Lubicon Band Europe tour 'successful'

Page 3

The Lubicon Lake Indian Band recently toured seven European countries in an attempt to gain support for a boycott of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

The delegation was headed by the chief, Bernard Ominayak and included Elders from the band and representatives from the Indian Association of Alberta (IAA).

Tthe band claims the games are being held by the same government and petroleum companies that are in the process of destroying their way of life of hunting and trapping in the area.

In the two weeks the delegation travelled throughout the countries, they met with government, Olympic and museum officials.

The band has for some time been working with support groups in the European countries. Many of the groups that they initially had contact with in these countries are the people who arranged the trip and meetings in the different officials in government, Olympic and museums.

SUPPORT RECEIVED

The band received support and words of encouragement from most meetings they attended, be it with government officials, Olympic representatives or general support groups.

On Vienna, Austria, in a meeting with the Olympic committee there, the band was promised by the committee that they would inquire into the band's concerns. In a meeting that lasted an hour, the general secretary of the Olympic Committee said he intended to raise the band's human rights concerns with his committee's executive board and general assembly.

A petition signed by 250 Austrians, 1 Swede, 1 Swiss and 24 Germans was handed to the Lubicon band by the Association for Endangered Peoples - Austria in their support for the band's claim.

The petition stated that the Lubicon people 'never ceded their traditional lands and therefore retain unextinguished Aboriginal land rights ...and whereas the deliberate and systematic destruction of the band's traditional lands, traditional economy and traditional way of life has now reached the point however the very survival of the Band as society of Aboriginal people is in serious jeopardy." And therefore the citizens who signed the petition demanded "that the Canadian government immediately take any and all action necessary to ensure that the Lubicon Lake Indians are protected from further abuse, and to ensure that the Aboriginal land rights are properly recognized and respected."

COPY TO MULRONEY

A copy of the petition was also sent to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Minister of Indian Affairs, and the Minister of Native Affairs at the provincial level.

What troubled many people the delegation met with was the fact that the Canadian government was misinforming the embassies as to the situation. Austria was told the Lubicons had rejected the federal government's proposal made by negotiator Roger Tasse in July without making a counter offer.

"In working with the different governments for some time now, it doesn't surprise me any more to have people in these positions to be telling these lies,"said Chief Bernard Ominayak.

The Lubicon Band offered a counterproposal to the federal government in July and it has been in their hands since. On the question as to their not returning to the negotiating table and refusing a proposal by the feds, Ominayak says "this is not the case."

When told that the band was willing to continue negotiations based on the E. Davie Fulton discussion paper on the land claims, and that the federal offer did not include land entitlement on behalf of Indians given back their status through Bill C-31, they said further inquiries into the actual situation would be made.

GREEN PARTY

The Green Party in West Germany, a longtime supporter of the Lubicon people, assured the band it would write the Prime Minister and Indian Affairs minister letters of concern and that they would pass on information to their athletes so they could become familiar with the problem.

"There was a lot of support in the area to put pressure on the Canadian and Alberta government to try and settle the dispte," said Lawrence Courtoreille. Courtoreille, Treaty 8 vice-president of the IAA, travelled with the delegation on behalf of the Indian Association of Alberta.

"They were very upset, and in fact one government primarily said they were going to get to the bottom of it as to why they were misinformed about the situation," said Courtoreille. "Once they saw the letters and material from the band regarding their willingness to sit down and address these certain issues, they became very concerned

and wondered 'what the hell is going on'."

The Green Party holds 28 seats in the 520-member Bundestag, the German Parliament.

MEDIA COVERAGE

Wherever the delegation went, they had extensive media coverage. "I think we've achieved a lot," said Courtoreille. "They wanted to know why the Lubicons were being treated the way they were." Many embassies were provided with materials about the situation and "some of them even went out of their way to contact their embassies in Canada to find out more of the inside problems."

