The bad guys - there's plenty

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Just who are these government officials that the Grand Council of Crees is calling treaty busters, and who are the big business cohorts that will be slapping each other on the back when every last tree is cut down in Quebec?

They're educated, but not too smart. Maybe when they run out of secluded places to build their summer mansions and all their docks sit six feet above the water line they'll see the light. When there's no more river to float their bateaux! Lawyers and forest products companies. And two levels of government as enablers.

Do you suppose these people studied biology? They didn't major in ecology, you can bet a plate of poutine on that! Well, what about history and treaty rights then?

You need to know who they are. There's plenty! (Beaucoup!) Most of the time, only one or two names show up in the news. But these are the bad guys and just wait till you find out the lengths they'll go to subvert their own laws to get around the Canadian Constitution, no less.

Let's see now, there's the provincial administrator under Section 22 of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the federal administrator - same section, same agreement. Then there's the Hon. Paul Begin, Quebec Minister of the Environment. Also the Hon. Christine Stewart, Minister of the Environment of Canada - not to be confused with the still Hon. Jane Stewart, who was in her capacity as the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development when the saplings hit the fan, so to speak. The Hon. Guy Chevrette (now the Hon. Jacques Brassard), Minister of Natural Resources. And plenty of companies: Domtar Inc.; Produits Forestiers Donohue Inc. (including the company formerly known as Produits Forestiers Saucier Inc.); Barrette-Chapais Ltee; Tembec Inc.; Les Chantiers de Chibougamau Ltee; Les Industries Norbord Inc; Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. (used to be Stone-Consolidated Corporation, also formerly Abitibi-Price and Consolidated Bathurst); Materiaux Blanchet Inc.; Scierie Amos Inc.; Scierie Gallichan Inc.; IPB International Inc.; Scierie Landrienne Inc.; Bois KMS (GMI) Ltee; Fournitures Minieres Simard Inc.; Produits Forestiers Alliance Inc.; Panneaux Chambord Inc. and Kruger Inc. We've also got the attorneys general of Quebec and Canada, the Hon. John Manley, Quebec's Minister for the Federal Office of Regional Development; the Hon. David M. Collenette, Minister of Transport, La Societe de Development de la Baie James; Rexfor, Normick-Perron Inc., Filifor Inc.; Scierie Senco Ltee; Optibois Inc. (formerly 2541-3998 Quebec Inc. (Precibois)); Le Groupe Forex Inc.; Forex Inc.; Bisson et Bisson Inc.; Howard-Bienvenue Inc.; and Compagnie Internationale de Papier du Canada.

Can you believe it! The Crees have five lawyers; the guys supporting clear-cutting Cree territory have 27 at least. Twenty-seven law firms, not lawyers. Vingt-sept! No wonder they have to cut so many trees to prepare all those legal briefs. In both "official" languages. We were told by a spokesman for one offending company the English is for the Crees.

But even with all these lawyers, Justice Croteau of the Quebec Superior Court saw through their schemes. In December he ruled the forestry companies and his own government had violated the constitutional rights of the Cree people, abused and circumvented the spirit and substance of the quarter-century-old James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. He said they had to smarten up and he gave them till high cottage season to do it.

As a result, big business is sparing no effort to get Justice Croteau removed from hearing the case. And not just this judge. The rest of the judges too who might recognize a fair deal for the Indians when they see it. These companies want 37 of them stopped from hearing the case of the Crees versus them. They have given the court 37 (trente-sept!) judges' names they don't want. Almost half the judges in Montreal. They've taken more turns through the judicial system than a split-rail fence. But maybepretty soon they'll run out of wood even for that.