Mr. Siddon said "It wouldn't help to have a house or a school twice
as big as necessary". He said "We are talking about training and
some compensation and mediation on a larger amount".
Mr. Siddon said "If a significant amount of financial assistance is
available your people need to look at the economic development
opportunities so that they have some future".
Chief Ominayak said "I agree in general but not on specifics". He
said "Your offer doesn't provide what we need to take advantage of
the economic development opportunities in a vastly changed world not
of our making".
Chief Ominayak said "We can't agree to give up our aboriginal land
rights in order to mediate compensation based on those aboriginal
land rights". "In the past", the Chief said, "we have agreed to put
the question of defining the kind of rights aside to see if we could
achieve agreement on the elements of a settlement including
compensation". He asked "If we cede our rights first, how can we
then negotiate a settlement based on those rights?"
Chief Ominayak said "Premier Getty proposed a three person
independent tribunal, with you selecting one person, us selecting one
person and the first two selecting a third to decide the questions
which we can't settle through negotiations". He said "That might
respond to the concerns of your legal people". He said "I'm sure
that Premier Getty wouldn't make a proposal which isn't consistent
with Canadian law".
Mr. Siddon said "If we agree to go back to the reserve that was
promised and some benefits as provided by Treaty 8, if there's an
obligation tied to lost programs, benefits and services -- that can
be mediated but that requires an acceptance of Treaty 8". "The only
other way", he said, "is compensation under aboriginal title but that
has to be settled legally".
Mr. Siddon said "I think it might be possible to find the right words
through negotiation but in the final analysis you ask me to disregard
the law and I can't do that".
Chief Ominayak said "Both levels of Canadian Government bend and
twist and break the law as they see fit". He said "We wouldn't be in
this predicament if Canadian Government respected its own laws".
"However", he said, "we're now in a position where we need a fair and
just settlement and the question is how do we achieve that".
Mr. Siddon said "I'm prepared to deal with rights under Treaty 8 in
the fullest and fairest amount but I can't break the law". He said
"The Federal Government transferred the land to the Province in
1930". He said "The law is that they own it".
Chief Ominayak repeated "We seek a fair and just settlement without
bending or breaking any law but we need to understand what we mean
when we speak of a process to accomplish that". He said "We won't
confine ourselves to a treaty signed nearly 100 years ago by others,
which we never signed and which clearly doesn't even reflect what
they agreed at that time". He said "If either level of Canadian
Government can provide a document or any proof that the Lubicon
people ceded their aboriginal land rights in any legally or
historically recognized way we'll change our position".
Mr. Siddon said "I thought we were making good progress on building a
community and creating a reserve". "My understanding", he said, "was
that we were very close a month ago". "That's why I don't
understand", he said, "the recent public statements that negotiations
aren't going anywhere".
Chief Ominayak said "I thought that we were going somewhere too until
we received the first and second bibles".
Mr. Siddon asked "What second bible?"
Mr. Wouters said "A community construction package; an information
package on what programs are available; we're proceeding with soil
and water testing and Lubicon negotiators wanted to come back and
talk about some other items like the ice-skating rink and the
swimming pool".
Chief Ominayak asked Fred Lennarson to "describe the first and second
bibles".
Fred Lennarson said "Federal settlement proposals book number one
tabled on March 12th of this year is largely a verbatim reiteration
of the 1989 so-called take-it-or-leave-it settlement offer which even
Premier Getty publicly described as deficient in its provisions for
supposedly enabling the Lubicon people to once again achieve economic
self-sufficiency". He said "Federal settlement proposals book number
two tabled on May 6th of this year is essentially book number one
plus over a hundred pages of standard Government program information
sheets on programs available to Indians in Canada, treaty and non-
treaty alike".
Mr. Lennarson said "Overall the numbers in books one and two are
revised upward somewhat from the take-it-or-leave-it offer but not
enough to take into account the impact of inflation from 1988 to
1992". "The end result", Mr. Lennarson said, "is that the total
value of current Federal proposals in real dollars is actually
significantly less than the so-called take-it-or-leave-it offer -- to
the tune of an estimated 8 to 10 million dollars less".