After a visit to the Lubicon Band in June by a Dutch parliamentarian, John Van Tilborg, he went away saying he was "shocked" to see the living conditions of the Lubicon and said that he hoped the federal government would act soon to settle the long-standing land claim.

Van Tilborg, a member of the Dutch faction of the Green Party, said they give the band support in its boycott of the Olympic Games and will try to support them as far as possible in Europe.

"The Canadian government is quickly losing its credibility within Europe," said Van Tilborg.

In Luxembourg, the Lubicons' appeal for the Olympics boycott was rejected. A deputy minister responsible for international co-operation and the president of the Luxembourg Olympic and Sports Committee said his government cannot make that decision and the latter maintaining that sports and politics should not mix.

CONCERN ON EXHIBIT

Another concern which was raised at many of the meetings throughout the tour was tat of the boycott of the Glenbow Museums exhibition of Native artifacts. The exhibition has been described as the flagship of the 1988 Winter Olympics arts festival.

As in the boycott of the games, people everywhere were very sympathetic and showed concern. Much controversy has been raised regarding the sending of false information in letters to the museums by Dr. Cameron of the Glenbow stating "the concept of the Glenbow exhibition is supported by Native groups across Canada."

The Museum of Man's ethnology department in Paris will recommend their museum reject the Glenbow's request for 21 Native artifacts. Anne Vitart-Fardoulis, co-ordinator for the North American ethnology, said she made the decision after carefully looking into the matter with the information she was provided with by the Lubicon band, the Assembly of First Nations, the Canadian Embassy and the Glenbow Museum.

To date, the Museum fu Vokerkund in Berlin and the Museum of the American Indian in New York City have honored the boycott by refusing the request for Native artifacts by the Glenbow Museum.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., has rejected the Lubicons' plea for a boycott of the Glenbow exhibition, stating the institution was sympathetic to the Lubicon Band's request, but could not get involved in what was seen as a political problem.

NOT APPROPRIATE

"We feel that on one side the exhibition is to show off how rich the culture of the Native people is in this province or in Canada generally; and we don't feel that that is appropriate when people are living the way we are," said Ominayak.

"The Alberta government and the oil companies come into our land and take all our resources, destroy the way of life and leave nothing behind...these are the same people again who are behind these Games."

The Lubicon land claim has been outstanding for 46 years since the time when Ottawa promised this small northern community a reserve. The band is requesting 90 square miles (taking accountof the increase in population since 1939 and including the members reinstated since Bill C-31), and for some control over the nature and pace of development in the remainder of their 8,500 square mile traditional hunting and trapping lands.

The Lubicon Lake band discontinued talks with the federal government in July after the feds insisted they would recognize only 200 people. These 200 people would be those who belonged to the band before the Indian Act amendments became law in 1985.

VERY HYPOCRITICAL

"This is very hypocritical," said Courtoreille. In 1984 they passed Bill C-31 and it is retroactive way back; they are totally reneging, totally irresponsible and they don't want to settle this claim. "What's good for them is not good for us," said Courtoreille.

The Lubicon Band will return to the negotiating table once they (the Canadian government) is willing to deal and proceed where Fulton left off.

"All we're asking for is to be treated equally, the same as any other Native group in the area," said Ominayak.

"The real life of the people is hunting and trapping. When they have so much oil development in the area, that's basically destroyed," said Ominayak. The people in the Lubicon area still trap as a means of life, and at the same time the traps and lines are being destroyed and they re not killing anything," said Ominayak. The animals leave and once there is no activity in the area the people turn to welfare.

"They turn to welfare and when you have people on welfare as high as we have, it leads to all kinds of social problems," said Ominayak.

400 OIL WELLS

The oil companies arrived in the area in 1979 and have since been coming on an ongoing basis. They total about 10 companies and 400 wells being drilled within a 15-mile radius.

"We're very supportive of the Lubicon Band because we know that they are very serious in their fight. We have to support the Lubicon Lake situaton because we have other tribes in a similar situation. If the Lubicon people