Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
January 28, 1992
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a letter to Canadian Prime
Minister Brian Mulroney on the continuing Lubicon tragedy. The letter is
from the National Association of Japanese Canadians.
* * * * *
January 24, 1992, letter to Brian Mulroney from the National Association of
Japanese Canadians
Dear Mr. Mulroney:
RE: The Lubicon Cree; Abuse of Human Rights by Canadian and Alberta
Governments
The National Association of Japanese Canadians is writing to call upon your
government to reopen negotiations and to deal in good faith with the
Lubicon Cree Indians regarding their aboriginal rights to unceded ancestral
lands in Alberta. The continued abuse of this group of people and the
destruction of their land by resource extraction and clear-cut logging is a
disgrace to Canada and an affront to all national and international
principles of human rights and self-determination. It is especially
disturbing to our organization as a body with a strong commitment to human
rights.
The NAJC is a body which successfully obtained redress for Japanese
Canadians in September 1988 on the basis of the abuse of our human rights
carried out by the Government of Canada. The redress settlement showed
strong leadership by your government, and was an outstanding demonstration
of commitment to minority rights. It represented an affirmation of the
principles of justice and equality for all Canadians, and was achieved as a
result of our own efforts and the support of many other Canadians,
including native peoples. We are therefore morally obligated to protest in
the strongest possible terms the flagrant abuse of the rights of the
Lubicon Cree people of Alberta.
If the rights of this small band of aboriginal people can be ignored
because they stand in the way of multi-national resource development, we
must seriously question whether we have genuine human rights protection in
Canada.
The fifty-year struggle of the Lubicon Cree for their unceded ancestral
territories has been well documented and publicized throughout Canada and
internationally. The inquiry by Dave Fulton, appointed by your government,
has recognized and upheld the legitimacy of the Lubicon position.
Nevertheless, accelerated extraction of resources (oil) and the granting of
timber cutting rights to Daishowa Canada Ltd. have caused rapid destruction
of the land of the Lubicon people and destroyed their traditional way of
life. We are greatly concerned about the environmental destruction and
about the effects on the Lubicon people and their survival.
Despite their own vigorous efforts, and the efforts of many church,
environmental and other bodies, governments and the resource extraction
companies have failed to respect due process and basic human rights.
We believe genocide is not too strong a word to describe what has been
taking place. This is completely unacceptable in a free and democratic
country which claims to uphold human rights protection in the world forum.
As an organization we have no choice but to take the strongest possible
stand in support of the Lubicon people. We very much regret the growing
cynicism regarding government actions, and the growing alienation of large
numbers of people in our community and throughout the country which results
from the very obvious abuse of one of Canada's first nations. We urge you
to take the leadership in resolving this issue in a fair and honourable way
which respects the legitimate aspirations of the Lubicon people to a self-
determination and the exercise of their aboriginal rights as protected
under the Constitution of Canada.
Sincerely yours,
Arthur Miki, M.C.
President