"The basic difference between Lubicon proposals and Federal
Government proposals", Mr. Lennarson said, "isn't that the Lubicons
are proposing to build houses for non-existent people, but rather
that Lubicon proposals represent an integrated, comprehensive
approach intended to enable the Lubicon people to once again achieve
social, political and economic self-sufficiency, while Federal
Government proposals represent an approach which would provide the
Lubicon people with housing and basic services but makes no credible
provision for the Lubicon people to re-build a self-sufficient
economy or once again manage their own affairs".
"Items missing in the Federal Government's proposals", Mr. Lennarson
said, "include a natural gas utility, a combined community
improvement shop/vocational training centre, basic commercial
enterprises, development of reserve land for agricultural purposes, a
community hall, a community recreation centre, an old people's home,
a day care facility, local communications capability and a
combination fire hall/police station/court house and lock-up".
"Regarding the so-called vocational training program referred to by
Mr. Siddon", Mr. Lennarson said, "book number two includes a letter
from Mr. Wouters to Mr. Sachs indicating that the Province is
considering a proposal from an unknown source to contribute up to a
million dollars to possibly pay for adding a typical industrial arts
shop to the proposed community high school". He said "Mr. Wouters
told me that a creative architect should be able to transform this
200 square metre typical high school industrial arts shop into
something pretty close to what the Lubicons want".
Mr. Lennarson said "The Lubicons have proposed a 2,500 square metre
combined community improvement shop/vocational training centre where
they could learn such things as heavy equipment operation and
maintenance while actually maintaining community-owned road graders
and four wheel drive tractors, and things like carpentry while
actually prefabricating elements of their community construction
program such as residential housing roof trusses". He said that he
told Mr. Wouters that "it would be quite an architectural feat to
transform a typical 200 metre high school wood-working shop and two
car automotive shop into the 2,500 square metre combined community
improvement shop/vocational training centre envisioned by the
Lubicons". He pointed out that "The specifications for the proposed
community shop/vocational training centre envisioned by the Lubicons
weren't simply pulled out of the air but were provided to the
Lubicons by the Provincial Advanced Education Department -- the
people responsible for providing such vocational training in
Alberta -- given the types of training the Lubicons are proposing to
conduct".
Regarding supposed compensation for lost programs, benefits and
services", Mr. Lennarson said, "the Federal Government's proposal
would provide $25,000 per capita for each person whose ancestors were
supposedly not counted elsewhere as having received the so-called
economic development benefits of Treaty 8". "This is a formula", he
said, "which could hypothetically yield anywhere from near zero up to
a maximum of about $12 1/2 million towards some $23 million in basic
Lubicon economic development proposals".
"It's interesting to compare this new Federal Government approach to
calculating the value of lost programs, benefits and services", Mr.
Lennarson said, "to the approach discussed in 1985 with earlier
Lubicon Ministerial appointee the Honourable E. Davie Fulton, which",
he said, "without bending or breaking any laws, and without
addressing the question of treaty versus aboriginal rights, would
generate in the range of $110 to $167 million". "This new approach
to calculating the value of lost programs, benefits and services",
Mr. Lennarson said, "thus represents another significant regression
from earlier discussions".
Mr. Siddon said "Our approach to these kinds of things is to make
available (reserve) land and a new community and funds which the
Lubicons can use to design their own economic development, plus to
provide access to other Federal programs such as the Pathways to
Success Program and the Aboriginal Economic Development Program".
Mr. Siddon said "I believe strongly in education and training but
it's not a matter of us telling you what's good for you".
"If Mr. Lennarson says there's not enough money", Mr. Siddon said,
"there are a number of programs to which the Lubicons can apply to
make it bigger".
Mr. Siddon said "I thought Mr. Wouters and Mr. Sachs were the
negotiators". He said "I don't know where Mr. Lennarson gets off
saying no progress is being made". He said "It's your right to
decide how you want to proceed, how you want to spend your money,
what programs you want to apply for".
Mr. Siddon said "If Mr. Sachs and Mr. Wouters agree with what Mr.
Lennarson says I'll be surprised".
Chief Ominayak asked Bob Sachs to comment.
Bob Sachs said "Back in February we looked at a time frame which has
long since passed". He said "One thing is to make sure there is a
full time, dedicated group of negotiators".
