Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
November 20, 1992
Enclosed for your information is a copy of a letter on the continuing
boycott of Daishowa paper products. It's written in a way which also
serves to up-date the mailing list on boycott activities and targets.
* * * * *
November 18, 1992, letter from Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto) to Don
Shafer, President, Company's Coming Bakery Cafe, 440 - 1121 Centre Street
North, Calgary, AB T2E 2R1
Dear Mr. Shafer:
We are writing to you in support of the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation, whose
traditional territory is under threat of clear-cutting by Daishowa
Canada. We have been monitoring the negotiations between you and the
Daishowa Boycott Coalition in Calgary. In view of your refusal to
support the Daishowa boycott and switch to another paper supplier, we
would like to inform you of our decision to join the boycott campaign
against you. We will be boycotting your outlets in the Toronto area, and
mobilizing Daishowa support groups throughout Ontario.
The Daishowa Boycott Coalition in Calgary has already made you aware of
the threat that Daishowa's plans to clear-cut unceded Lubicon territory
poses to the survival of the Lubicon lake Nation. It is the position of
the Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto) to maintain a public boycott
campaign of Daishowa products until Daishowa as made a clear, unequivocal
and public commitment not to cut or purchase any wood cut on unceded
Lubicon territory until after a settlement of Lubicon land rights and the
negotiation of a harvesting agreement with the Lubicon people. As part
of this campaign we will also be boycotting companies such as Company's
Coming, who purchase Daishowa products, without regard for the
consequences for the Lubicon Cree.
The Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto) draws upon a network of community,
aboriginal, church, labour, human rights, and other organizations in the
Toronto area. We have strong links with groups throughout Ontario, as
well as other provinces. Thanks to this widespread support, we have
already been successful in persuading 18 businesses representing over
2,600 outlets across the country, to join the boycott and change paper
suppliers. These companies include Kentucky Fried Chicken, A&W, and
Country Style Donuts. Last winter we waged a successful boycott campaign
against Pizza Pizza. After three months of public pressure through
letter-writing and phoning, postering, and a series of simultaneous
demonstrations in front of numerous outlets across Ontario, Pizza Pizza
finally agreed to stop using Daishowa products and switch to another
supplier. The Pizza Pizza boycott campaign, which received a good deal
of media attention, also did a lot to raise concern about Daishowa's
activities among a Canadian public increasingly supportive of Native
rights.
Company's Coming is already under pressure in Alberta from the Daishowa
Boycott Coalition. Surely it is not worth going through the public
ordeal of a nation-wide boycott for the sake of a few paper products.
You can find other suppliers. There is no reason for you to continue
using Daishowa products, tainted with genocide.
The planned clear-cutting of unceded aboriginal land and the subsequent
genocide of an entire aboriginal culture is a crime against humanity.
The environmental devastation caused by large scale clear-cutting is a
threat to the future of all of us, and the future of our children. It is
incomprehensible to us why Company's Coming would want to associate
itself with a company that would be responsible for such acts. Company's
Coming is among those companies that, as Daishowa clients, are in a
position to force Daishowa to cancel its plans to clear-cut Lubicon land
by cancelling paper contracts with them. You have a moral choice to
make. Break your ties with a company that would carry out such
destruction.
We will continue the boycott of Company's Coming Bakery Cafe outlets
until we have your commitment to stop using Daishowa products.
Sincerely,
Sara McDowell
Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto)