Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
July 29, 1991
On July 5 and 6, 1991, the so-called Woodland Cree Band held a
referendum on whether or not to accept a settlement package
offered to them by the Governments of Canada and Alberta.
Enclosed for your information are related media reports.
The Woodland referendum was officially conducted by officials of
the Canadian Federal Department of Indian Affairs. Scripted and
stage managed by Canadian Government officials would be a more
accurate characterization.
In order to assure a good level of voter participation,
Woodlanders were picked-up at home, given rides to and from the
polling place and paid $50 each to vote. In order to secure a
positive electoral result, Woodlanders were promised an
additional $1,000 per family member if they voted to accept the
Government "offer".
The list of supposedly eligible Woodland voters inexplicably
jumped from 268 before the referendum to 295 by the end of the
first day of voting to 309 by the time the polls closed -- 30
minutes after the official closing time. During the time of the
referendum people were aggressively accosted in their homes,
offered an immediate cash payment of $50 if they agreed to vote,
promised another $1,000 per family member if they voted the right
way and verbally harassed and harangued if they in any way
resisted -- real banana republic stuff.
Not surprisingly voter participation in the referendum was an
impressive 87% and 98.5% voted to accept the offer. Tougher to
understand are the lonesome threesome who reportedly voted to
reject the offer.
Likely the lonesome threesome who reportedly voted to reject the
"offer" just didn't get their voting instructions straight, or
perhaps the Federal Government's script called for three votes to
reject the "offer" -- just so referendum results wouldn't look
too contrived. With the Mulroney Government either possibility
is conceivable.
In defense of the obvious financial inducements to vote and vote
the right way, Government officials and Band representatives
described in practised unison the $50 per voter cash payment as
"expense money", and the promise of an additional $1,000 per
family member as merely a "benefit" of the proposed settlement
agreement. Independent observers, however, were hard pressed to
find Woodlanders who understood much more about the proposed
settlement agreement than that they'd be paid $50 to vote and
$1,000 per family member if they voted to accept.
Asked what expenses were involved in being driven a couple of
blocks to vote and then back home again, Government and Band
representatives admitted that not everybody required expense
money. However, they said, some people required expense money
and everybody had to be treated "equally". (Apparently the
Mulroney Government has now developed a peculiar kind of concern
for people being treated "equally".)
A couple of days later it was learned that the promised $1,000
payments per family member will be deducted from people's welfare
payments over the next few months. Government officials
explained that these $1,000 per family member payments would
increase a family's income over the maximum allowable income for
welfare recipients. Consistent with the Mulroney Government's
new concern for equal treatment, Federal Government officials
explained that income rules for determining who qualifies for
welfare had to be applied to all welfare recipients "equally".
Sudden Mulroney Government concern for "equal treatment" is
strange indeed. Stranger still is sudden Mulroney Government
concern for the Woodlanders being treated "equally". There
wouldn't even be a Woodland Cree Band if the Woodlanders were
treated the same as everybody else. And of course all welfare
recipients aren't transparently being manipulated into ceding
their aboriginal land rights and children's heritage in exchange
for welfare payments to which they're entitled in any case.
Squirming under questions from incredulous reporters who just
couldn't believe how the referendum was being conducted,
Government officials claimed that the $1,000 payments won't be
deducted from welfare checks if people used the money to buy
furniture for their homes or work clothes. Required home
furniture and work clothes are of course already provided to
welfare recipients on a special grant basis over and above normal
welfare benefits.
Woodland Chief Johnny Cardinal defended the $1,000 per family
member payments as "economic development". "Take a family of
five," Chief Cardinal said, "that's five grand." "If they go out
and purchase a fairly decent vehicle," Chief Cardinal said,
"that's economic development."
Chief Cardinal couldn't explain how buying a used vehicle, almost
certainly in a neighbouring non-aboriginal community, would
constitute Woodlander "economic development". Neither could he
explain how buying a used vehicle with what amounts to an advance
against subsistence welfare payments -- normally required to
purchase basic food and other essentials for one's family --
would constitute Woodlander "economic development". (Purchase of
a used vehicle of course clearly won't qualify for exemption from
welfare payment deduction as home furniture or work clothes.)
With most Woodlanders dependent on welfare, the Federal
Government should be able to fairly quickly recoup most of the
$700,000 or so paid out to assure a positive electorial result.
While the relationship of such slick dealing to the admirable
objectives of equality and economic development might seem more
perverse than positive, the Mulroney Government must certainly be
given high marks for creativity in buying people's votes with
their own welfare money -- sort of a Canadian Oliver North type
of operation.
Substantively the Woodland Cree settlement offer consists
basically of a reserve land component, an infrastructure
component and a so-called "socio-economic development" component.
The actual text of the offer has been independently described by
two different Lubicon legal advisors as one of the most
complicated, convoluted and obscure legal documents they've ever
seen. Given the provisions of the offer, the obscure nature of
the text is likely intentional.
The reserve land component provides 35,200 acres or 55 square
miles of reserve land plus $512,000 from the Canadian Federal
Government "in lieu of" an additional 16 square miles of reserve
land. $512,000 for 16 square miles of reserve land amounts to
$50 per acre for self-selected, tax-free, inalienable Indian land
-- about what the Indians got for Manhattan Island.
Although the so-called Woodland Cree Band didn't exist until it
was "created" a couple of years ago by the Canadian Government
out of disparate individuals from a half-a-dozen different
aboriginal societies, and consequently couldn't have conceivably
been a party to treaty negotiated in 1899 except by very recent
adhesion -- which hasn't happened -- the Woodland Cree settlement
offer is explicitly a settlement offer under the terms of Treaty
8. Ignoring the normal niceties of traditional Treaty-making the
proposed Woodland Cree settlement offer simply proclaims that
"the members of the Woodland Cree Indian Band are subject to the
terms of and are entitled to the benefits of Treaty 8."
Using the Treaty 8 formula of 128 acres per person, 35,200 acres
of reserve land would provide for 275 people. The additional 16
square miles of reserve land which are in effect being sold by
the Woodlanders to the Canadian Government for the incredibly low
price of $50 per acre would provide for 80 more people, or, in
other words, a total of 355 people were counted for purposes of
calculating Woodland Cree reserve land size.
Woodland Chief Johnny Cardinal publicly claims a Woodland Cree
membership of about 700 members. It thus appears that only about
half of the Woodland Cree are being counted for purposes of
calculating Woodland Cree reserve land size, or, in other words,
the Woodland Cree are being provided only about half of the
reserve land to which they are supposedly entitled under Treaty
8. That's the kind of "equal treatment" aboriginal people have
come to expect from both levels of Canadian Government.
Provisions of the Woodland Cree settlement offer regarding sub-
surface rights -- normally included with all Indian reserves in
Alberta -- are deliberately complicated but basically provide
sub-surface rights only with reserve lands that have no known
sub-surface resources, or, in other words, sub-surface rights are
explicitly not included with reserve lands that are known to
contain sub-surface resources. In an area which has been
thoroughly assessed for the existence of valuable sub-surface
resources, it's not likely that sub-surface resources will be
discovered in areas not now known to contain such valuable sub-
surface resources. This is again very tricky business in which
the Alberta Provincial Government had to be heavily involved.
Consequently both levels of Canadian Government must be given
high marks for this kind of "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't"
carnival huckster type of creativity.
On balance the infrastructure component (housing, roads, water,
sewer, community institutions and facilities) of the Woodland
Cree settlement offer is a little better than the other two
components but it still lacks key facilities and institutions
crucial to development of an independent, self-reliant aboriginal
community in the Canadian North -- such as basic commercial
facilities, recreational facilities, facilities to support
absolutely essential vocational training and facilities to
provide necessary care for young children and for old people.
As in the case of the so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to
the Lubicons, the proposed Woodland infrastructure component is
based on an anticipated on-reserve population of 450 people. One
might therefore logically expect similar arrangements, facilities
and infrastructure. Generally speaking, however, the proposed
Woodland infrastructure component is considerably firmer than the
so-called Lubicon "offer" as well as including significantly
bigger numbers.
