FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                April 25, 1994


HOLT RENFREW BAGGED BY BOYCOTT PRESSURE


MAJOR DEMONSTRATION CANCELLED


    To avert a major storefront demonstration, Holt Renfrew Canada
has joined the boycott of Daishowa-Marubeni International (DMI) paper
products.  The boycott protests DMI's plans to clear-cut the unceded
territories of the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation of northern Alberta.  45
companies with over 4,300 retail outlets have decided by now not to
buy DMI, including A&W, KFC, and The Body Shop.

    In an April 24th fax to the Toronto based Lubicon support group
Friends of the Lubicon, Lynn Jolliffe, a Holt Renfrew Senior Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer, stated that "Holt Renfrew has
advised Rosenbloom (their paper bag supplier) that it will require
its bags in the future to be assembled by a company other than
Daishowa".

    The fax was received shortly after Friends of the Lubicon
announced a protest rally targeting Holt's prestigious Toronto
flagship store.  In light of Holt's decision, Lubicon supporters have
cancelled the April 30th picket.

    But the Lubicon battle with DMI continues.  The Lubicon have been
fighting for a land rights settlement for over 50 years.  Already
reeling from the devastating effects of massive oil and gas
exploitation on their unceded traditional territory, the Lubicon see
clearcut logging as a death warrant for their small, besieged
community.

    In November 1991, Friends of the Lubicon launched a Canada-wide
boycott of Daishowa paper products joining Daishowa boycotters in
Europe, Asia and Australia.  The purpose is to pressure DMI to make a
clear, unequivocal and public commitment not to log or buy wood cut
on unceded Lubicon land until a land rights settlement is concluded
and a timber harvesting agreement, respecting Lubicon wildlife and
environmental concerns, is negotiated.  Since `91, Daishowa has been
forced to abort logging plans for Lubicon land three years in a row
due to public pressure from companies like Holt Renfrew making the
decision to drop Daishowa and so support the Lubicon fight for their
land rights.


                  For more information, please call
      Stephen Kenda of Friends of the Lubicon at (416) 763-7490