Mr. Siddon has promised you a detailed reaction". He said "I think you have a right to it". He said "We won't necessarily agree". Mr. Fowler said "I also would like a commitment to meet again in four weeks". Mr. Siddon proposed that Mr. Wouters and Mr. Sachs get together for a follow-up meeting. Mr. Siddon thanked the Lubicons for agreeing to meet him and said "I promise the work will continue". He then passed out "friendship pins" to the Lubicon Council explaining that he had passed them out to people across Canada. On June 11th Member of Parliament Ross Harvey asked Mr. Siddon's Parliamentary Secretary Ross Reid about Dr. Swain's meeting with the Austrian Ambassador and "whether or not the government is sufficiently concerned with the impact of the Lubicon situation on Canada's international reputation to undertake at the very least to provide the Lubicon people with a detailed point by point response to the Band's draft settlement proposal". Mr. Reid said "The Minister met on June 5 with Chief Ominayak and they discussed a number of things". He said "The most important thing is the mutual commitment by the Lubicon and by the government to seek a successful, fair and appropriate negotiation and resolution of this dispute". "Both sides have committed", Mr. Reid said, "first, to pursuing that result and second, they have both committed not to negotiate in public". "Certainly for me to take a step in that direction", Mr. Reid said, "would not serve the interests at all of a share (sic)". Also on June 11th the Canadian Church leaders made their earlier announced return visit to Little Buffalo Lake. The next day the Church leaders held a press conference on their visit in which they decried lack of a settlement, charged that lack of settlement was causing "a whole way of life and culture (to be) destroyed", encouraged the Federal Government to cooperate with the Lubicon Settlement Commission and made "a renewed appeal for a Lubicon settlement". In their comments the Church leaders described the plight of the Lubicon people as "a disgrace as well as a tragedy". They said "people are dying, individually and collectively". They said "It is clear that something must give if this situation is not to degenerate further". They said "A settlement is needed now; it cannot wait". They made clear that they "do not expect the Lubicon people to carry this struggle alone". On June 17th Commission Co-Chair Jacques Johnson advised Chief Ominayak that both Mr. Siddon and Mr. Fowler had declined to appear before the Commission. Ministerial Special Assistant Hoover told Father Johnson that Mr. Siddon couldn't appear because of a supposed agreement with the Chief "not to negotiate in public". Mr. Fowler told Father Johnson that he had no intention of appearing before the "pseudo" Lubicon Settlement Commission because Ray Martin had no power to establish such a Commission, that the Commission had no power to do anything and that "anybody can set up a Commission like that". Father Johnson asked for "any comments" the Chief might have to the position being taken by the two Ministers. Chief Ominayak wrote Father Johnson denying the existence of any agreement which would prevent either Mr. Siddon or Mr. Fowler from appearing before the Commission, indicating that as far as he knew there's nothing in the parliamentary rules or in law which would prohibit the Leader of the Official Opposition from establishing a Citizens Commission with exactly the same powers to assess and recommend as might be held by a similar Commission established by the Government, and saying "Moreover the Lubicon people would welcome Mr. Fowler and Mr. Siddon appearing before the Lubicon Settlement Commission and answering questions about their respective Lubicon settlement offers, which", he said, "they have publicly described many times as `generous', and about Lubicon settlement proposals, which", he said, "they have publicly described many times as `unreasonable'". "Hopefully", the Chief wrote, "a full public vetting of Lubicon settlement proposals and Government settlement offers will let people decide for themselves who's being `generous' and who's being `unreasonable'". On June 18th Ross Harvey made a statement on the Church Leaders June 11th Lubicon visit to the Canadian House of Commons. Mr. Harvey pointed out that it was a visit by these same Church Leaders eight years ago "that first drew the attention of the world to the destruction of the Lubicon people's traditional way of life and the ongoing refusal of Canadian Government's to deal fairly with them". "If anything", Mr. Harvey said, the Church leaders found that "things have become worse and government intransigence more calamitous". He said "Death and disease run rampant". He said "The very spirit of the (Lubicon) people is being ground to dust". Mr. Harvey said "This ugly stain on Canada's record must be removed". He said "The Canadian government must begin real negotiations with the Lubicon Nation, in good faith and starting with a detailed point- by-point response to the (Lubicon draft settlement agreement). On June 19th Father Johnson received a faxed letter from Mr. Siddon in which Mr. Siddon claimed "In past discussions I was asked by Chief Ominayak not to comment publicly on any aspect of the negotiations". "During my recent visit to Little Buffalo", Mr. Siddon claimed, "I reaffirmed this pledge with the Chief's approval". Mr. Siddon told Father Johnson "I am sure you realize that as a Minister of the Crown I am in no position to break my promise to Chief Ominayak". He said "As the Commission of Review is very much a public forum and as substantive negotiations are at a very delicate stage, I am sure you will appreciate the necessity of honouring my commitment to Chief Ominayak". "It is for these reasons", Mr. Siddon concluded, "that I must respectfully decline your invitation to appear before the Commission at this time". Asked for his reaction to Mr. Siddon's June 19th letter Chief Ominayak only shook his head sadly. It's always been very tough for the Lubicons to do business with people whom the Chief once described as sitting across the table from you and lying just like they were telling the truth. There is of course no agreement of the kind described by Mr. Siddon although the propensity of successive Federal Government representatives to both insist upon and then breach such agreements is well known. The only discussion between the Chief and the Minister on what Mr. Siddon inaccurately characterizes as "negotiating in public", as graphically illustrated by the exchanges during the June 5th meeting, consisted of the Minister repeatedly suggesting that there should be no public comment, and the Chief pointing out that Federal representatives don't respect their own position on this issue. Copies of related correspondence and media coverage are attached. It would be helpful if people would write Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney demanding that he instruct his Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon to provide the repeatedly promised a point-by-point reaction to Lubicon settlement proposals, without which a settlement of Lubicon land rights is inconceivable, and also to instruct Mr. Siddon to appear before the Lubicon Settlement Commission and answer questions about the Federal positions and settlement proposals, since without such public scrutiny of the process a settlement is also inconceivable. It would additionally be helpful if people would write Alberta Premier Don Getty demanding that he instruct his Native Affairs Minister Dick Fowler to appear before the Lubicon Settlement Commission and answer questions about the Provincial Government's position on settlement issues and proposals, since otherwise Federal representatives will simply employ the time-honoured tactic of blaming the Province for lack of settlement. It would additionally be helpful if people would send the Lubicon Settlement Commission copies of their letters to the Prime Minister and the Premier, as well as to let the Commission know of their views on the continuing Lubicon tragedy and the work of the Commission. It also wouldn't hurt to write Ray Martin a letter commending him for trying to help facilitate a settlement. Political leaders who do the right and honourable thing should be acknowledged and encouraged. Letters to the Prime Minister should be addressed to: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Government of Canada Ottawa/Hull, Canada FAX 613-005-0101 FAX 613-957-9553 Letters to the Premier should be addressed to: The Hon. Don Getty Premier, Government of Alberta Legislative Buildings Edmonton, AB FAX: 403-427-1349 Letters to the Lubicon Settlement Commission should be addressed to: Fr. Jacques Johnson, OMI Lubicon Settlement Commission of Review 10336 - 114 Street Edmonton, AB T5K 1S3 FAX: 403-488-4698 Letters to Ray Martin should be addressed to: The Hon. R. Martin Leader of the Official Opposition Legislative Buildings Edmonton, Alberta FAX: 403-422-0985