The community health unit provisions in the Woodland settlement
offer, for example, read that "A separate agreement between the
(Woodland Cree) and Health and Welfare Canada has been developed
for a ($550,000) facility". By way of contrast the so-called
Lubicon "take-it-or-leave-it" offer reads "preliminary
information indicates (Health and Welfare Canada) may fund
$350,000 (for a community health unit)" and "It is recommended
that the (Lubicons) discuss funding with NH&W".
"Housing", "contingencies", "risk elements" and "institutional
planning" are the same in the Lubicon and Woodland "offers".
Only two items are budgeted higher in the so-called Lubicon
infrastructure "offer" than in the Woodland offer -- roads and
electrification. Lubicon roads are budgeted at $5,200,000 vs.
$2,300,000 for the Woodlanders; Lubicon electrification is
budgeted at $1,250,000 vs. $255,000 for the Woodlanders. (Since
the per unit cost of these two items is pretty well standardized,
one can only conclude that the lay-out of the proposed Woodland
reserve requires fewer roads and a less extensive electrical
system. This makes sense with most of the Woodland Cree
population apparently planning to live in the existing community
of Cadotte Lake located on Provincial Highway 686.)
In spite of an identical planning population everything else in
the Woodland infrastructure package is budgeted higher than in
the so-called Lubicon offer with specific numbers as follows:
- water at $1,400,000 for the Lubicons vs. $2,793,000 for
the Woodlanders;
- sewage at $1,315,000 to $1,390,000 for the Lubicons vs.
$1,568,000 for the Woodlanders;
- gasification at $350,000 for the Lubicons vs. $406,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a school at $3,545,000 to $3,775,000 for the Lubicons
vs. $3,942,000 to $4,257,000 for the Woodlanders:
- teacherages at $732,000 for the Lubicons vs. $840,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a Band Office at $400,000 for the Lubicons vs. $435,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a community hall at $100,000 for the Lubicons vs.
$200,000 for the Woodlanders;
- a health unit at $350,000 for the Lubicons vs. $550,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a community garage at $200,000 for the Lubicons vs.
$336,000 for the Woodlanders;
- a fire hall at $152,000 for the Lubicons vs. $175,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a fire truck at $120,000 for the Lubicons vs. $131,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a garbage truck at $40,000 for the Lubicons vs. $46,500
for the Woodlanders;
- a road grader at $200,000 for the Lubicons vs. $232,000
for the Woodlanders;
- a backhoe at $70,000 for the Lubicons vs. $81,000 for
the Woodlanders;
- a water truck at $135,000 for the Woodlanders (included
in the earlier quoted $1.4 million Lubicon water
system);
- a sewer truck at $85,000 for the Woodlanders (included
in the earlier quoted $1.315 to $1.390 million Lubicon
sewer system);
- staff housing at $200,000 for the Lubicons vs. $206,000
for the Woodlanders;
- project planning and management at $1,350,000 for the
Lubicons vs. $1,475,000 for the Woodlanders;
- a total infrastructure package of $34,050,000 for the
Lubicons vs. $35,192,000 for the Woodlanders.
Provisions of the so-called "socio-economic" component of the
Woodland settlement offer describe it as basically compensation
for lost treaty programs, benefits and services -- things which
the Woodlanders supposedly should have been receiving since
Treaty 8 was first negotiated in 1899 but weren't. This is of
course an absurdity given that the so-called Woodland Cree Band
didn't exist until a couple of years ago when it was "created"
out of whole cloth by the Canadian Government -- demonstrating
once again the remarkable creativity of the Mulroney Government
when it really wants to do something.
The Woodland "socio-economic" component consists of:
- 13 million from the Canadian Federal Government within
30 days of signing the agreement for purposes of
"socio-economic development, training, education
development and the development of a socio-economic
development programme";
- one million more from the Canadian Federal Government
for the same above indicated socio-economic development
purpose but provided instead on or before March 31,
1992;
- five million more from the Alberta Provincial
Government likely provided at the rate of $500,000 per
year for a period of ten years (ala an earlier
negotiated "Memorandum of Intent");
- the resulting 19 million dollar total in "socio-
economic" developments funds to be allocated as
follows:
- 15 million of the 19 million (likely 10 million up
front from the Federal Government plus $500,000 a
year for a period of ten years from the Provincial
Government) is to be deposited in a so-called
"Capital Account". This so-called "Capital
Account" is supposedly intended to provide the
money for earlier mentioned "socio-economic
development, training, education development and
the development of a socio-economic development
programme".
- 3 million of the remaining 4 million is to be
deposited by the Federal Government within 30 days
of the signing of the agreement in a so-called
"Revenue Account", with the remaining million then
also to be deposited into this same "Revenue
Account" by the Federal Government on or before
March 31, 1992. The purpose of this so-called
"Revenue Account" is to provide Woodlanders with
the bane of independent Band funds; namely, annual
"per capita distribution" of money to individual
Band members. (The Lubicons have from the very
beginning expressly rejected the possibility of
per capita distributions in any Lubicon
settlement.)
- 35% of the annual interest generated by the
"Capital Account" is to be retained in the
"Capital Account" (probably about $160,000 at an
annual post inflation rate of perhaps 4.5% and
then decreasing as "Capital Account" funds are
expended), plus the earlier mentioned $500,000 a
year for a period of ten years will presumably
also be added to the "Capital Account" by the
Provincial Government.
- the remaining 65% of the interest generated by the
"Capital Account" (probably about $290,000 the
first year at an annual post inflation rate of
perhaps 4.5% and then decreasing as "Capital
Account" funds are expended) is to be deposited in
the "Revenue Account" for "per capita"
distributions.
- 33 1/3 of the total funds in the "Capital Account"
(about $3.3 million in the first year and then
decreasing as "Capital Account" funds are
expended) may be spent each year on anything other
than per capita distributions, presumably
unspecified community "economic development"
projects -- provided that 80% of eligible Band
electors approve. (Woodland Chief Johnny Cardinal
publicly admits that the Woodland Cree have no
economic development plan beyond labour jobs for
untrained Band members which reserve housing and
road construction will generate. "We're in no
rush", Chief Cardinal says. "We're looking for a
consultant and now that we have the settlement we
can take our time and come up with a plan in the
next 6 months or a year". Obviously Chief
Cardinal's Government selected and paid advisors
have failed to explain to him the relevant
relationship between economic development plans
and the crucial funding of any such plans.)
- Woodland Chief and Council may on their own
volition authorize annual per capita distributions
of up to 25% of the "Revenue Account". 25% of a
four million dollar "Revenue Account" is a million
dollars the first year and then decreasing as
"Revenue Account" monies are expended. (One
million dollars divided by 700 people is about
$1,400 dollars per person the first year and then
decreasing as "Revenue Account" monies are spent.
$1,400 per person and then decreasing as "Revenue
Account" are spent is of course not enough to make
much of a difference to the lives of individuals
but is large enough to rapidly deplete available
"Revenue Account" funds.)
- to provide a sense of the magnitude of the per
capita distributions being contemplated by the
Woodlanders -- suggesting among other things how
little they appreciate the amount of money with
which they have to work -- the proposed Woodland
settlement offer explicitly provides that per
capita distributions to minor children of under
$3,000 are to be paid directly to parents or
guardians, while per capita distributions to minor
children of over $3,000 are to be held in trust by
the Federal Minister until such children reach the
age of majority. (Experience has predictably
proven that entrusting the Federal Indian Affairs
Minister with Indian monies is like trusting the
fox to guard the chicken coop.)
- neither the addition of up to about $700,000
($500,000 from the Province and approximately
$160,000 in interest) to the "Capital Account"
year one and then decreasing, nor the addition of
up to about $300,000 in interest from the "Capital
Account" to the "Revenue Account" year one and
then decreasing, will significantly alter the
rapidly depleting magnitude of either account,
both of which will have been predictably reduced
to the Province's $500,000 dollar a year
contribution within a period of 4-5 years, and
then be effectively gone altogether when the
Province's $500,000 a year contribution stops
being provided five years later. For purposes of
reference the current annual Lubicon welfare tab
exceeds $500,000, as almost certainly does the
current annual Woodland welfare tab.
