Automaker, Lubicons at odds over Jeep

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Lubicon Lake Indian Nation supporters in Stuttgart, Germany are knocking on the door of Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of the board of management m of DaimlerChrysler and head of the Mercedes car group.

Dr. Z, as he's called in the aggressive $250-million (US) North American media campaign to promote Chrysler sales and build confidence in the Chrysler product, is being lobbied by Dionys Zink of the Munich-based human rights group Aktionsgruppe Indianer & Menschenrechte [Action Group on Indian and Human Rights]. Zink wants Dr. Z to get involved in a dispute between the Lubicon Cree Nation and an Edmonton-area dealership that may eventually end up in court.

And now that DaimlerChrysler Canada has won a Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC) business achievement award celebrating Canadian companies that have made a big impact in Aboriginal and minority business development, Canadian executives who sit on the CAMSC board will also be hearing from the Lubicons.

The second annual CAMSC awards gala will take place on Oct. 12 at the Toronto Hilton Hotel. DaimlerChrysler Canada, a CAMSC founding member, will be recognized as corporation of the year.

"A true champion of Aboriginal and minority business development, the automaker has made a big difference in the lives of individuals and communities through its ongoing initiatives," the CAMSC release stated.

There's just one problem. It's been more than five years since the Lubicon Cree Nation paid in full for a brand new Jeep that was purchased at a Chrysler dealership in Alberta. As of Sept. 27, the Lubicons still haven't received their vehicle.

"The Lubicons are the proud owner of a bill of sale," said Fred Lennarson, advisor to Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak.

Lennarson said First Nations in Alberta and across Canada will be watching to see if the Lubicons are treated fairly. He has suggested to various DaimlerChrysler executives that First Nations people might decide not to buy Chrysler vehicles if the matter is not addressed and addressed soon.

Because of confusion over whether the dealership's management or a former sales manager who was recently convicted of fraud are responsible for the Lubicon's situation, Windspeaker will not name the dealership nor the people involved in management there at this time. But, based on documentation provided to this publication and an interview with an investigator who looked into the matter, it appears certain that the Lubicons did pay for a vehicle they never received.

During an interview, Deiter Poschmann, a retired RCMP major crimes investigator who looked into the matter while working for the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council (AMVIC, the provincial government body that oversees the automotive industry and has investigative powers), confirmed that the Jeep was indeed sold twice.

"Oh yes, that's the long and the short of it, yes. The Native band gave them money for this vehicle and never, ever received a vehicle. The vehicle sat on their lot for a period of time and then it was sold to another individual living in Edmonton who still has that vehicle," he told Windspeaker.

On June 28, after going back and forth with the dealership, Lennarson faxed a 20-page letter to Steven J. Landry, then chairman, president and chief executive officer of Daimler Chrysler Canada (DCC). The letter described the Lubicon situation in detail and asked that Landry intervene. A day later, a staff member at DCC's Windsor, Ont. corporate headquarters called to confirm receipt of the letter and to assure Lennarson that it was being looked into. Eventually DCC officials informed him that it was a contractual matter strictly between the dealer and the customer and that corporate headquarters would not be getting involved.

That message was reiterated in response to our inquiries about this story. Stuart Schorr, the senior manager of communications for DCC looked into things and provided this response.

"I have investigated te matter," he wrote in an e-mail. "We have responded to Mr. Lennarson and advised that it is a matter between the customer and the dealership, but that we have contacted the dealership on behalf of Mr. Lennarson. Further concerns on this matter must be addressed to [the dealer]."

Having already received a similar message, Lennarson replied angrily in a letter to Reid Bigland, the new CEO of DCC, again suggesting that DaimlerChrysler would be seen as sitting back and doing nothing while an impoverished First Nation was treated unfairly.

In response to Lennarson's allegations, Edmonton lawyer Jerry Flaman sent the Lubicon advisor a letter, demanding he retract comments he made in the letter to the Chrysler CEO. Lennarson refused.

Flaman set a deadline of Aug. 11 for the Lubicon advisor to retract his "defamatory" statements. Six weeks after the deadline, no lawsuit has been filed against Lennarson, but Flaman told Windspeaker that doesn't necessarily mean a statement of claim won't be forthcoming.

"First let me say that I know everything I say to you is on the record and the first words out of my mouth are 'No comment,' Jerry Flaman said when contacted by phone. "My client is not in the city at the present time and I have absolutely no authority to discuss anything with anybody about my client's business."

He said he's waiting for instructions from his client.

"This is a very complicated dispute that's been going on for some time that I don't even have all the information on because I have not been involved in this with my client. And before he left to go overseas he provided me with this information and the result is the document that you referred to," the lawyer said.

Lennarson doesn't think that DaimlerChrysler should be held out as some kind of example of a good corporate leader, Lernnarson said, when asked for a reaction to the CAMSC award.

"Willingness to talk to Aboriginal and minority business suppliers does not absolve DaimlerChrysler from responsibiity for the actions of DaimlerChrysler dealers any more than a church-going slum landlord can distance himself from the actions of the goons he uses to manage slum properties."