Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
December 09, 1991
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a "standard response" letter on
the Lubicon situation with related cover note recently sent to Canadian
Missions around the world by the Canadian Government. In the letter
Canadian officials again demonstrably lie to the international community.
Sending such materials to Canadian Missions around the world makes clear
that the Canadian Government is worried about and seeking to deflect
international criticism over its handling of the Lubicon situation.
Canadian Government concern this time is likely inspired by the
international controversy being generated by the growing international
boycott of Daishowa paper products.
The purpose of the "standard response" letter is of course to provide
Canadian Mission personnel with officially "approved" Canadian Government
propaganda on the continuing Lubicon tragedy so that they'll be prepared to
respond to anticipated international inquiries, demonstrations, etc. In
context it's also clearly part of the Government's major new anti-Lubicon
propaganda campaign.
The cover note mentions a so-called "Fact Sheet on the Status of Lubicon
Land Claim" sent to Canadian Missions on October 29th. This so-called
"fact sheet" isn't attached to the "standard response" letter but is likely
the same "Status of Lubicon Land Claim" document faxed to reporters in
Canada on December 2nd which falsely claimed, among other things, that "the
(UN) Human Rights Committee found the (Federal Government's so-called
"take-it-or-leave-it" offer) is fair and reasonable and would meet any
obligation Canada has under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights". (A copy of the so-called "fact sheet" faxed to
reporters by the Canadian Government on December 2nd was sent to the
mailing list on December 5th along with an analysis).
The cover note also indicates "that there could be some developments in the
Lubicon situation over the next while...(and that Canadian Missions)...will
be kept informed accordingly". In context this line is not as innocuous as
it sounds and is strongly reminiscent of the "IMPLEMENTATION" section of
the "Strategic Communications" paper prepared for the Federal Indian
Affairs Minister a couple of years ago and discussed in the December 7th
mail-out. The "IMPLEMENTATION" section of that "Strategic Communications"
paper reads, in part:
"All progress would be publicized to reinforce the good intentions
of the government, the fairness of its position, the success of
the negotiating process, and to build public pressure on the non-
negotiating group to come to the table". (You'll recall that the
purpose of the indicated negotiations was to get the James Bay
Cree to agree to Canadian Government default on its specific,
written, constitutionalized obligations under the James Bay and
Northern Quebec Agreement. You'll recall also that the so-called
"non-negotiating group" were James Bay Cree who were simply
insisting that the Canadian Government honour those explicit,
written, constitutionalized obligations. To talk about Canadian
Government "fairness" and "good intentions" under such
circumstances is of course absurd, although it's exactly the same
kind of artfully crafted, deliberately deceitful, self-serving
disinformation that the Lubicons are now facing with the Canadian
Government's current anti-Lubicon propaganda campaign.)
The "standard response" letter offers little that's new but does provide
some creative new twists on Alberta Provincial Government sale of Lubicon
trees to Daishowa. It repeats the essentially irrelevant argument that
"the forest management agreement between Daishowa...and the province of
Alberta specifically excludes logging near the proposed (95 square mile)
Lubicon reserve but (admits that Daishowa's logging lease) does overlap
(the 10,000 square kilometre traditional Lubicon territory)...where the
Lubicon claim aboriginal land rights". It says that "the Canadian
Government acknowledges that the Lubicon Band has a valid claim (to reserve
lands) under Treaty 8...entered into with the Cree and other Indians in
1899" but says that "under the terms of Treaty 8...the Lubicon Band is no
longer considered (by the Canadian Government) to have a valid claim for
aboriginal rights to land". It fails to explain how the Lubicons lost the
rights to their traditional aboriginal lands through a treaty they never
signed -- lands owned and occupied by the Lubicon people since well before
the arrival of western Europeans which the Lubicon people have in fact
never sold, traded, lost in war nor ceded to anybody in any legally or
historically recognized way.
Canadian law provides that rights to aboriginal lands in Canada are
obtained by the Canadian Government under something called the Royal
Proclamation of 1763. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 in turn establishes
that such rights remain with the original aboriginal owners of the land
until formally transferred to the Crown through negotiation of a formal
land cession Treaty. No such treaty has ever been negotiated with the
Lubicon people and official Government records make clear that the
Government Treaty Party which negotiated Treaty 8 in 1899 never even
entered the traditional Lubicon territory.
The terms of Treaty 8 are recorded in an existing, written document
containing the names of the aboriginal nations which are parties to it.
The aboriginal signatories to Treaty 8 are clearly identified both by name
and by the aboriginal nation each represented. There are no Lubicon
signatories to Treaty 8 and nobody professed to be signing Treaty 8 on
behalf of the Lubicons.
The Federal Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to the
Lubicons contains an explicit, written provision whereby the Canadian
Government would require the Lubicons to "cede, release and surrender to
Her Majesty in Right of Canada all their aboriginal claims, rights, titles
and interest, if any, in and to lands and waters anywhere within Canada".
Requiring the Lubicons to cede their aboriginal land rights makes little
sense if the Canadian Government really believes that the Lubicons no
longer retain aboriginal land rights to unceded Lubicon territory.
The Canadian Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to the
Lubicons would also require the Lubicons to formally sign an "adhesion" to
Treaty 8. An "adhesion" is the prescribed procedure for joining an
existing treaty -- something else which makes no sense if the Canadian
Government really believes that the Lubicons are already covered by Treaty
8.
On December 2, 1991, Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon publicly if
unintentionally admitted in a letter to the Editor of the Edmonton Journal
that the Lubicons were "overlooked when Treaty 8 was signed" (see December
4, 1991 mail-out). While consistent with provisions in the Federal
Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer which would require the
Lubicons to cede their aboriginal land rights and "adhere" to Treaty 8, Mr.
Siddon's December 2nd letter is hardly consistent with the claim made in
the "standard response" letter that "the Lubicon Band is no longer
considered, under the terms of Treaty 8, to have a valid claim for
aboriginal rights to land".
Lastly the "standard response" letter again repeats the clearly deliberate
lie that the Lubicons assert unextinguished aboriginal land rights over "an
area nearly the size of the Netherlands and Belgium combined". According
to the Columbia Encyclopedia the Netherlands is approximately 41,344 square
kilometres in size and Belgium is approximately 30,513 square kilometres --
a combined area of nearly 72,000 square kilometres. The unceded
traditional Lubicon territory -- as Canadian Government officials know very
well -- is approximately 10,000 square kilometres.
The source of the fallacious Federal Government assertion that the Lubicons
have "various claims including for an area nearly the size of the
Netherlands and Belgium combined" is a legal action filed on behalf on the
Lubicons in the early 1980s which mistakenly used erroneous numbers long
since formally corrected. Both levels of Canadian Government are well
aware of both the mistake and the formal correction but have regularly
chosen ever since to ignore the formal correction and instead refer to the
incorrect numbers in spite of being publicly set straight each time they do
it and clearly knowing better.
The relevance of such numbers games is always dubious but some interesting
numbers did jump out off the page when checking the size of Belgium and the
Netherlands. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia Belgium and the
Netherlands have a combined population approximately the same as Canada but
lands nearly 139 times smaller. Thus if the point of this particular
Canadian Government lie is that the relatively large size of traditional
Lubicon lands somehow makes the Lubicon people unreasonable, then the
people of Belgium and the Netherlands might well make the same point with
regard to the relatively vast lands claimed by Canadians. Moreover,
contrary to Hitler's lebensraum arguments and whatever illusion Canadian
Government officials are seeking to create by deliberately exaggerating the
size of traditional Lubicon lands, relative population density just simply
isn't a tenable basis for seizing lands and resources rightfully belonging
to somebody else.
* * * * *
Attachment #1: Documents from External Affairs to Canadian Embassies
UNCLASSIFIED
FROM OTT BPF2527 21 NOV 91
TO BY FAX TO FOLLOWING MISSIONS - ATHNS ATNTA BERN BFALO BGOTA BNATO BONN
BOSTN BREEC BRSLA BRU CHCGO CLVND CNBRA CNGNY COPEN CRCAS DALAS DTROT DUBLN
GENEV GTNLA HAGUE HKONG HSNKI KLMPR LDN LIMA LNGLS LSBON MANIL MDRID MNPLS
MOSCO MXICO OSLO PARIS POECD PRET PRMNY ROME SEATL SFRAN SJOSE SPORE STKHM
TAVIV TOKYO VATCN VIENN WDOAS WLGTN WSHDC
DISTR IMH URR RWP PGP
REF OURTEL BPF2469 29 OCT
-- STATUS OF LUBICON LAKE CLAIM
ATTACHED IS A LETTER, APPROVED BY DIAND, WHICH CAN BE USED AS A STANDARD
RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ON THE LUBICON SITUATION. THIS LETTER CAN ACCOMPANY
THE FACT SHEET ON THE STATUS OF LUBICON LAND CLAIM SENT TO MISSIONS 29OCT
WITH REFTEL.
