> I was being kind to the writer in my response. Actually, he was also
> implying that the Navajo have an inherent right to the land "the creator gave
> them". That, frankly, is reinventing history, since the Navajo came down from
> Alaska or NW Canada only a few hundred years ago.
>
> I'm not siding with either tribe. It's just like the Lubicon/Woodland Cree
> situation. I get awfully suspicious when I get only one side of an argument
> from supporters of the much larger, more politically active tribe.
As one of the supporters of the Lubicons Dr. James May makes reference to in
his postings I feel compelled to clear up any possible misunderstandings that
may have been created by the last paragraph in Dr. May's quote.
The comparison between Hopi/Navaho and Lubicon Cree/Woodland Cree is on very
shaky grounds. While the Hopi/Navaho are, as Dr. May says in a previous
message, two linguistically and culturally distinct tribes, this is not the
case between the Lubicons and Woodlands.
The impression given by Dr. May is that the Lubicon struggle is actually a
struggle between two native groups, the Lubicons and the Woodland Cree.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Lubicon struggle is, in the words of Ethel Blondin, Member of Parliament
for the Western Arctic, "the story of one of the longest and oldest human
rights violations in Canadian history. It is a story that underscores the
pervasive injustice and discrimination which confronts aboriginal people
across this country." This pervasive injustice and discrimination is not
perpetrated against the Lubicons by the Woodland Cree, but by the Federal
Government of Canada and the Province of Alberta.
This struggle, which has been going on for about 50 years now, has been called
"the best-documented aboriginal rights case in the world" by one member of the
United Nations Humans Rights Committee, which eventually found Canada in
violation of Article 27 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political
Rights.
It is within this historical timeframe and within this political setting that
one must view the emergence of the Woodland Cree band. This band came into
existence in 1989 under Section 17 of the INDIAN ACT which gives the Federal
government power to divide or amalgamate bands virtually at will.
"The minister may, WHENEVER HE CONSIDERS IT DESIRABLE, constitute new Bands
and establish new Band Lists with respect thereto from existing Bands Lists,
or from the Indian Register, if requested to do so by persons proposing to
form the new Bands". The clause also states that "NO PROTEST CAN BE MADE".
(To enable all interested parties to form their own opinion on the creation of
the Woodland Cree Band and their role in the Lubicon struggle I will upload
relevant postings originally uploaded in 89 and 90).
The emergence and role of the Woodland Cree band has been a tremendous setback
for the Lubicon struggle. However, there is no doubt that while being used to
thwart the struggle of the Lubicons, the members of the Woodland Cree band are
victims of the same government that is using them so skilfully for their own
ends.
It simply is not enough to provide housing and a small reserve after your
economic base has been destroyed (hunting, trapping, gathering), after your
social structure has been torn to shreds, and after your self-sufficiency has
been replaced with a welfare system. And this goes for the Lubicons, the
Woodland Cree and every other (newly) colonialized aboriginal society.
The difference is the Lubicons are very aware that without economic self-
sufficiency provided in a fair and equitable settlement of their land rights
there is no way to once again be self-sufficient.
I feel very strongly, like Dr. James May does, in his words, to be suspicious
about information being presented by any group vying for support. I prefer to
call it being critical of the material that is being presented. But to be
suspicious or critical simply cannot be enough, the next step has to be
analysis based on existing factual information. As an active supporter of
Native Rights this step is crucial lest we end up READING a lot about the
misery of Aboriginal societies, but do NOTHING.
I hope I was able to clarify somewhat the wrongful impression that Dr. May's
posting could have given to some subscribers of NativeNet, especially the
people who have joined over the last several months and are not privy to
previous postings of topics on the Lubicon struggle.
Roland
PS: I have just finished reading the book "Last Stand of the Lubicon Cree" by
John Goddard, Publisher Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN 0-88894-716-X.
This book is great, cuts through all the complexities of this struggle, and I
believe it is still available from the Lubicon Edmonton office. Bookstores who
have tried to order it from the publisher were supposedly told it was already
sold out. So unless you order it from the Lubicons you won't be getting it
until the first reprint.
