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March 10, 1993
The Right Reverend Stan McKay, moderator of the United Church of Canada,
recently visited the Lubicon community of Little Buffalo Lake. He was
able to report little to be optimistic about.
Other than the long-awaited report of the Lubicon Settlement Commission
expected any day -- and which will hopefully give people of good will
something to rally around and support -- the moderator's grim assessment
is hard to dispute. While people across the country and around the world
have watched helplessly this brave little aboriginal society has been
deliberately pushed to the brink of extinction by both levels of Canadian
Government working in tandem with their resource company cronies.
A common response to charges that North America has been stolen and its
original inhabitants systematically wiped out is to admit that terrible
things may have happened in the past but to plead that current
generations can't be held responsible for outrages which occurred a
hundred or more years ago. The well documented destruction of the
Lubicon society, however, involving genocidal tactics effectively no
different than those employed in the past, inspired by similar motives
and with similar consequences, indisputably demonstrates that powerful
interests in Canada are as prepared today as they've ever been to wipe
out whole aboriginal societies in order to steal valuable aboriginal
lands and resources.
Facing incredible odds the Lubicons have already lasted far longer than
anybody could have reasonably predicted. They won't last much longer if
the continuing assault against them can't somehow be alleviated.
Hopefully the report of the Lubicon Settlement Commission will provide
Canadians and concerned people around the world what they need to force
an honourable settlement of the continuing Lubicon tragedy.
* * * * *
The Edmonton Sun, Wednesday, February 03, 1993
MINISTER BACKS LUBICON
By Paul Bucci
Staff Writer
Aboriginals are being forced into cultural genocide by governments who
don't deal fairly with land claim disputes, says the head of the United
Church of Canada.
And allowing the Lubicon Lake Cree land claim to drag on is causing
needless hardship and death, said Rt. Rev. Stan McKay.
McKay -- a Manitoba Cree and the United Church's first native moderator -
- said high numbers of suicides are devastating native communities across
the country.
"The culture is suffering and the people are dying," McKay said last
night at a meeting of the Edmonton Interfaith Committee for Aboriginal
Rights.
The Lubicon Cree -- a band of about 500 people -- have been locked in a
land dispute with various governments for 54 years, McKay said. "They're
living in Third- and Fourth-World conditions that are not normal and not
acceptable in Canada."
McKay said he has little faith in the justice system and holds out little
hope that a decision favorable to the Lubicon would be enforced by
government.
The band rejected a 1991 federal offer of $45 million and 645 sq. km of
land surrounding its settlement at Little Buffalo, 345 km northwest of
Edmonton.
* * * * *
Transcript of CBC Radio News Broadcast (9:30 P.M.)
Tuesday, March 09, 1993
CBC News
The Moderator of the United Church of Canada says the present situation
of the Lubicon people cannot be tolerated. The Right Reverend Stan McKay
made the comment after visiting the Lubicon community of Little Buffalo
in northern Alberta. McKay is the first Native Canadian to be elected
moderator of the United Church. McKay says church officials are
anxiously waiting for the release of a report by an independent
Commission studying the Lubicon. The Commission has been looking at ways
of resolving the land claims dispute between the federal and provincial
governments and the Lubicon. A report is expected to be released this
week. McKay says there needs to be enough public pressure on the
governments so they cannot ignore the recommendations of the Commission.