Mailing address:
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Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
September 27, 1991
Enclosed for your information are a couple of newspaper articles
regarding statements by Alberta New Democrat Environment Critic
John McInnis on the expected confrontation between Daishowa and
the Lubicons. The New Democrats are the official Opposition in
the Alberta Provincial Legislature.
* * * * *
Attachment #1: The Edmonton Journal, Friday, September 27, 1991
LOGGING COULD SPUR VIOLENCE
MLA says logging should end until Lubicon claim is settled
Brian Laghi
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton
Any attempt to cut timber on land claimed by the Lubicon Lake
Indian band will probably result in more violence and a boycott
of Alberta paper, warns New Democrat environment critic John
McInnis.
"To allow further logging on the Lubicon land this winter would
be a very disastrous mistake for the province of Alberta,"
McInnis said Thursday after a recent visit to the area.
Charges were laid late last year against some members of the
Lubicon band after logging equipment in one of the disputed areas
was destroyed by fire.
McInnis issued his warning prior to showing a video of several
hectares of land laid bare by logging companies working for
Daishowa Canada Ltd. The area is located on land which the
Lubicons claim as their own.
"If our province gets a bad name for logging on traditional
disputed areas of aboriginal areas it's going to hurt us in some
of our overseas markets," McInnis said. "(Forestry Minister)
LeRoy Fjordbotten is playing with fire."
Fjordbotten could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
McInnis compared the situation to the American Wild West, where
Indians were pushed off their land without treaty agreements.
"In Canada we like to think we honorably negotiated treaties with
aboriginal people to take care of their interests before we take
control of their land," he said. "Unfortunately, that's not
happened in the Lubicon case."
McInnis said he met with members of the band during his recent
visit and got the impression they might resort to violence out of
frustration.
He said the logging has forced wildlife to leave the area,
ruining traplines and the traditional Indian hunting areas.
* * * * *
Attachment #2: The Edmonton Sun, Friday, September 27, 1991
VIOLENCE, FOREST BOYCOTT FEARED
New Dem urges no logging on disputed Lubicon land
By Jeff Harder
Staff Writer
The province is "playing with fire" by allowing Daishowa Canada
to log on disputed Lubicon land, say the New Democrats.
Besides Lubicon threats of violent confrontation, a boycott of
Daishowa products could spread to the rest of Alberta's forest
industry, fears ND environment critic John McInnis.
The Lubicon Indians and their European supporters are urging
Daishowa customers to spend their money elsewhere.
"I think it's very important the provincial government put a halt
to logging on the Lubicon's traditional area this winter," said
McInnis yesterday.
Daishowa runs a pulp mill at Peace River and logs on unceded
Lubicon land, 350 km northwest of Edmonton.
"If they don't I fear that there will be an escalation of
violence," said McInnis. "I also think it's quite reasonable to
suggest the demand for a boycott of Daishowa products will grow
within the province and elsewhere."
"And in fact it may even spread to the rest of the Alberta forest
industry," he said.
McInnis was not alone in attacking Daishowa yesterday. The
company came under heavy fire in a letter from Jacques Johnson,
provincial of the Missionary Oblates of the Grandin province.
"We are appalled at the rate and extent of the destruction of the
Lubicon's traditional way of life, their economy and their
independent," Johnson wrote in a Sept. 26 letter to Daishowa
vice-president Tom Hamaoka: "One could say resource development
companies, including Daishowa, have been the main tools used in
the deliberate attempts to destroy the Lubicon people."
Danish and German activists have already thrown their support to
the Lubicon and issued letters of protest to Daishowa, a Japanese
conglomerate.
Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak, who wasn't available for comment,
has also enlisted a Japanese religious council in his crusade
against the pulpmill.