Lubicon Lake Indian Nation Little Buffalo Lake, AB 403-629-3945 FAX: 403-629-3939 Mailing address: 3536 - 106 Street Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4 403-436-5652 FAX: 403-437-0719 January 20, 1994 Attached for your information is a copy of a press statement and related media coverage regarding a resolution on the Lubicon situation recently passed unanimously by the Austrian Parliament. The resolution instructs the Austrian Government to use its diplomatic relations with Canada to urge the Canadian Government to negotiate "a mutually satisfactory settlement" of Lubicon land rights with the Lubicon people including land, resources and financial compensation. Various forms of the Austrian resolution have been discussed by the Foreign Policy Committee of the Austrian Parliament for some time to the great and growing distress of the Canadian Government which clearly doesn't like international attention to focus on systematic denial of the human and aboriginal rights of Canada's aboriginal people. Much better to focus on and protest abuse of human rights elsewhere. The Canadian Embassy in Vienna has consequently been conducting a major lobbying effort designed to defeat any resolution supportive of respecting the human rights of the Lubicon people. Unanimous support for the attached resolution provides an indication of how very little credibility the Canadian Government has on the Lubicon issue. Canadian Government lobbying efforts have included distribution of deliberately deceitful anti-Lubicon propaganda materials in German prepared by both the Alberta Provincial Government and the Canadian Federal Government. The basic content of this Canadian Government propaganda is not new but consists essentially of the continually evolving and endlessly fine-tuned anti-Lubicon propaganda which both levels of Canadian Government have been distributing since immediately before the Calgary Olympics. Some of this stuff is so rank and transparently fallacious that it undoubtedly contributed to the Austrian resolution by making people mad over being treated as though they're so ignorant and gullible. The Provincial Government propaganda materials are entitled "Forest Management Practices in the Province of Alberta" and claim, among other things, that clear-cut logging is good for the boreal forest because, supposedly, "the original trees in northern forests...need ...sunlight through clearings to regrow successfully". One can only wonder how the northern boreal forest ever managed to regenerate itself prior to the time that the Alberta Provincial Government and these huge Japanese forestry companies came along to cut it all down. The Federal Government propaganda materials purport to provide "background information on the claim of the Lubicon Lake Band" and claim, among other things: - that the Lubicon people have rejected "this offer concerning financial compensation" (which is the novel way the Canadian Government characterizes the so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer which in fact explicitly denies that any financial compensation is owing); - that the Lubicon people "currently demand 10,000 square kilometres in addition to reserve land (which is the creative way these materials present the Lubicon position on wildlife management and environmental protection in the traditional Lubicon territory); - that the Lubicon people also demand "$120 million in cash compensation, $63 million for building NEW INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE RESERVE (capitalization added) as well as $4 million for legal and advisor costs". (There is of course in fact currently no reserve nor any infrastructure; the $63 million is for reserve construction complete including community facilities, residential housing and economic development and the $4 million represents total costs of the Lubicon struggle over the past 15 years -- costs which the Lubicon people would never have incurred if the Canadian Government had met its responsibilities under the Canadian Constitution for Aboriginal lands and people.); - that "Mainly because of this non-acceptance (of the so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer) many of the former members of the Lubicon Lake Band decided to join a new Band, the so- called Woodland Cree Band, which was acknowledged as a Band in 1989 by the Federal Government... (and that)...this Band, meanwhile, has signed a settlement with the Federal Government". (In fact nobody decided to join "a new Band...which was acknowledged as a Band in 1989 by the Federal Government". The Federal Government created the Woodland Band out of whole cloth by bringing together the disparate members of a half-a-dozen Bands in the surrounding territory, promising them the moon and the stars in exchange for agreeing to be part of a new Government-created Band and then negotiating a settlement with this new Government- created pretend Band specifically to undermine and subvert the traditional Lubicon society and Lubicon land rights.) - That the UN Human Rights Committee "found that the government offer of 1989 is fair and reasonable and would meet any obligations Canada has under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". (The UN Human Rights Committee decision in fact said no such thing. In fact the 1989 UN Human Rights Committee decision reaffirmed the Committee's earlier decision that the Lubicons couldn't achieve effective legal or political redress within Canada and then found Canada to be in continuing violation of Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights so long as "historical inequities...and certain more recent developments (continue) to threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon people". The section of the decision to which Canadian Government propaganda refers doesn't say that "the (so-called take-it-or-leave-it) offer of 1989 is fair and reasonable" or that it "would meet any obligations Canada has under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". It rather says that the Canadian Government "proposes to rectify the