- lastly media reports refer to $3 million from the
Province supposedly for "on-reserve vocational
training". Since there is no such provision in
the proposed main settlement agreement this offer
must be in the form of a subsidiary agreement
between the Woodlanders and the Province, which is
not available but which reliable sources indicate
is exactly the same offer of "up to $3 million"
supposedly for "vocational training" made to the
Lubicons by the Province. (The Provincial
Government "offer" to the Lubicons in fact turned
out to be an offer to set up A PROVINCIALLY OWNED
AND OPERATED ACADEMIC UP-GRADING TRAILER LOCATED
JUST OFF RESERVE AT AN ESTIMATED COST TO THE
PROVINCE OF APPROXIMATELY $500,000 PER YEAR FOR A
PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS(Capitalization added). While
academic up-grading is often a pre-requisite of
vocational training the two clearly aren't the
same, and while an offer to make an existing
Provincial Government academic up-grading program
available to the Woodlanders isn't exactly an
offer to provide the Woodlanders with $3 million
for vocational training, and while a location
"just off-reserve" on lands under Provincial
Government jurisdiction and control is
significantly different than a location on-reserve
under Woodland control and jurisdiction, such
notable differences in the public portrayal of the
proposed Woodland settlement agreement and the
reality of it are perfectly consistent with the
way other elements of the offer are being publicly
misrepresented.)
In short the socio-economic provisions of the proposed Woodland
settlement agreement practically insure that the Woodlanders will
never become anything other than helpless, hapless, and forever
dependent welfare recipients. Both levels of Canadian Government
clearly intend it that way. Moreover both levels of Canadian
Government now clearly intend to try and use the bought-and-paid-
for acceptance of this proposed settlement offer by this
artificial, Canadian Government created aboriginal society as a
primary precedent for dealing with the increasingly serious
problem of aboriginal land rights in Canada.
Presumably the operative theory of both levels of Canadian
Government is that helpless, hapless and forever dependent
welfare recipients are less likely to ever effectively challenge
the continuing wholesale theft of aboriginal lands and resources.
History has repeatedly proven the lack of wisdom in such an
approach, but wisdom is not the long suit of Canadian politicians
-- few of whom seem to have much appreciation of history beyond
what appears on the front page of the morning newspaper.
* * * * *
Attachment #1: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
SUNDAY SUN, July 7, 1991
INDIANS ACCEPT OFFER
Members of the Woodland Cree band last night voted overwhelmingly
to accept a land claim settlement offer.
Chief John Cardinal said 98.5 per cent of the 268 people who cast
ballots at the 7 p.m. vote, favored the $53-million, 160-sq.-km
land claim settlement.
There were 309 people eligible to vote on the federal and
provincial governments' settlement offer.
"I'm very happy," Cardinal said from his Cadotte Lake home, 360
km northwest of Edmonton. "Now that we've said yes, we've got a
reserve.
"We've never lived on a reserve and I've got a feeling it's going
to be great."
The Woodland Cree band split from the Lubicon Lake settlement
last year.
The Lubicons have been fighting the land claims battle for 52
years and have rejected settlement offers by the provincial and
federal governments.
Cardinal refused to comment on any problems between the two
bands.
* * * * *
Attachment #2: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Sunday, July 7, 1991
WOODLAND CREE ACCEPT $56M DEAL
Former Lubicons in band that settled land claim with Ottawa
Don Thomas
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton
Members of Alberta's newest Indian band are planning for new
houses and running water after overwhelmingly approving a land-
claim agreement with the federal government.
When the tally was in Saturday, 98.5 per cent of the 268 Woodland
Cree members who voted had endorsed the $56-million deal. The
band has 670 members of whom 309 were eligible to vote.
The agreement also provides for at least 143 square km of land at
Cadotte Lake, 60 km east of Peace River.
After a formal signing of documents later this summer or fall,
the band will get down to the detailed planning for a community
hall, new roads, piped water and sewer and up to 150 new houses
to be built in the next five years.
"We're going to benefit from this. We're talking about running
water and proper heating in the houses. We're still living, some
of us, with space heating and wood burners," says Chief John
Cardinal.
"People lived like that 50 years ago. It would be a big change
for Woodland."
The reserve includes part of the existing community of Cadotte
Lake and is away from the known oil and gas formations in the
area. Most of the land is useless for farming.
About $35 million is to be spent for housing, roads and other
infrastructure. The balance will be invested, with part of it
used for new capital projects and part to finance economic
development projects.
The band was formally recognized by the federal government in
August 1989 during protracted negotiations with the Lubicon Lake
band at Little Buffalo, 20 km east of Cadotte Lake.
Cadotte Lake and Little Buffalo were among about 10 isolated
communities that joined together in the late 1970s to seek
recognition from the federal government.
As talks bogged down only the Lubicons at Little Buffalo
continued the fight in and out of court, at the United Nations,
at the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 and at road barricades
at Little Buffalo.
About 25 per cent of the Woodland Cree band are former members of
the Lubicon Lake band, including Chief John Cardinal.
The band is not recognized by the Indian Association of Alberta
but that doesn't bother Chief Cardinal.
"I really want to keep away from that. If I start talking about
other Indian organizations, I may say something bad and that's
one thing we shouldn't be doing.
"No matter what happens we've got the reserve now, the vote is
yes and we're going to continue on with our lives. What else is
there to do?"
* * * * *
Attachment #3: re-printed without permission from "The Toronto
Globe & Mail", Monday, July 07, 1991
CREES GET $50 EACH TO VOTE ON PACT
Band ratifies reserve offer
by John Goddard
Special to The Globe & Mail
Members of the Woodland Cree Band of northern Alberta voted
overwhelmingly on the weekend to ratify a controversial land-
rights agreement with the federal government, but the referendum
was riddled with irregularities.
The Band paid each member $50 on the spot and promised $1,000 for
a positive outcome in the two-day vote, organized and monitored
by officials of the federal Department of Indian Affairs.
"We are not buying votes," Woodland Chief John Cardinal said of
the payments. "Some people needed money for expenses and we have
to treat everybody equally."
At stake was an offer to establish a 143-square-kilometre reserve
for 450 people over five years at a cost of $29-million. The
band is to receive $19-million from the federal and Alberta
governments for economic development, but give up all rights to
known oil-sands deposits on the proposed reserve.
Roger Cardinal, an Indian Affairs official from Edmonton serving
as chief electoral officer, said the payments to Band members
were not his concern.
"All I do is ensure that people are eligible to vote," he said,
although he declined to explain how the number of eligible voters
rose from 268 a week ago to 295 on Friday and 309 by the time
polls closed on Saturday night.
He also would not say why polls were still open more than 30
minutes past the official closing time.
Official results showed an 87-per-cent turnout, with 98.5 per
cent of the voters supporting an agreement that would establish a
reserve at Cadotte Lake, 600 km northwest of Edmonton.
Interest in the referendum is high among native people in Alberta
and elsewhere because the Woodland Cree Band is widely seen as an
artificial creation of Indian Affairs designed to split the
Lubicon Lake Band, which the federal government has viewed as
troublesome.
The Cadotte and Lubicon areas are located within the oil-rich
Athabasca oil sands. Subsurface rights have been one of the
issues blocking a resolution of a Lubicon land agreement for more
than 50 years.
Chiefs throughout northern Alberta unanimously reaffirmed at a
meeting last week a decision not to recognize the Woodland Crees,
regardless of the referendum outcome.
The Woodland Band was created two years ago under an obscure
section of the Indian Act that allows the federal minister to
divide bands virtually at will.
The Woodland Cree group includes former members of the Lubicon
and other bands throughout Alberta, as well as people previously
denied official Indian status.
To accommodate all members in the referendum, polling stations
were set up at Cadotte Lake, Peace River, Slave Lake and the
federal building in Edmonton, with drivers hired to transport
voters from eight districts.
"It's pitiful," Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak said of the
results. "Indian Affairs ran everything. I think the federal
government should be ashamed."
Ross Harvey, an Edmonton MP and the New Democratic native-affairs
critic, said in an interview on Saturday: "The Woodland Cree was
conjured out of nothing. The manipulation that has characterized
the formation of the band and the treaty-negotiation process
obviously continues."
