Land rights abused by industries - chiefs

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Spoken promises about land use were traditionally ignored when it came time to write treaty agreements, the audience attending an environment conference in Edmonton heard.

The spirit and intent of Treaty 8, signed in 1899, led more than 25,000 Native people in Canada's boreal forests to mistakenly trust their traditional lifestyles would be protected, said one chief.

"Unfortunately, First Nations leaders relied on a spoken commitment of Treaty Commissioners. And what was printed on paper is a pale reflection of those spoken commitments," said Chief Johnsen Sewepagaham, spokes person for the Grand Council of Treaty 8.

Sewepagaham addressed 100 people at a Prairie Boreal Forest Conference held in Edmonton mid-January. Hosted by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and Grant MacEwan Community College, the conference addressed the questionable management of Native lands.

Before Treaty 8 was signed it was argued non-Native people moving into traditional lands would be farmers who could grow their own foods.

"It was a treaty of peace and friendship," said Sewepagaham. But during tough times following World War One, non-Native trappers flooded the North country.

"These trappers approached the forests with a different land ethic than First Nations people," he said. "They devoted themselves to trapping out as much fur as possible. They depleted the forest and left the First Nations people to starve because the forest resources needed to sustain life had been destroyed."

Now the few who can make a living off hunting and trapping are threatened, he said. This time disruption to traditional lifestyles comes from big industry.

Guest speaker Chief Bernard Ominayak, of the Lubicon Cree Nation, said his people have seen tremendous destruction taking place in northern Alberta. "....without regard for people, wildlife or the environment. It seems to me that many of the multinational corporations that come into our area come for one thing - to take," Ominayak said. "To take the dollar and whatever it may be."

He spoke of the Misubishi-owned Alberta Pacific forest company which has timber cuttings right to 50,000 square kilometres of their land.

"We have nothing in place that is going to allow our First Peoples to hope for a better future."

Alex McGillivray, Native affairs co-ordinator for Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Incl. attended the conference as a spectator. He said that because so much territory is being disputed, industry has no choice but to involve Native people.

"It can't be business as usual like it used to be," McGillivray said.

ALPAC tries to alert Native trappers if their lines are going to be logged, he said.

"We're trying to get compensation for trappers whose livelihoods are disturbed from logging," said McGillivray, a Metis.

The government is responsible for treaty rights, not ALPAC, he added. He objects to the term "corporate Indian?" because it implies Native people who do business have somehow sold out.

"Native people can be their own worst enemy. We call it to the crab syndrome. If one or two do well, others try to pull them down."

If more Natives were employed with industry, they'd have more influence on how resources are managed.

"They can't stop progress. There's industry all around them. They need to join in."