situation with a remedy that the Committee deems appropriate within the meaning of Article 2 of the Covenant". Article 2 of the Covenant says basically that each party to the Covenant undertakes to respect and ensure the rights of all people within its territory. The most common and reasonable interpretation of the phrase "remedy that the Committee deems appropriate" -- especially in light of the clear-cut and explicit decision finding Canada to be in continuing violation of the Covenant for as long as the way of life and culture of the Lubicon people are threatened, and also in light of the earlier procedural decision that the Lubicons could not achieve legal redress within Canada -- is that the UN Human Rights Committee considered a negotiated settlement (of which the so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer is supposedly a part) to the "appropriate remedy" -- not the so-called "take-it-or- leave-it" offer itself.); - that "Daishowa has voluntarily declared not to log the entire 10,000 square kilometres claimed by the Lubicon Lake Band". (In fact it has taken a huge international effort to block Daishowa from repeated attempts to move in and clear-cut Lubicon territory -- something which the Lubicons believe would finish them as a people. Moreover Daishowa denies the March, 1988 agreement with the Lubicon people to stay out of the unceded Lubicon territory until there's a settlement of Lubicon land rights and refuses to make such a public commitment now. Consequently there's been absolutely nothing voluntary at all about Daishowa staying out of the tradi- tional Lubicon territory and Daishowa continues to pose a clear and continuing threat to the survival of the Lubicon people.) Thus in the end what's notable about this latest Canadian Government propaganda effort is not so much the deliberately deceitful nature of it, which is by now sadly no longer surprising to anybody who has followed the continuing Lubicon tragedy, but that the new Liberal Chretien Government is still distributing the same long since refuted propaganda materials originally developed by the discredited and soundly rejected Mulroney Government. Somebody should remind the Chretien Liberals what happened to "Lyin' Brian" Mulroney and his disreputable coterie of paid professional propagandists. Perpetuating the Canadian Government's well deserved reputation as a Government which cannot be relied upon to tell the truth serves neither the country nor the Chretien Government well. * * * * * Attachment #1: Vienna, January 20, 1994 For immediate release: AUSTRIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES RESOLUTION ON LUBICON ON JANUARY 20, 1994 After a long -- and sometimes controversial -- discussion the Austrian Nationalrat (House of Commons) today unanimously passed the following resolution on the situation of the Lubicon Cree in Alberta: RESOLUTION: The Austrian Government is asked -- in considering international customs in dealing with befriended countries-- to use its influence with the Canadian authorities, that negotiations between the Lubicon Cree Indians and the Canadian Federal Government may quickly lead to a mutually satisfactory settlement concerning the land claim, the resources and compensation payment. (Passed January 20, 1994, about 11:00 A.M.) The text of the resolution was changed around several times, starting with a draft resolution of the Green Party already in May 1993, leading to an unsatisfactory text, which passed the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Council on Oct. 12, 1993. The Canadian Government tried to intervene via the Canadian Embassy in Austria. But because this intervention was based on a propaganda text of the old Mulroney/Campbell government, the content of which was already well known, it was easy for the Association of Endangered Peoples -- Austria (a human rights organisation for indigenous peoples) -- to refute this propaganda package point by point. Although the resolution which was passed today does not fully reflect all the points the Association would have made, it is much stronger and much more accurate than the draft version which passed the Foreign Policy Council -- despite Canadian intervention. For more information, the phone numbers of some MPs, which were active in the process: MP Marijana Grandits, Green Party, ph: +43(1) 40110-6716 MP Klara Motter, Liberal Party, ph: +43(1) 40110-7013 MP Mr. Garlehner, Social Democrats, ph: +43(1) 40110-3718 For general information about the whole process, call: Peter Schwarzbauer (Association for Endangered Peoples) ph: +43(1) 45-33-51 (private) or +43(1) 47-654-4416 (office) * * * * * Attachment #2: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (7:30 A.M.) Friday, January 21, 1994 Phil Henry, CBC News There's a report the Austrian Parliament has passed a resolution asking the Austrian Government to use its influence with Canadian authorities to help settle the Lubicon land claim. The report comes from a human rights group in Europe called the Association of Endangered Peoples. It says the resolution was passed yesterday. According to the group, the Austrian group wants Ottawa and the Lubicon Cree Indians to settle three issues: the land claim, compensation for the Band and what to do with the resources. The disputed territory east of Peace River is rich in natural resources. Both the Lubicons and the Government claim to own the land. The Lubicon have been trying to sign a treaty with the Government since 1939. * * * * * Attachment #3: The Edmonton Sun, Friday, January 21, 1994 LUBICONS GET AN ALLY Alberta's Lubicon Cree have an ally in Austria. The Austrian Parliament yesterday passed a resolution requesting that the Austrian government use its influence with Canadian authorities to help find a solution to the Lubicon land claim dispute with the Canadian government. The 500-member Indian band, led by Chief Bernard Ominayak, has been seeking a settlement of its land claim for about 50 years. Negotiations have been at a standstill for more than a year. The Lubicon settlement is 345 km northwest of Edmonton.