Bob Coulter, an Indian Affairs official who helped to co-ordinate
the formation of the band and took part in negotiations on a
reserve settlement, said he is "not an expert on the
administration of referendums" but is satisfied the vote was
conducted properly. The agreement will go before the Treasury
Board on Wednesday for final federal approval, he said,
acknowledging that the matter is being given high priority.
* * * * *
Attachment #4: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
Sun, Monday, July 8, 1991
BREAKAWAY BAND "BEING USED"
Lubicons cite sadness at Indian land claims settlement
by Shelley Decker
Staff Writer
The Lubicon Lake band advisor pities a breakaway Indian band
after its members signed a $54-million land claim settlement.
"I don't think any of the Lubicons wish these individuals ill,"
Fred Lennarson said yesterday of the Woodland Cree band's
Saturday night decision to accept the federal and provincial
governments' offer.
"It's just so sad that they are being used and allowing
themselves to be used," Lennarson said.
Woodland members voted 98.5 per cent in favor of accepting the
$54-million package. The band will get at least 143 sq. km of
land.
Chief John Cardinal said the new package will greatly improve
life for his band members.
Of the funds, $35 million will be spent on housing and other
improvements and $19 million is allotted for economic
development.
The land for the new reserve will be near Cadotte Lake, 360 km
northwest of Edmonton, and won't infringe on the area wanted by
any other bands.
But Lennarson said accepting the deal was not wise. "There are
no more provisions in this package...for these people to achieve
economic self-sufficiency."
The Lubicons have been fighting a land claims battle for 52 years
and have rejected settlement offers from the federal and
provincial governments.
Cardinal also denied a $50 fee paid to voters was an attempt to
buy votes.
He said the money covered travel expenses and made up for lost
wages.
"It may look like we're buying votes but that was not the
intention," Cardinal said.
"They could have come and voted 'no,' and we'd still have paid
them. We had no way of knowing what they voted."
The Woodland band was recognized by the federal government in
August 1989 after separating from the Lubicons.
Cardinal has said 110 of his 628 members are former Lubicons, who
left the band after talks with Ottawa broke off in January, 1989.
Neither the Indian Association of Alberta, nor the Lubicons
recognize the new band.
* * * * *
Attachment #5: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Monday, July 8, 1991
BAND VOTE NOT BOUGHT, WOODLAND CHIEF SAYS
Jon Romalo
The Canadian Press
Edmonton
The chief of Alberta's newest Indian band says the band council
wasn't buying votes when it gave $50 to members who cast ballots
in a referendum on a land-claim settlement.
Chief John Cardinal said the 268 members of the Woodland Cree who
voted on a federal land-claim package were given money as
compensation for travel expenses or if they had to miss work.
"It may look like we're buying votes but that was not the
intention," Cardinal said in a telephone interview Sunday from
his home in Little Buffalo Lake about 400 kilometres northwest of
Edmonton. "They could have come and voted 'no,' and we'd still
have paid them. We had no way of knowing what they voted."
About 98 per cent of the 268 members who voted endorsed the $56-
million deal. The band has 670 members of which 309 were
eligible to vote.
An official with the federal Indian Affairs Department, who acted
as chief electoral officer for the vote, said the allegations of
vote-buying were nonsense.
"A lot of people came from far out of town and they got gas
money," said Roger Cardinal, who is based in Edmonton. "The band
took great pains to ensure a person's right to a free vote was
protected."
Band members were also promised $1,000 if the land-claim
settlement was accepted. The Woodland chief said the money
represented each member's share of the settlement deal.
John Cardinal described the money as "peanuts" compared with
payments given to members of other bands that get income from oil
royalties.
The Woodland Cree band was formally recognized by the federal
government in August 1989 during protracted negotiations with the
Lubicon Lake band.
When contacted late Sunday, Lubicon spokesman Fred Lennarson said
he was skeptical of the $50 payment. "Cadotte Lake is a small
community, you can walk from one end of it to the other in two
minutes. And people were literally being provided with rides
from their homes to the polling place in vans and given $50."
* * * * *
Attachment #6: Transcript of CFRN TV's MONDAY FORUM ON NATIVE
ISSUES (7:00 P.M.) Monday, July 08, 1991
Excerpt from CFRN Television program "Monday Forum"
Susan Amerongen, CFRN TV
This past weekend the Woodland Cree, some of whose members were
part of the Lubicon Lake Indian Band, settled an agreement with
Ottawa worth $54 million. Bernard what do you think of that
agreement? It's quite sizeable.
Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
I'm not completely up to date in so far on what the agreement
contains, but of course it's a great deal...for the federal
government. The Woodland Cree recruited 700 members and yet they
are getting land for maybe 275 people which they have to share.
If people are looking towards the future and their younger
generations, then it's not so good for native people. But if
you're looking from the government's point of view then it's an
awfully good deal, because you've probably 400 people or better
giving up their rights for absolutely nothing. These are things
that we've been looking at and hopefully we don't get into the
same trap that the federal government has done to these people.
I'd hate to be Johnny Cardinal at this point in time where he's
helped the federal government shaft his own people.
Amerongen
So you're saying that those people got a raw deal?
Ominayak
I say the government got a good deal...both levels of government
-- because the Province of Alberta and the federal government
were involved hand-in-hand in working this deal out with these
people. On top of that they're paying people to go vote...It's
been a scandal throughout. The Woodland were created to divide
and conquer the Lubicon people initially under the Indian Act
Section 17. So while they're doing this, they're taking a hard
line with the Lubicon people, and they've taken a hard line with
the Mohawk people because of the Oka crisis. People are standing
up to them and it seems like the Mulroney Government wants to
beat the people who stand up to them into the ground. That's
what we're seeing. For example, Lawrence (Courtoreille)
mentioned racism...in the court process. The same thing applies
here. There's a whole lot of political interference in the
courts and so on. These are all geared toward keeping native
people down.
* * * * *
Attachment #7: Transcript of CFRN Television Eye Witness News
(6:00 P.M.) Monday, July 08, 1991
Chris O'Brien, CFRN
A spokesman for the Lubicon Indian Band accuses the federal
government of using trickery to sign a land claim deal. Ottawa
has just signed a $56 million land claim settlement with the
Woodland Cree Band of northwestern Alberta. The Woodland Cree
broke away from the Lubicons who are still bogged down in
settlement talks of their own. Today Lubicon spokesmen say the
Woodland deal simply isn't good enough.
Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Advisor
It's like building a new zoo to put people in, putting them in
nice clean new cages and then feeding them on welfare for the
rest of their lives. There's no future...
* * * * *
Attachment #8: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (7:30
A.M.)
Monday, July 8, 1991
Phil Henry, CBC News
An advisor to the Lubicon Indians says a land claim settlement
for the Woodland Cree will keep Band members on welfare. Fred
Lennarson says the government will use the settlement as an
example of its ability to work with Native people. And he admits
the deal will make it harder for the Lubicons to reach a fair
settlement. Dave Cooper reports.
Dave Cooper, CBC News
Over the weekend the Woodland Cree Band in northern Alberta voted
in favour of a land claim settlement. It gives them a reserve
east of Peace River and a package worth about $56 million. The
Band has been controversial since the Federal Government helped
put it together two years ago after talks broke down between the
government and the Lubicon Indians. Some of the Woodland Cree
used to be in the Lubicon Band. Fred Lennarson, an advisor to
the Lubicons, says the Woodland Cree aren't getting much. Most
of the money is for capital projects like roads, houses and
water. He says there's not much for economic development.
Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Indian Nation Advisor
You have a $10 million fund essentially with $3-3.3 million a
year available to you to engage in economic development. There's
bloody little that you can do with $3 million a year for 3
years...to establish an independent economy for a society of 500
people in the Canadian North.
Cooper
Lennarson says he thinks the deal will leave the Woodland Cree on
welfare. Still he expects the Federal Government will use the
Woodland settlement to put pressure on the Lubicons.
Lennarson
It appears to be, in many respects, similar to the "take-it-or-
leave-it" offer made to the Lubicons. Undoubtedly the Government
will say, "We made the same offer to two groups and one accepted
it and the other did not."
Cooper
Lennarson says the Government is going to have a hard time
pointing to the Woodland Cree deal as a great success when
official Indian organizations in the country refuse to recognize
the Woodland Cree. Dave Cooper, CBC, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #9: Transcript of CBC TV ALBERTA WEEKEND NEWS (11:00
P.M.)
Sunday, July 07, 1991
Pat Barford, CBC
Tonight on the CBC Alberta News Weekend edition -- charges of
vote buying. The Woodland Cree controversy continues.
There's more controversy tonight over the Woodland Cree land
claims vote. Last night we told you the Band members voted
overwhelmingly in favor of accepting a $56 million land claim
deal with Ottawa. Tonight there are charges of vote buying.
Grant Gelinas reports.
Grant Gelinas, CBC
The Woodland Cree Band was born almost overnight in northern
Alberta two years ago in a storm of controversy. Ottawa
organized the Woodland after a neighbouring Band, the Lubicons,
rejected Ottawa's final land claim offer. Other Indian
organizations across Canada refuse to recognize the Woodland.
But some Lubicons jumped to the Woodland Cree, and yesterday they
voted to accept essentially the same deal offered the Lubicons.
Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Lake Nation advisor
....this is blatant.
Gelinas
Today Fred Lennarson, an advisor to the Lubicons, is accusing the
Woodlands of buying off voters.
Lennarson
They were told that if the settlement agreement was accepted they
would be given $1,000.
Gelinas
Woodland Chief John Cardinal doesn't deny that, but says it's not
vote-buying.
Chief John Cardinal, Woodland Cree Band
Yeh, I guess that's...how outside people look at it. But we've
got the settlement and we agreed what was offered on the table
and we're going to continue on with our lives. I mean, I don't
know why there's a big stink about $1,000 distribution for the
members.
Gelinas
Members were also given $50 for voting, for their travelling
expenses. The Woodland got a big turnout and only 3 people of
260 voted no.
Lennarson
They're not saying: "This is a big responsibility you have. The
future of your children and grandchildren, depends upon the
decision you make. Think about it very carefully before you cast
your vote." They're rather providing financial inducements to
get people to vote, and secondly vote to accept.
Gelinas
As well, Lennarson says $3 million a year the deal gives to the
Woodland for economic development isn't enough to provide
permanent jobs for the Band. Chief Cardinal says at least it's
more than they have now. He expects the Band to get its money in
a few months. Grant Gelinas, Edmonton.
* * * * *
Attachment #10: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Tuesday, July 9, 1991
EDITORIAL
DIVIDING INDIANS TO RULE
Whenever Canadians begin to hope that Ottawa's relationship with
aboriginal people is rising above the shameful, something happens
to hurtle us all back down to the gutter. The bad, old days of
paternalism just won't go away.
The federal Department of Indian Affairs has just presided over a
referendum in northern Alberta in which a chief and council paid
voters $50 cash on the spot for "expenses", whether they had
travelled any distance to the polling station or not. The
Woodland Cree land claim ratification vote had an 87 per cent
turnout; 98.5 per cent of the voters supported the band council's
position, which just so happened to be the federal government's
position, too. Democratic principles can be as flexible as
putty, can't they?
The chief electoral officer for the plebiscite -- needless to
say, a bureaucrat from the all-knowing Department of Indian
Affairs -- later said the payments were not his concern. "All I
do is ensure that people are eligible to vote," he said.
Stop for a minute. Try to imagine an electoral officer in any
other Canadian election -- federal, provincial or municipal --
shrugging off cash payments to voters at polling stations on
voting day. It would never happen. Yet the civil servants who
"monitored" the Woodland Cree vote over the weekend appear
unperturbed by the double standard in Canadian voting practices.
It's true that the Woodland Cree would probably have approved the
offer of a reserve whether or not they were paid $50 to vote, or
were promised an individual $1,000 payment after the cash
settlement, but that isn't the point.
Any offer was better than nothing for the majority of band
members who previously had no land, and no recognized treaty
status. Given the poverty in Cadotte Lake, the elders'
experience with involuntary relocation a generation ago, and the
long stalemate in the neighboring Lubicon Lake band's land claim,
it would be unfair to criticize band members for voting in favor
of a bad deal. They certainly deserved a settlement of some
kind, and in their situation, many of us might have voted the
same way.
That doesn't make the land claim deal, or the casual rules of the
referendum, right.
Ottawa's offer deprives the new band of its share of future oil
and gas wealth in the Peace Arch region, a rich geological
formation that has been yielding $300 million annually in
royalties alone. The Woodland Cree accepted a reserve at Cadotte
Lake, away from the known oil and gas deposits, in exchange for a
$56 million development package. Most of that money will
disappear quickly as the band builds a community hall, new road,
piped water and sewer lines and up to 150 new houses to replace
inadequate, overcrowded homes; the smaller balance will be
invested for future capital projects and unspecified economic
plans.
"We're going to benefit from this," insists Chief John Cardinal.
"We're talking about running water and proper heating in the
houses." Fine, but what will families in warmer houses do for an
income once the limited settlement is all spent? They'll be back
where they started, with nothing, watching the wealth of their
traditional land flow south to Edmonton, Calgary and beyond.
The blame for this deal belongs not with the band members, or
even with the chief and council, who decided together that half a
loaf was better than none. The blame rests with the federal
government for deciding to punish the stubborn Lubicon Lake band
by rewarding a poor neighbor, and with the Alberta cabinet for
going along with the charade for considerable economic advantage.
What an irony. Just as Constitutional Affairs Minister Joe Clark
makes a greater effort to include aboriginal people in critical
constitutional talks, the Department of Indian Affairs uses its
old divide-and-conquer techniques to subvert the legitimate
aspirations of isolated, native communities in the "back lakes"
district of northern Alberta. Albertans can take no pride in
this land claim settlement, none at all.
* * * * *
Attachment #11: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Tuesday, July 9, 1991
$59M SETTLEMENT CALLED 'WELFARE' FOR WOODLAND CREE
Helen Plischke
Journal Staff Writer
Cadotte Lake
The latest Alberta Indians to accept a federal land settlement
have set themselves up for a live of welfare, says a land-claim
adviser to the Lubicon Lake Band.
The $56-million package approved by the Woodland Cree Saturday
provides no opportunities for future economic development, said
Fred Lennarson.
The Woodland Cree splintered from the Lubicon in 1989 and their
settlement is a move by the federal government to crush the
Lubicon and their demands, he said.
"(The agreement) is obviously inadequate...This will build the
people new homes in which to live on welfare. They will be like
animals in a zoo. There'll be in clean cages, but they'll be fed
through the Canadian welfare system."
About 98 per cent of the 268 Woodland members who voted endorsed
the deal, which includes 143 square km of land at Cadotte Lake,
60 km east of Peace River, and $35-million for housing, roads and
other infrastructure.
Woodland Chief John Cardinal said the 670-member band made the
best deal possible and he believes the band will prosper,
although he admits it doesn't have a long-range economic plan.
"Some people are saying (the settlement) is not enough. But what
was there before was nothing. Now we have something."
An economic plan is now a priority for the band, Cardinal said.
Over the next five years of housing and road development, some
members will learn trades, he said.
* * * * *
Attachment #12: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Thursday, July 11, 1991
WOODLAND CREE LOOK TO FUTURE WITH CASH, LAND OF THEIR OWN
But their deal with Ottawa has left many families divided
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
Cadotte Lake
With the promise of thousands of dollars about to be delivered,
members of Alberta's newest Indian band are making wish lists.
Anna Thunder wants a washer and dryer. Deedee Williams will add
a room to the home he shares with Nancy Laboucan.
"I'm going to buy a lot of candy," said Joe Whitehead, an elder
on the Woodland Cree band council.
Whitehead's candy may prove to be the only sweet part of the
band's controversial land and cash settlement that has bitterly
divided families and northern communities, and isolated the new
band from native organizations.
"They'll soon regret it," predicted Lubicon Lake chief Bernard
Ominayak, who rejected a similar offer two years ago and saw the
Woodland group form from members of his band.
The more than 700 Woodland Cree were promised $1,000 each if they
approved the deal that delivers 142 square km of land with oil
and mineral rights, plus more than $52 million.
They voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal last week and the
settlement bonus is expected to be paid later this month when the
paperwork clears the last bureaucrat's desk.
In the homes of many Woodland Cree band members, that will add up
to a fairly substantial "economic development," Chief John
Cardinal said Wednesday.
"Take a family of five, that's five grand. They go out and
purchase a fairly decent vehicle. That's economic development."
The $1,000 pre-vote cash offer has raised questions of ethical
conduct, but Cardinal said "every band distributes dollars to
their membership. That's Indian money and we handled it the best
way we know."
Ominayak rejected any comparison between the $1,000 offer and
royalty payments some bands make to their members. "I don't
recall ever hearing of people being offered money to vote. I
guess there's a first time for everything."
Under the Woodland agreement, the band gets:
*A total of $19 million from Ottawa and Alberta to be held in
trust and pay band operating expenses.
*Reserve land of 142 square km, with subsurface rights -- but not
to existing discoveries -- plus $512,000 for 41 square km the
band sold back to the government.
*$3 million from the province for vocational training on the
reserve.
*$28.8 million for community development -- roads, houses and
running water -- to be paid by Ottawa over the next five years.
Bob Coulter, spokesman for Indian Affairs said "we hope the
settlement will produce a higher level of employment and in the
long run will result in greater independence."
Over the next five years, Cardinal says grants for 120 homes, a
water system, and new roads will provide trades training and
create employment for band members.
"Life has changed here already," Cardinal said, glancing around
the band council meeting room, its walls decorated with aerial
photographs marked with red and blue markers showing the lot
lines of a proposed new subdivision.
* * * * *
Attachment #13: re-printed without permission from THE GLOBE AND
MAIL, Friday, July 12, 1991
CREE BAND GETS SAD NEWS ON CASH
Money paid in referendum deal will be subtracted from welfare
By John Goddard
Special to The Globe and Mail
CADOTTE LAKE, Alta. -- Members of the Woodland Cree Band, who
thought they were getting $1,000 each as a part of an agreement
to extinguish aboriginal land title, are slowly finding out that
the equivalent amount will be deducted from their welfare
payments.
"We were never told," band member Beverly Sawan said this week,
in the latest development in a controversial land-rights process
in Northern Alberta. The money was paid to the Crees by the band
leadership, who denied they were buying referendum votes.
Normally, band members would be informed of the circumstances
involving welfare recipients, said Susan Williams, director-
general of social development for Indian Affairs in Ottawa,
although she was not able to confirm whether people have been
told in this case.
"If you come into cash through earnings or whatever, you don't
qualify for the same level of social assistance," she said. "The
fairness lies in that they are being treated the same way as
everybody else."
Dolly Letendre, welfare officer for the Woodland Cree, said
members would be informed soon. "I have the letter typed up,"
she said.
Under the land agreement ratified in a referendum organized by
Indian Affairs officials on the weekend, a 143-square-kilometre
reserve is to be established at Cadotte Lake, 600 kilometres
northwest of Edmonton. The band is to receive housing and
infrastructure for 450 members at a cost of $29-million over five
years and a $19-million economic-development package, while
giving up rights to known oil deposits on reserve land.
The deal is controversial because the band is widely viewed among
native people as being artificially created by Ottawa to
undermine the tough aboriginal-rights position of the
neighbouring Lubicon Lake Band. The Woodland Cree Band was
created two years ago from widely dispersed sources, many of the
recruits having tried unsuccessfully for years to obtain Indian
status.
In the two-day referendum conducted to seal the agreement, the
band paid voters $50 each and promised $1,000 to each member if
the outcome proved to be positive. Gary Wouters, director-
general of Indian Affairs for Alberta, said Wednesday he plans no
review of the voting procedure.
Exactly how many of the 700 Woodland Cree members who will find
their payments channelled to welfare coffers cannot be released
under federal policy. But the welfare rate among members is
high.
"The Woodlanders are a priority because they're good little
Indians," Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak said yesterday. "The
federal and provincial governments are saying that they are nice
guys and if they have nice Indians to deal with they can come to
an agreement. Meanwhile, a lot of other native people have been
waiting for years to have recognition of bands and to have a fair
settlement, and they are still waiting."
Chiefs throughout northern Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan,
British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, unanimously
reaffirmed a decision last week not to recognize the Woodland
Cree.
* * * * *
Attachment #14: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
SUN, Friday, July 12, 1991
BAND'S $1,000 GLITCH
Woodland Cree band members could find their $1,000 cash payment
from a recent land claim deal deducted from welfare cheques.
Garry Wouters, regional director general for Indian Affairs in
Edmonton, said last night the Northern Alberta band's council
knew the money could be deducted.
"We use provincial regulations in determining our authority in
outlining how we pay funds to Indians living on reserves,"
Wouters said.
But he said if the $1,000 per band member is used for home
improvements members won't lose any welfare money. The reserve
is 360 km northwest of Edmonton.
Wouters said it's standard for all natives on reserves to have
per capita payments counted as earned income.
The more than 600-member band was promised the cash after
accepting a $54-million land claim offer from the federal and
provincial governments.
The band was formed in August 1989 after splitting from the
Lubicon Lake Band because natives were angry about slow land
claim talks.
* * * * *
Attachment #15: re-printed without permission from WINDSPEAKER,
July 19, 1991
WOODLAND SETTLEMENT ACCEPTED; 'PITIFUL SITUATION' -- OMINAYAK
By Amy Santoro
Windspeaker Staff Writer
CADOTTE LAKE, ALTA.
A "pitiful" situation has been created by Ottawa and the Alberta
government by "toying with people," says Lubicon Lake Chief
Bernard Ominayak.
"Both Mulroney and the Alberta government should be ashamed of
themselves," said Ominayak, following the acceptance of a land
settlement by the Woodland Cree Band.
"It's kind of sad the whole thing was operated by Indian Affairs
to divide and conquer the Lubicon people," he said.
The Woodland Cree voted overwhelmingly July 6 in favor of a $56-
million federal government package.
The Lubicon band rejected a similar offer in 1988 leading some
disgruntled members to split from the band.
Following a deadlock in negotiations with the Lubicons, Ottawa
created the Woodland Cree band using section 17 of the Indian Act
in 1989. About 25 per cent of the band is made up of frustrated
Lubicons.
The 700-member Woodland group will receive $1,0000 each later
this month. The cash was promised to them if the green light was
given to the settlement offer.
Of the 309 eligible voters 264 voted in favor of the deal which
gives the breakaway band a 142-km reserve at Cadotte Lake, 60 km
east of Peace River, subsurface rights (but not existing
discoveries), a total of $19 million from Ottawa and Alberta to
be held in trust and to pay band operating costs, $28.8 million
for community development and $3 million from the province for
vocational training on the reserve.
The grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations is furious over
Ottawa's creation of the Woodland Cree Band "to overpower and
then eliminate the Lubicon Cree."
The government is using the Woodland Cree "as a Trojan horse to
destroy the legitimate rights of Chief Bernard Ominayak and the
Lubicon band. The newly created band will soon have nothing --
no money, no mineral rights. It will be the newest victim of
Indian Affair's divide and rule policies," said Ovide Mercredi.
Lubicon advisor Fred Lennarson said Ottawa has manipulated the
Woodland Cree to accept an offer which won't benefit future
generations. "That's why the Lubicons rejected a similar offer.
"They have subsurface rights on land with nothing. They'll have
new houses but they'll still be living on welfare. Cardinal is
letting himself be used to subvert his aboriginal brothers and
sisters to get something for himself," claimed Lennarson.
But Woodland Cree Chief John Cardinal is elated with the
settlement. "The land is ours. We'll have running water and new
homes. Our lifestyle will improve, we won't be living like they
did 50 years ago anymore. We're going to benefit from this."
Cardinal said he's not bothered Treaty 8 chiefs voted June 26 not
to recognize the Woodland as a legitimate band. "Recognized or
not we were born here. You can get carried away if you think
about it but you have to do the best you can. It's not a battle
and we won't get political about it."
Following formal signing of documents this summer or fall the
membership will discuss future development plans, he said.
