LUBICONS TARGET DAISHOWA
The giant transnational faces a full-blown fight
over plans to begin clearcutting this fall
March 7, 1988, is a day Daishowa Canada officials would rather we
forgot. That's the day the giant paper transational made an
agreement with the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation not to cut trees in
unceded Lubicon territories until a land rights agreement had
been reached with the federal and provincial governments. The
Lubicons, concerned with the selling off of vast portions of
Alberta to transnational forestry companies through provincial
government leases, met with Daishowa to wrangle just such an
agreement out of them. Now Daishowa has reneged on the agreement
with the preparations for a massive clearcutting operation on
Lubicon territory this fall.
The Lubicon Lake Nation has consistently mounted a spirited
struggle for their aboriginal land rights ever since the onset of
oil and gas development on their territory in the early 80s.
Although promised a reserve settlement from the feds as far back
as 1939, the Lubicons had lived pretty much isolated from the
rest of the world up until that point, pursuing a traditional
hunting and trapping lifestyle. Oil and gas development
destroyed all that; it chased away the game they depended on and
forced 95% of the community onto welfare. Now, despite a long
and determined struggle to resolve their land rights with both
levels of govenrment, the Lubicon people still have no official
recognition of their aboriginal teritory and are faced with a new
and potentially fatal threat: logging.
A large portion of Alberta is now under lease to transnational
logging corporations. The Lubicon nation's entire traditional
territory is contained in these leases. Although Daishowa
originally agreed not to log Lubicon territory, they have
proceeded using wholly owned subsidiaries such as Buchanan Lumber
and Brewster Construction, who are just waiting for the ground to
freeze to lay their hands on Lubicon forests.
Negotiations have not been fruitful. Not only is Daishowa
alternately pretending they had no agreement or that the
agreement is not applicable (in fact their story changes from day
to day), they are refusing further meetings with the Nation.
While in Tokyo recently, Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak sought
meetings with Daishowa's head offices. These attempts were
rebuffed on the grounds that the logging of Lubicon lands by
wholly-owned Daishowa subsidiaries was a matter between the
Lubicons and government and somehow didn't involve Daishowa.
The gloves are coming off. Lubicon supporters have targetted
Daishowa for an interatnional boycott. While Daishowa is in a
bad financial position due to over-expansion, they are
particularly vulnerable to a drop in sales. Daishowa's paper
products are primarily bought by other companies foer use in
their products rather than as something available direct to
consumers. For instance, in Alberta, Lubicon supporters are
protesting the decision of Edmonton Telephones to use Daishowa
newsprint for their telephone books next year.
In Ontario, the Friends of the Lubicon are callling on the NDP
government to cancel a contract from the Liquor Control Board of
Ontario which sees the LCBO using Daishowa paper bags. This is
particularly important in light of the recent pledges by the
Ontario government to honour Native self-government. Other
companies who use Daishowa bags are Pizza Pizza, Cultures, and
Ho-Lee Chow fast food outlets. While more are being uncovered
and a more extensive international boycott campaign is being
launched, our immediate focus is to get the LCBO's contract
cancelled. It's our feeling that the cancellation of any one of
Daishowa's contracts will be a show of strength for Lubicon
supporters and might put a scare in Daishowa. People can help
accomplish this by writing to Premier Bob Rae at the address
below. We would also encourage people to write to Tom Hamaoka,
Vice President of Daishowa Canada, to express your outrage about
the planned clearcutting of unceded Lubicon territories and the
breaking of their agreement with the Lubicon Lake Nation.
The fall will be a crucial point for the Lubicon Lake Nation. If
we succeed in stopping Daishowa it will be a major victory for
aboriginal interests in the country and will express the power of
solidarity in opposing transational corporations, something that
is in the interests of all Canadians. If we fail, clearcutting
will be carried out in Lubicon territory, leaving a wasteland.
The Nation has sent out a request that people take action against
Daishowa now, on their own behalf, rather than waiting to support
any future Lubicon action. That call has to be enough to bring
us together against this transnational or it may be their last
words.
By Kevin Thomas
* * * * *
Contact the Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto) at 416-783-4694 or
call the Edmonton advisory office at 403-436-5652
Write to:
Premier Bob Rae, Main Building, Room 281, Legislative Building,
Queen's Park, Toronto, ONT M7A 1A5, fax 416-325-3745 (concerning
LCBO bags)
Mr. Tom Hamaoka, Vice President, Daishowa Canada Ltd., 3500 Park
Place, 666 Burrard St., Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2X8, fax 604-689-2853
Please forward copies of your letters and any replies to:
Lubicon Lake Nation, 3536 - 106 Street, Edmonton, AB T6J 1A5, fax
403-437-0719.