Aid may break deadlock

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Talks between Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon and Lubicon chief Bernard Ominayak last week lived up to their tradition. Reporters stood around in a hotel hallway while officials from the various camps scurried around one closed door to another.

At the end of the day, the two leaders emerged apparently no closer to a settlement than at their previous meetings. Again, they agreed to get together in the near future.

But there was an interesting twist this time. A group of women from Little Buffalo met with the minister to show support for their chief and to press home the issue of the community's conditions.

The women made a very good point. It doesn't take a land claim settlement to start addressing the poverty, over-crowded housing and generally poor living standards in the small community 500 km north of Edmonton.

Siddon has been to Little Buffalo and has seen Canada's Third World first hand. He says he is personally concerned about the quality of life there and wants to see the standards raised.

Well, Mr. Minister, maybe it's time to start looking at ways to help Little Buffalo outside the land claim process. Who knows - it might be the show of good faith that breaks the deadlock at the negotiating table.