* * * * *
Attachment #16: re-printed without permission from WINDSPEAKER,
July 19, 1991
QUOTABLE QUOTE
"The disgusting situation where the government is trying to
create a new band, the Woodland Cree band, to overpower and then
eliminate the Lubicon Cree is just another example of
bureaucratic immorality and manipulation...Indian Affairs is
attempting to use this so-called Woodland Cree band as a Trojan
horse to destroy the legitimate rights of Chief Bernard Ominayak
and the Lubicon Band. The newly-created band will soon have
nothing -- no money and no mineral rights. It will be the newest
victim of Indian Affairs' divide-and-rule policies." -- National
Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Ovide Mercredi
* * * * *
Attachment #17: re-printed without permission from THE EDMONTON
JOURNAL, Sunday, July 21, 1991
A DEAL OR A STEAL?
BATTLE OF THE BANDS
The Woodland Cree have already seen the fruits from their
settlement with the federal and provincial governments, but the
Lubicons, who rejected an equivalent settlement, liken the
Woodland Cree agreement to a dash-for-cash with questionable
long-term benefits
Jack Danylchuk
Journal Staff Writer
Cadotte Lake
Alberta native leaders have pilloried John Cardinal and refuse to
recognize his band, but the chief of the Woodland Cree just
shrugs and laughs.
"Who is Treaty 8? Who is the Indian Association? What can they
do?" Cardinal scoffed.
"I was born here, I'm an Indian and it doesn't matter what they
say, they can't do anything to change that."
The chief of Alberta's newest band -- created, his critics say,
by the federal government to skewer the neighboring Lubicons and
their land-claim demands -- points instead to the benefits that
have flowed to the community of 350 at Cadotte Lake during the
last two years.
Since 1989 when the Woodland Cree split off from the Lubicons led
by Bernard Ominayak, there has been a new fire hall and water
treatment plant for the settlement 400 km north of Edmonton.
"There were so many kids who were getting sick because of
untreated water," said Cardinal, who describes living conditions
in the isolated community as little changed during the last 50
years.
Many of the one-room log cabins that housed the settlement, when
it was moved to Cadotte Lake from Marten River 30 years ago, are
still standing and some are still occupied.
Dusty gravel secondary road 686 has replaced the "rabbit trail"
to Peace River, "but we still chop wood to make a fire," said
Cardinal.
"There is no running water. We're living the way people lived 50
years ago. And that's quite an improvement."
The land and cash settlement with the federal and provincial
governments -- accepted earlier this month by a vote of band
membership -- promises to bring significant changes to the lives
of the Woodland Cree during the next five years.
In addition to 142 sq. km of reserve land, the band will get $19
million from the federal and provincial governments that will be
placed in a trust fund. The interest will cover the band's
annual operating expenses.
There will be $3 million from Alberta for vocational training and
$28.8 million for community development -- roads, houses and
running water -- to be paid by Ottawa during the next five years.
"This is a unique opportunity," says Cardinal, who owns the small
corner store which is the only retail outlet at Cadotte Lake.
"We're lucky that we became a band. Otherwise we would have been
left in limbo with nothing."
"Life has changed here already, and it's going to improve more.
I'm a status Indian today. I don't need money for dental,
medical, or drugs. I can hunt anytime I want to.
"We live on a reserve, so we're tax-free here."
But after the roads and houses are built, the long term future is
less certain for the community where unemployment is high and
hunting and fishing provide only subsistence living.
Cardinal readily admits that the Woodland Cree have no plan for
economic development beyond the kind of energy that housing and
road construction will generate. But he isn't concerned.
"We're in no rush; we're looking for a consultant and now that we
have the settlement we can take our time and come up with a plan
in the next six months or a year."
The Woodland Cree have subsurface rights but no revenue from
existing developments, oil, gas and forestry. Lubicon Chief
Ominayak doubts that they will ever see a dime from resource
royalties.
"The land has been searched and researched for resources, so it's
highly unlikely that they will get anything from having
subsurface rights," said Ominayak.
Ominayak's Lubicons have refused a settlement similar to what the
Woodland Cree accepted. In January 1989, they rejected a land
and cash offer of 90 sq. miles and $45 million.
"It looks like the same kind of offer they proposed to us," said
Ominayak, whose decision to reject the 1989 offer led to the
creation of the Woodland Cree.
The Lubicons wanted a share of the millions in resource revenue
the provincial government and oil companies have been pulling out
of their lands since the 1970s. They put a $170 million price
tag on their settlement, including an economic development fund.
"There was no money for economic development," he said. "If our
members wanted to pursue any kind of economic opportunity
independent of the band, we wouldn't be able to assist in any way
because of ties and restrictions on the money."
Estimates vary, but the Lubicons have lost 18 to 25 per cent of
their estimated 500 membership to the Woodland Cree. They stand
to lose perhaps another 10 per cent, if a band at nearby Loon
Lake gains government recognition.
The loss of members will result in a lower settlement offer to
the Lubicons, one that Ominayak -- disdainful of the Woodland
deal -- seems likely to reject.
"We knew the federal government was really trying to beat us down
and we see this as part of that," said Ominayak. "But if others
get a certain benefit through our efforts then that at least is
something."
For the Woodland Cree, Ominayak predicts that after the houses
are built and the development money is gone, it will be
unemployment and welfare as usual at Cadotte Lake, unless the
newly skilled tradesmen can find work away from the reserve.
"The money will disappear awful fast -- then they are back to
Square 1," he said.
Unemployment is high at Cadotte Lake and throughout the isolated
settlements along secondary highway 686 between Peace River and
Red Earth. Fur prices are deeply depressed. Hunting and fishing
provide only subsistence living and most of the jobs -- clearing
rights-of-way -- call for unskilled laborers.
"Education is the biggest problem," said Cardinal, who went only
as far in school as Garde 4 and has trouble reading and writing.
"I can sign my name, but when I read, I have to go over some
things I don't know how many times to try and understand it."
Other people in the community "are about where I am," he said.
Education in the school built in the last decade at Cadotte Lake
stops at Grade 10, "but could go to Grade 12," said Cardinal, who
understands it also holds the key for band members who want to
become tradesmen.
The provincial government is providing $3 million for vocational
training in Cadotte Lake "so we're hoping that some of our people
can learn to be carpenters, electricians, or plumbers."
The $28.8 million in infrastructure development money will
provide training and jobs for five years "and after that they can
get employment elsewhere," he said.
Deedee Williams, an apprentice carpenter in Cadotte Lake, figures
the house construction work that comes with the settlement will
allow him to get his journeyman's papers.
"There'll be work here for a couple of years at least," said
Williams, who hopes his household will be among the 120 that will
get one of the new houses to be financed by the agreement.
The band office in Cadotte Lake bustles with activity. There are
15 jobs, and records are being placed on a computer system, as
the band gets ready for a flow of money from the settlement.
There are already a half-dozen jobs at a construction site where
the band is building an equipment maintenance shed, and more jobs
where a road is being built into Marten Lake.
A hand-lettered sign tacked to the office wall proclaims the
band's vision:
"We the Woodland Cree band will develop and maintain a self-
supporting community for our children which respects the
individual, all people, the environment and other communities."
Rhoda Lamouche, the band's transportation clerk, is proud of the
band.
"We've gone from nothing to something," she said, but
acknowledged the strained relations with Lubicons who live just
20 km away.
"There's more hostility there than there is from here," she said.
At Little Buffalo, a lone woman answers the phone in the
Lubicon's darkened band office.
"Some people here are quite despondent," says John Goddard, a
Montreal writer whose book on the Lubicon will be published this
fall by Douglas and McIntyre.
Despite the setback that the Woodland settlement represents,
Ominayak is as determined as ever.
"We're not giving up," he said.
* * * * *
Attachment #18: re-printed without permission from ALBERTA
NATIVE NEWS, July, 1991
WOODLAND CREE VOTE YES TO $56M
By Deborah Shatz
Nearly two years after their creation, the Woodland Cree have
voted to accept a land claim package from the federal government.
A referendum was held over two days, with polling stations in
four locations and the response was overwhelming. After all the
ballots were counted a resounding 98.5 percent of the members who
voted had approved the $56 million agreement. Voter turnout was
also very high with 86.7 percent or 268 band members voting.
Under the terms of the agreement the Woodland Cree will receive
$28.8 million to be used over the next 5 years to develop their
community with such things as houses, roads and running water.
An additional $19 million will be held in trust from the federal
and provincial governments to pay for the band's operating
expenses. A reserve of 143 square km is also provided at Cadotte
Lake, located 60 kms east of Peace River. The Woodland are given
subsurface rights to the land but not to existing discoveries.
The band has sold 41 square kms back to the government so their
agreement included the price of the land, $512,000. The deal
also includes $3 million from the Alberta government to be used
for on-reserve vocational training.
Although the Woodland Cree members are pleased with their land
claim package, the package and their electoral process have come
under fire.
Band Council paid $50 "travel expenses" to each member who voted
and band members were promised $1000 if the referendum was
accepted.
The band itself continues to be ostracized from other Aboriginal
groups and organizations having been denied recognition from both
the Grand Council of Treaty 8 and the Indian Association of
Alberta.
The Woodland Cree Band was created by the federal government
using the controversial Section 17 of the Indian Act which
permits them to act unilaterally. The band includes some former
members of the Lubicon lake First Nation, who were dissatisfied
with the breakdown of their land claim negotiation. Many believe
that the federal government created the Woodland Cree in an
effort to "divide and conquer" the Lubicon, discredit them and
diminish their bargaining power.
The Grand Council of Treaty 8 First Nations recently reaffirmed
their decision not to recognize the Woodland Cree. Richard
Davis, Vice President of Treaty 8 explained that "it was felt
that if the Grand Council recognized the Woodland Cree then it
would be as if they are condoning Section 17 of the Indian Act."
He indicated that the Council felt strongly that bands should not
be created because it suits the "agenda of the federal
government" but rather with "consensus of the parent band, chief
and band council."
He said that the Grand Council "cannot afford to be used as a
tool of the federal government...let the people involved
internally sort out their own problems."
John Cardinal, Chief of the Woodland Cree, issued the following
statement:
The Woodland Cree Band includes treaty land entitlees who
want to get on with their lives and to them a land claim
settlement in their lifetime means hope for the future of
their children. As a group which includes people with
unfulfilled treaty rights Section 17 of the Indian Act has
been a welcome provision. A provision which they have
utilized to help them negotiate what they feel is a just
settlement.
The Woodland Cree Band feels that if they have paved the way
for other groups with unfulfilled treaty rights to become
recognized bands as per Section 17 of the Indian Act, not to
be recognized by the Grand Council of Treaty 8 Nations is
small sacrifice. However they sincerely hope that any
further use of Section 17 is done co-operatively with both
the federal government and the parent band involved with
consideration of the rights and interests of the existing
band.
* * * * *
Attachment #19: re-printed without permission from ALBERTA
NATIVE NEWS, July, 1991
LENNARSON CRITICIZES WOODLAND CREE AGREEMENT
By Brian Savage and Deborah Shatz
Fred Lennarson, a spokesperson for the Lubicon band,
characterizes the turnout for the vote by the Woodland Cree which
approved a land settlement agreement with the federal government
as a "bought election, pure and simple."
"They wee given $50 if they voted and $1000 if they voted the
right way, that's one way of getting a good turnout and the
results you seek to achieve."
The financial inducements to vote were highly unusual when
compared to other Indian band elections, says Lennarson.
"This is a Section 17 (of the Indian Act) created society.
They're not fooling anyone with this, everyone knows this is
something created out of wholecloth."
Woodland Cree Chief John Cardinal maintains however that his
council was not buying the election when it provided $50 to each
member who voted in their recent land claim referendum. He
explained to the media that the money was given as travel
compensation or to help out if a person had to miss some work in
order to vote.
"It may look like we're buying votes," Chief Cardinal told the
Canadian Press "but that was not our intention...They could have
come and voted 'no' and we'd still have paid them. We had no way
of knowing what they voted."
Cardinal also dispelled the notion that they bought votes by
promising $1000 to each band member provided the referendum was
passed. According to the chief, the money simply reflects each
member's share of the settlement deal.
The Chief Electoral Officer, Roger Cardinal who is an official
with the Department of Indian Affairs, is quoted as saying that
"a lot of people came from out of town and they got their gas
money...The band took great pains to ensure a person's right to a
free vote was protected."
According to Lennarson, fallout of this agreement will be how
Aboriginal people will look at the federal government and its
dealings with Native people.
"What this does is make you look real close at anything that does
look good. These are not honourable men we're dealing with and I
don't believe them until or unless we have it locked in tight and
in the bank."
As examples of the government's questionable dealing with Natives
Lennarson cites the breakdown of the land settlement with the
Aboriginal groups in the NWT where separate groups are now
negotiating with the government, and the James Bay Cree, where
the federal government was found to be in default but "the
government ignores the arbitration."
"You shouldn't assume the problem is solved," remarks the Lubicon
advisor, "just because they say something half-decent once in a
while."
After looking at the agreement the Woodland Cree have signed,
Lennarson, who says he had two lawyers go over the document, has
many reservations about the possible precedents it may have set.
"The agreement actually provides that if the land has some sub-
surface resources, they (the Cree) don't have any sub-surface
rights, but for land that doesn't have sub-surface resources the
rights have been transferred."
According to Lennarson the Woodland Cree get "up to $35 million
to build a community, the same take it or leave it offer the
Lubicon got.
"It doesn't say, we're giving you $400,000 to build a health
unit, it says 'we have information that Health and Welfare may
have money to do this and we suggest that you go talk to Health
and Welfare' -- the document is full of ifs, ands and buts."
A breakdown of the money the Woodland Cree claim to receive is
revealing, explains Lennarson.
"They're given $19 million for what's called socio-economic
development in two funds, one's called capital funds in the
amount of $15 million, the other is revenue funds at $4 million."
The latter fund has provisions for per capita distribution per
year up to 25 percent. If you take the figure of 500 people at
the maximum of 25 percent each Cree would receive $2000 per year
and the fund would be depleted within four years.
"Two thousand dollars is not going to solve all your problems,"
says Lennarson.
Lennarson says the document is not clear on the breakdown of the
other fund. It would appear $10 million goes into a bank account
and the other $5 million will be doled out over a five year
period with interest being ploughed back into the capital fund,
probably at around four percent, something similar to the
Heritage Trust fund.
"Of the capital fund," says Lennarson, "they can spend up to a
third of it per year on economic development. That leaves about
$7 million and it's no longer earning the interest it was, and
it's down to just over $3 million the year after that if they do
the same.
"Do you want to take on the responsibility of building an economy
for $3 million a year over a three year period and support a
population on $2000 a year per capita distribution? Because
that's what they got," claims Lennarson.
Asked about the legal representation the Woodland Cree received,
Lennarson is scornful.
"The lawyer was selected, hired and paid by the Federal
government. The Woodland Cree were flown to Edmonton in a
chartered plane and introduced to their lawyer named Bob Young,
from Calgary, in the offices of Indian Affairs.
"It's really nice when you get a lawyer working for both sides of
the table, then you don't get any disagreements."
It is scenarios like this that make Lennarson upset.
"From my point of view they (the government) don't have any
credibility at all. What the chief of the Woodland Cree is
saying is that 'others can criticize us but we've got more than
we had before'. The problem is they're setting one hell of a
precedent for the rest of the Aboriginal people trying to
negotiate land rights, and that's what the government wants -- to
undermine Aboriginal groups."
Chief Bernard Ominayak's reaction was one of sadness, according
to Lennarson, "that Aboriginal people can be used like this."
Lennarson believes that this agreement "will now be used in
negotiations by the government against the Lubicon's own land
claims," something that Lennarson finds offensive.
"They're setting up a precedent for Aboriginal people across the
country that Aboriginal land rights are worth no more than a
house on a lake and a life on welfare, and you have to understand
if Aboriginal societies don't protest this, the government can
use section 17 to take apart any band in the country."
People must make it known to the government that their actions
are unacceptable, says Lennarson, if they want any changes to be
made.