Investigation launched by government

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Church condemns injustices

After a recent fact-finding tour to the Lubicon lake area 100 km northeast of Peace River, a group of church leaders have called on the federal government to live up to its responsibility to provide a reserve for the Lubicon Lake Indian Band.

Leaders representing the Anglican, United, Lutheran and Catholic Churches spent two days in the Lubicon lake area meeting with band members and observing the conditions of the area.

Lutheran Bishop Don Sjoberg, reading the leaders' statement at the press conference in Edmonton on March 29 said, "We wish to report that we found that the well-documented allegations presented to us are substantially correct. In the short time we were there, the violations of human rights became apparent to us.

"The traditional economy, which we believe was intact a few years ago is in a state of ruin. The trust and confidence in the social structure of the band and in the Elders is being severely tried. Everyone is very confused about the sudden lack of control over their lives. Unity amongst the people is being threatened from without.

"We wish to stress that the legal responsibility of the Lubicon Lake Band lies squarely with the federal government by virtue of the BNA Act and the Constitution. We urge it to immediately begin serious negotiations with the band to ensure that their traditional and Aboriginal rights are respected and to provide the necessary funding so that lack of financial resources does not remain a barrier to the band pursuing its legitimate rights through the legal system."

The church leaders also said the Alberta government had a "moral" responsibility to stop complicating the problems of Lubicon Lake.

The church leaders said they will take the case of the Lubicon Lake Band to the prime minister, the Department of Indian Affairs, the provincial caucus, the Alberta ombudsman and the human Rights Commission. They also said they are prepared to arrange meetings between the Natives of the Lubicon area and government officials.

The 200 members of the Lubicon Lake band were missed when government representatives were negotiating with Treaty 8 and were not visited by officials of the federal government until 1939. In that year the band was recognized as having treaty rights and both the Department of Indioan Affairs and the band agreed on a site for a reserve.

However, the promise of a reserve has never been kept. With the discovery of oil and gas in the Lubicon Lake area, the Alberta government has granted leases for resource development in the band's traditional hunting and trapping areas.

Attempts by the band to receive fair treatment in the courts have failed.

In 1981 the province surveyed the band's settlement and declared the area the hamlet of Little buffalo. The province tried to convince the band to accept the two-acre plots but to date only 13 people have title to plots.

Now the Lubicon lake is being overrun by oil companies and the hunting and trapping livelihood of the residents has been disrupted.

Afther Robert Lesmerises of Nampa visits the Lubicon area twice a week. During the press conference he said that until very recently, the natives of the area were able to survive by hunting and trapping, but now with the activities of the oil companies, "the wildlife is disappearing and they have nothing left."

The church leaders not only saw the destruction of the environment caused by the oil companies but they also witnessed the hostility of some oil company employees to residents of the area. The leaders were riding in a vehicle from the community when it was nearly forced off the road by an oil company truck.