Mr. Sachs said "We've fallen behind the time frame the Minister and
the Chief talked about". He said "This has caused me personally a
great deal of frustration".
Mr. Sachs said "I want to proceed as fast as possible on the
technical stuff". He said "I want to proceed in an accelerated time
frame and that hasn't taken place".
Mr. Wouters offered "I can commit full time people to speed things
up". He said "We can set some deadlines".
Mr. Siddon said "One of the things that didn't happen is that we
haven't had a (Ministers and Chief) meeting since February". He said
"I have a time frame in mind too". He said "There will be an
election in the next year". He said "I want a solution by then".
Mr. Siddon said "I want to take to Cabinet in September a settlement
proposal". He said "I hope to sign a memorandum of understanding in
August that I can take to Cabinet, that Mr. Fowler can take to the
Provincial Government and that Chief Ominayak can take to the Lubicon
people".
Mr. Siddon said "I'm not interested in playing to the media". He
said "I can do that just as effectively as you can but I'm not
interested in playing to the media". He said "I'm interested in
solving problems".
Mr. Siddon repeated "I'd like to have a memorandum of understanding
in August, go to Cabinet in September and start construction in the
spring".
Chief Ominayak said "We can sign the Lubicon draft settlement
agreement right now and save time". He said "It's already drafted in
agreement form".
Mr. Fowler said "Mr. Siddon has explained that we can't break the
laws of the land". He said "We still need to find a process". He
said "I believe in my heart that we can do that". He said "The
Lubicons may not get everything they want, and the two Governments
may give more than they think they have to, but somehow, someway we
have to find a way to give the Lubicons what they need".
Mr. Fowler said "We can't do it in one or two years". He said
"That's why we have programs in place to help over time".
Mr. Fowler repeated "We have to get a process in place".
Chief Ominayak said "We need a process which will enable the Lubicon
people to achieve a fair and just settlement".
Mr. Siddon said "I want to make it clearly understood that I have no
hesitation to talk to the press". "But", he said, "my recollection
is that we weren't going to negotiate in the press". He said "We had
the understanding that we would refrain from negotiating in the
press".
Mr. Siddon said "We have to find a solution". He said "I suggest
that we meet again at the end of June". He repeated "I hope to sign
a memorandum of agreement at the end of August".
Chief Ominayak said "In closing, as far as the media is concerned, I
wish you would keep in mind last November when you asked me for a
private, confidential, off-the-record meeting with no media involved
or informed and then met with the Editorial Board of the Edmonton
Journal immediately before our meeting, told them about our meeting,
implied falsely that I'd requested the meeting, told them that the
take-it-or-leave-it offer wouldn't be changed except to be reduced to
take into account the Woodland Cree and so on".
Mr. Siddon said "I was only trying to help the people of Edmonton
hear the other side of the story". He said "It hasn't happened
since".
Chief Ominayak said "Mr. Wouters has since had a private,
confidential meeting with the senior management of the CBC".
Mr. Siddon said "I can guarantee that won't happen again".
Chief Ominayak asked again for a detailed response to the Lubicon
draft settlement agreement.
Mr. Siddon said "We will provide it but we won't necessarily agree
with you".
Chief Ominayak asked again for assurance that Lubicon settlement
items will be included in the terms of reference of the independent
cost assessor.
Mr. Siddon said "We can include them but we won't necessarily agree
with what the independent cost assessor says".
Mr. Siddon said "Under the new funding agreements, the Chief and
Council decide how they want to spend money".
Chief Ominayak said "That's exactly what we're doing". He said
"That's why we prepared and presented our draft settlement
agreement".
Mr. Siddon said "The figure we've worked up is for a fully modern
community at about $30 to $35 million". He repeated "It will be the
equivalent of any in Canada". He said "If you want to spend the
money in different ways that's your decision".
Chief Ominayak said "We can't make $200 million out of $35 million".
Mr. Siddon said "I'm only talking about community construction".
Chief Ominayak asked Mr. Fowler about previous Provincial
commitments.
Mr. Fowler said "Any commitment made by the Province still stands".
Chief Ominayak said "The Premier told me $10 million which has since
shrunk to $5 million".
Mr. Fowler said "My understanding was $5 million". "But", he said,
"I will discuss it with Premier Getty". He said "The Premier has
said many times that he's totally bound by whatever agreement he
made".
Chief Ominayak said "Thank you for coming but I don't know if we're
any further ahead".
Mr. Siddon said "We've heard each other".
Mr. Fowler said "Mr. Siddon has promised you a detailed reaction". He
said "I think you have a right to it". He said "We won't necessarily
agree".
Mr. Fowler said "I also would like a commitment to meet again in four
weeks".
Mr. Siddon proposed that Mr. Wouters and Mr. Sachs get together for a
follow-up meeting.
Mr. Siddon thanked the Lubicons for agreeing to meet him and said "I
promise the work will continue". He then passed out "friendship
pins" to the Lubicon Council explaining that he had passed them out
to people across Canada.
On June 11th Member of Parliament Ross Harvey asked Mr. Siddon's
Parliamentary Secretary Ross Reid about Dr. Swain's meeting with the
Austrian Ambassador and "whether or not the government is
sufficiently concerned with the impact of the Lubicon situation on
Canada's international reputation to undertake at the very least to
provide the Lubicon people with a detailed point by point response to
the Band's draft settlement proposal".
Mr. Reid said "The Minister met on June 5 with Chief Ominayak and
they discussed a number of things". He said "The most important
thing is the mutual commitment by the Lubicon and by the government
to seek a successful, fair and appropriate negotiation and resolution
of this dispute".
"Both sides have committed", Mr. Reid said, "first, to pursuing that
result and second, they have both committed not to negotiate in
public". "Certainly for me to take a step in that direction", Mr.
Reid said, "would not serve the interests at all of a share (sic)".
Also on June 11th the Canadian Church leaders made their earlier
announced return visit to Little Buffalo Lake. The next day the
Church leaders held a press conference on their visit in which they
decried lack of a settlement, charged that lack of settlement was
causing "a whole way of life and culture (to be) destroyed",
encouraged the Federal Government to cooperate with the Lubicon
Settlement Commission and made "a renewed appeal for a Lubicon
settlement".
In their comments the Church leaders described the plight of the
Lubicon people as "a disgrace as well as a tragedy". They said
"people are dying, individually and collectively". They said "It is
clear that something must give if this situation is not to degenerate
further". They said "A settlement is needed now; it cannot wait".
They made clear that they "do not expect the Lubicon people to carry
this struggle alone".
On June 17th Commission Co-Chair Jacques Johnson advised Chief
Ominayak that both Mr. Siddon and Mr. Fowler had declined to appear
before the Commission. Ministerial Special Assistant Hoover told
Father Johnson that Mr. Siddon couldn't appear because of a supposed
agreement with the Chief "not to negotiate in public". Mr. Fowler
told Father Johnson that he had no intention of appearing before the
"pseudo" Lubicon Settlement Commission because Ray Martin had no
power to establish such a Commission, that the Commission had no
power to do anything and that "anybody can set up a Commission like
that". Father Johnson asked for "any comments" the Chief might have
to the position being taken by the two Ministers.
Chief Ominayak wrote Father Johnson denying the existence of any
agreement which would prevent either Mr. Siddon or Mr. Fowler from
appearing before the Commission, indicating that as far as he knew
there's nothing in the parliamentary rules or in law which would
prohibit the Leader of the Official Opposition from establishing a
Citizens Commission with exactly the same powers to assess and
recommend as might be held by a similar Commission established by the
Government, and saying "Moreover the Lubicon people would welcome Mr.
Fowler and Mr. Siddon appearing before the Lubicon Settlement
Commission and answering questions about their respective Lubicon
settlement offers, which", he said, "they have publicly described
many times as `generous', and about Lubicon settlement proposals,
which", he said, "they have publicly described many times as
`unreasonable'". "Hopefully", the Chief wrote, "a full public
vetting of Lubicon settlement proposals and Government settlement
offers will let people decide for themselves who's being `generous'
and who's being `unreasonable'".
On June 18th Ross Harvey made a statement on the Church Leaders June
11th Lubicon visit to the Canadian House of Commons. Mr. Harvey
pointed out that it was a visit by these same Church Leaders eight
years ago "that first drew the attention of the world to the
destruction of the Lubicon people's traditional way of life and the
ongoing refusal of Canadian Government's to deal fairly with them".
"If anything", Mr. Harvey said, the Church leaders found that "things
have become worse and government intransigence more calamitous". He
said "Death and disease run rampant". He said "The very spirit of
the (Lubicon) people is being ground to dust".
Mr. Harvey said "This ugly stain on Canada's record must be removed".
He said "The Canadian government must begin real negotiations with
the Lubicon Nation, in good faith and starting with a detailed point-
by-point response to the (Lubicon draft settlement agreement).
On June 19th Father Johnson received a faxed letter from Mr. Siddon
in which Mr. Siddon claimed "In past discussions I was asked by Chief
Ominayak not to comment publicly on any aspect of the negotiations".
"During my recent visit to Little Buffalo", Mr. Siddon claimed, "I
reaffirmed this pledge with the Chief's approval".
Mr. Siddon told Father Johnson "I am sure you realize that as a
Minister of the Crown I am in no position to break my promise to
Chief Ominayak". He said "As the Commission of Review is very much a
public forum and as substantive negotiations are at a very delicate
stage, I am sure you will appreciate the necessity of honouring my
commitment to Chief Ominayak". "It is for these reasons", Mr. Siddon
concluded, "that I must respectfully decline your invitation to
appear before the Commission at this time".
Asked for his reaction to Mr. Siddon's June 19th letter Chief
Ominayak only shook his head sadly. It's always been very tough for
the Lubicons to do business with people whom the Chief once described
as sitting across the table from you and lying just like they were
telling the truth.
There is of course no agreement of the kind described by Mr. Siddon
although the propensity of successive Federal Government
representatives to both insist upon and then breach such agreements
is well known. The only discussion between the Chief and the
Minister on what Mr. Siddon inaccurately characterizes as
"negotiating in public", as graphically illustrated by the exchanges
during the June 5th meeting, consisted of the Minister repeatedly
suggesting that there should be no public comment, and the Chief
pointing out that Federal representatives don't respect their own
position on this issue.
Copies of related correspondence and media coverage are attached.
It would be helpful if people would write Canadian Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney demanding that he instruct his Indian Affairs Minister
Tom Siddon to provide the repeatedly promised a point-by-point
reaction to Lubicon settlement proposals, without which a settlement
of Lubicon land rights is inconceivable, and also to instruct Mr.
Siddon to appear before the Lubicon Settlement Commission and answer
questions about the Federal positions and settlement proposals, since
without such public scrutiny of the process a settlement is also
inconceivable.
It would additionally be helpful if people would write Alberta
Premier Don Getty demanding that he instruct his Native Affairs
Minister Dick Fowler to appear before the Lubicon Settlement
Commission and answer questions about the Provincial Government's
position on settlement issues and proposals, since otherwise Federal
representatives will simply employ the time-honoured tactic of
blaming the Province for lack of settlement.
It would additionally be helpful if people would send the Lubicon
Settlement Commission copies of their letters to the Prime Minister
and the Premier, as well as to let the Commission know of their views
on the continuing Lubicon tragedy and the work of the Commission.
It also wouldn't hurt to write Ray Martin a letter commending him for
trying to help facilitate a settlement. Political leaders who do the
right and honourable thing should be acknowledged and encouraged.
Letters to the Prime Minister should be addressed to:
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Government of Canada
Ottawa/Hull, Canada
FAX 613-005-0101
FAX 613-957-9553
Letters to the Premier should be addressed to:
The Hon. Don Getty
Premier, Government of Alberta
Legislative Buildings
Edmonton, AB
FAX: 403-427-1349
Letters to the Lubicon Settlement Commission should be addressed to:
Fr. Jacques Johnson, OMI
Lubicon Settlement Commission of Review
10336 - 114 Street
Edmonton, AB T5K 1S3
FAX: 403-488-4698
Letters to Ray Martin should be addressed to:
The Hon. R. Martin
Leader of the Official Opposition
Legislative Buildings
Edmonton, Alberta
FAX: 403-422-0985