-----
PPS from Gary Trujillo, NativeNet facilitator:
I am attaching below Roland's earlier article pertaining to the book he
mentions here, so anyone wishing to order it now, rather than waiting for
the next press run may do so.
I would also like to point out that it is possible to obtain articles on the
Lubicon struggle from March of this year onward. To get a list of articles,
send the following message text to the address "listserv@tamvm1.bitnet":
// job echo=no
database search dd=rules
//rules dd *
select 'lubicon' in native-l
index
/*
To retrieve the articles themselves, replace the "index" command with the
command "print all". To limit the time period searched, you can say
things like "select 'lubicon' in native-l since 15 august" or "select
'lubicon' in native-l from 15 august to 30 october". Let me know if you
have any problems with this facility. My address is gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us.
| Subject: Long Awaited Lubicon Book Finally Available
| Message-ID: <9110231226.AA25480@lion.hsc.ucalgary.ca>
| Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1991 12:26:55 GMT
|
| Original-Sender: leitner@lion.hsc.ucalgary.ca (Roland Leitner)
October 21, 1991, Lubicon mail-out on John Goddard Book
"LAST STAND OF THE LUBICONS"
The long-awaited John Goddard book on the Lubicons is finally
finished and will be available in Canadian book stores about the
middle of November for an advertised price of $26.95. People can
also obtain a copy of the Goddard book from the Edmonton Lubicon
office for an estimated $20.00 Canadian including postage.
John Goddard first encountered the Lubicons while working on an
article for Equinox Magazine in 1984 and saw in the situation a
sort of condensed, distilled, capsulized version of the
colonization of North America. Since then he's pursued the story
of the Lubicon struggle with the ever-questioning persistence and
patience of a never quite satisfied history scholar, the
relentless and uncompromising tenacity of a tough almost to the
point of being rash let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may
investigative reporter, and the near-poetic literary skills of a
first class, award winning writer. As many a politician,
government bureaucrat and PR flunky have learned to their dismay,
John Goddard is not somebody you want to try to baffle,
bamboozle, flimflam or keep secrets from.
In addition to spending years pouring over, cross-referencing and
double-checking thousands of pages of historical and legal
documentation, John Goddard has been all kinds of places and
talked to all kinds of people -- some of them well known to
anybody who reads the newspaper, others not many know about but
who've played key roles in the Lubicon struggle. He spent time
with Bernard Ominayak on the Chief's trapline when trapping was
still a viable way of life for the Lubicons and few people had
ever heard of Chief Ominayak. He attended small meetings in
Edmonton church basements where Chief Ominayak was speaking and
followed the Chief across Europe. He was at Sturgeon Lake when
Federal Indian Affairs Minister David Crombie agreed to appoint
E. Davie Fulton "to make a deal" with the Lubicons. He was in
Ottawa when Mr. Crombie's successor charged that Mr. Fulton had
become "biased" in favour of the Lubicons. He was in Little
Buffalo Lake when the Lubicons blockaded roads and asserted
jurisdiction over 4,000 square miles of northern Alberta. He was
at Grimshaw when Alberta Premier Don Getty agreed that the
Alberta Provincial Government would stop blocking a settlement of
Lubicon land rights. And he was there when officials of the
Canadian Federal Government paid the members of the Government-
created Woodland Cree Band $50 each for their votes and promised
$1,000 more per family member if the "Woodies" voted to accept a
Government-designed settlement offer clearly intended to once and
for all tear Lubicon society asunder and scuttle Lubicon land
rights.
Chief Ominayak often counsels people seeking his advice to "just
tell the truth". No one who knows John Goddard's work doubts for
a moment that John Goddard's book will, to the best of John
Goddard's considerable knowledge and ability, tell the truth
about the Lubicon struggle.
For those wanting to order copies of the book through the Lubicon
office, please send a check or money order for $20.00 to:
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, 3536 - 106 Street, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, T6J 1A4.