Lubicon reject latest offer

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Ottawa's latest offer in the 50-year-old Lubicon land settlement dispute contains "little that's new," says Bernard Ominayak, chief of the 500-member northern Alberta band.

In a nine-page letter to Indian Affairs Tom Siddon, Ominayak flatly rejected the July 24 offer, which Ottawa estimates could be worth up to $73 million.

"These numbers don't add up to the claimed 'more than $73 million' any way you cut it, even if one accepts at face value the transparent attempt to pump up the numbers," Ominayak wrote in a letter released to an independent commission reviewing the Lubicon dispute.

The federal offer includes $53 million in benefits over five years, a $12.5 million economic development package, a $2.5 million settlement bonus and 95 square miles of reserve land.

Ominayak said the new set of numbers looks like a bigger offer, but doesn't add

up to an improvement over the so-called 1988 take-it-or-leave-it settlement once inflation is factored in.

He also questioned whether Ottawa would live up to its $73 million estimate. Ottawa calculated the settlement based on Ominayak's estimate of 500 band members. But Ominayak said government sources have indicated Ottawa is only prepared to calculate a final settlement based on about half that number.

The number of supposedly "eligible" Lubicons could range anywhere from the seven or less claimed by the province to be 'eligible' a few years ago to the between 250 and 300 claimed by the federal government," he wrote. "Reliable inside government sources advise us that 300 people...is in fact the number the federal government has in mind."

Siddon called the band's decision "puzzling: but said he is willing to continue negotiations.

"I'm leaving the door open. I'd like to speak with him (Ominayak)," Siddon said

at a Calgary press conference after receiving the Lubicon rejection.

"I used the word puzzled earlier because the reply which was signed on his behalf and sent to me is totally out of context with our discussion and the understanding I thought we had reached."

While describing the federal proposal as a "top-end"offer, Siddon also said population-based compensation estimates could be revised because the Lubicon and Ottawa have agreed on the size of the band.

"The number isn't rigid. It's based on population," he said.