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. 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.
WITH FILES FROM CP
* * * * *
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
sceptical 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.