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November 19, 1991
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a transcript of a radio
interview done with John Goddard, author of "Last Stand of the Lubicon
Cree".
* * * * *
Transcript of CBC Radio "Wild Rose Country" (12:30 P.M.)
Monday, November 18, 1991
CBC
We've all heard of the Lubicon Cree. They're a Native band in northern
Alberta who've been trying to reach a land claim agreement for over 50
years. Well, there's a new book out which chronicles the Lubicon struggle.
It's called "Last Stand of the Lubicon Cree". Last week Jim McCrory talked
to John Goddard about his new book.
Jim McCrory, CBC
To begin with, you're a journalist from Quebec. What is it that brought
you to write a book about Native people in Alberta?
John Goddard, author of "Last Stand of the Lubicon Cree"
I first came across the Lubicon Band in 1984. I was on an assignment for
Equinox Magazine. At the time it was sort of a story that I thought I
would encounter once and then I would say good bye to the people and go on
to other things. But there were so many fascinating aspects to that story.
My background is essentially as a news reporter. I think of myself, I
guess, as a writer now, but I still have those journalistic instincts.
What stood out for me was the qualities of that Chief, Bernard Ominayak,
that integrity that he kind of oozes, that determination. Also, the case
itself, it was just so stark. You know that Federal investigator a few
years ago -- E. Davie Fulton, the former Justice Minister -- looked into
this and he said, "This is a case of almost incredible injustice that needs
to be remedied in the most generous way possible."
McCrory
And so you picked up on that and said there's a book in here?
Goddard
I was looking at the question in 1987. I've been working on it for quite a
while. But I just thought, this is just fascinating stuff and I'd like to
look into it deeper.
McCrory
Tell me more about Bernard Ominayak, because for me he seems to be a
character of power and helplessness both at the same time.
Goddard
That's an interesting observation. It's true, isn't it. A real strength
there in his character, and yet completely outnumbered by the power of, you
know, at times the Provincial Government and at times by the federal
forces. They're just getting hammered now. I don't think everyone's aware
of what kind of tragedy is taking place there now.
McCrory
This is in terms of deterioration of the support he used to have?
Goddard
Oh no. I mean the support is still there. The international support.
There are protests going on in Tokyo this month, in Australia last month,
in Europe all this fall at the same time, in Canadian cities. The support
is still there. All through November there were about six events in
Toronto being organized by the Friends of the Lubicon.
McCrory
So what's the other side then. Where are things falling apart?
Goddard
In Ottawa, about 3 years ago, I guess January of 1989, I guess negotiations
took place and the federal people cut them short. They tabled a sort of an
ultimatum, a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer they called it, a final "take-it-
or-leave-it" offer. And it didn't address half the items that were on the
agenda. So the Lubicon people had a meeting and decided that this wasn't
acceptable. But then the federal people, rather than try to find some
further negotiating route, decided to impose that offer anyway. They had
difficulty with that because it was sort of hard to find a legal way to go
around the democratic elected leadership, and all that. But they ended up
over a course of 6 months of looking at different options of kind of
inventing an entirely new Band and have them lay claim to the same Lubicon
territory so that the Federal people would deal with that new Band then
instead of the Lubicons, and then be able to tell the United Nations Human
Rights Committee, which was looking into it, that the whole thing had been
settled and here is this newly created settlement and new houses to prove
it.
McCrory
And obviously it's not settled. This is something that goes back far more
than 3 years or 4 years. It goes back 50 years. Is there one central
reason why the Lubicons have not done a deal in half a century, they
haven't been able to do that?
Goddard
This is a question that calls for a certain amount of speculation. I don't
think there is any sort of script in Ottawa that people are following, like
let's crush the Lubicons. And yet that is the result we're getting. So
why is it? How come it's happening? I've really spent a lot of time
thinking about it. Not just out of pure reflection, but looking at the
facts, the case, the patterns over the course of Lubicon history. In this
book, I've dealt with the Lubicon case as a microcosm, a case study of
patterns that have been happening in history in relation to Indian people.
And the conclusion that I came to after much agony and thinking about it
and looking into it is that the colonial patterns that began with the
country are still continuing. That all those things we say we're sorry
happened a hundred years ago when the buffalo disappeared from the Prairies
and the railroad was going in and people were dying by the thousands of
small pox and stuff -- it's sort of like, it's too bad we couldn't do
better. It's still going on. It's kind of being trapped by history
McCrory
You make the point, or at least you seem to make the point in the book,
that the Lubicons have been given treatment that even other Bands have not
been given. That somehow or other the Lubicons are a special case.
Goddard
I think they've become special because they've asserted themselves, they've
shown themselves to be determined and I think the reason they are being hit
so hard right now is -- it's kind of going back to this problem with
history. It's sort of like -- the federal people keep talking about a
precedent. We don't want to create a precedent. It sort of comes down to,
as ridiculous as it sounds, how can we be fair to the Lubicons if we've
never been fair to Native people ever before?
McCrory
You call your book "Last Stand of the Lubicon Cree". That sounds kind of
black.
Goddard
I don't want to count them out. But if I were a Lubicon person right now I
would be feeling really discouraged. How do you carry on any feeling of
hope that your rights will be addressed when you've got the government
creating bands and then holding plebiscites to ratify agreements by paying
voters $50 to vote right at the polling booth, promising $1,000 if the vote
is yes. You know, breaking all the rules. Let's face it. The federal
government is more powerful than the Lubicon community. And if the federal
government continues on this course, I'm afraid that the Lubicon people --
if it's left to them alone -- will not survive.
McCrory
I want to thank you for your time.
Goddard
Thank you for inviting me.
CBC
That was Jim McCrory talking to John Goddard. He wrote the book, "Last
Stand of the Lubicon Cree". It's published by Douglas & McIntyre. Of
course, the Lubicon land claim has received attention by people from all
over the world. The situation certainly didn't escape the eye of Laura
Vincent. Laura is a Native singer/ songwriter from Brule, Alberta. A
while back she wrote a song called "The Spirit Sings". It's a song she
dedicates to the Lubicon people.