2. DIAND INFORMS US THAT THERE COULD BE SOME DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LUBICON
SITUATION OVER THE NEXT WHILE. WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED ACCORDINGLY.
CONCENTRE; PLEASE FAX ATTACHED 1/1 PAGE
* * * * *
2/2
UNCLASSIFIED
SUGGESTED BASIC TEXT FOR RESPONSE ON LUBICON INDIAN BAND ISSUE
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing in reply to your letter regarding the Lubicon Indians.
The Canadian government acknowledges that the Lubicon Band has a valid
claim under Treaty 8, which was entered into with the Cree and other
Indians in 1899. The treaty rights form the basis of offers of the
Canadian and Albertan governments to the band. In January 1989, the
governments of Canada and Alberta made a formal offer which includes: land
for a reserve, inclusive of mines and minerals; $34 million to build a new
community with new houses, community hall and school; a $10 million
economic development package as well as $500,000 for a trust fund to assist
elders pursue a traditional way of life. The offer would provide band
members with the opportunity to pursue either a meaningful traditional
lifestyle or to participate in the modern Canadian economy. (The offer is
described more fully in the attached information sheet.)
Regarding resource extraction, any petroleum resources which were ever
under the lands identified for the reserve in the formal government offer,
are still available to the band, once the land claim is resolved and the
land set aside as a reserve. As well, no logging has occurred on this
land. The forest management agreement between Daishowa Canada Co. Ltd. and
the province of Alberta specifically excludes logging near the proposed
Lubicon Band reserve but it does overlap wit areas where the Lubicon claim
aboriginal land rights. While the Lubicon Band has made various claims,
including for an area nearly the size of the Netherlands and Belgium
combined, the Lubicon Band is no longer considered, under the terms of
Treaty 8, to have a valid claim for aboriginal rights to land.
The Lubicon have been made a fair and reasonable offer by the Canadian and
Alberta governments. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC)
decision, on the case brought by the Lubicon, said that the government
offer to the Lubicon was an appropriate remedy. Other Indian bands in the
area, with claims as valid as that of the Lubicon Band, have signed
settlements with terms similar, though less generous, than those offered to
the Lubicon.
The settlement of land claims is an important part of the Canadian
government's Native Agenda and many initiatives have been undertaken to
accelerate settlements with aboriginal groups in various parts of Canada.
Thank you for writing regarding the Lubicon Indians.
Yours sincerely,
* * * * *
Attachment #2: Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast
Tuesday, December 24, 1991
CBC Radio
The Lubicon Cree Indians of northern Alberta are accusing the federal
government of spreading false information about their land claim. The
government sent a memo this fall to more than 50 Canadian embassies and
offices around the world. The memo instructs staff on what to tell people
who claim Ottawa isn't treating the Lubicon fairly. A Lubicon advisor says
the memo contains a "blatant lie". Byron Christopher reports.
Byron Christopher, CBC
Fred Lennarson says the government memo is full of garbage, but the part
that gets him is what they're saying about the size of the Lubicon land
claim. According to the memo, a "standard response letter" is to be mailed
to people who complain about government treatment of the Lubicon. The
letter contains this information: "The Lubicon Band has made various
claims including an area nearly the size of the Netherlands and Belgium
combined..." That works out to about 72,000 square kilometres. Lennarson
says the Lubicon land claim is nowhere near that.
Fred Lennarson, Lubicon Advisor
The traditional Lubicon territory, as the government knows very well, is
approximately 10,000 square kilometres. They are sending information to
the international community that the Lubicons are asserting aboriginal
rights over an area 7 times the size the Lubicon are actually asserting
land rights over...and they know it. They are flat out lying to the
international community.
Christopher
The memo was written by External Affairs, and approved by Indian and
Northern Affairs. The standard response letter also mentions that the
United Nations Human Rights Committee describes the government offer to the
Lubicon as an "appropriate remedy". What the government letter does not
say is that Canada violated the U.N. Charter on Human Rights, but that by
negotiating with the Lubicon, Ottawa was taking a step in the right
direction. The U.N. refuses to say whether the Canadian offer was fair or
not. Lubicon support groups are active in Europe, Japan, the U.S. and
Australia. People at External Affairs were not available for comment.
Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton.