Lubicons get new proposal

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Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon presented a new offer on the 50-year-old Lubicon land settlement dispute to chief Bernard Ominayak.

Neither side was releasing details of the proposal after a one-hour meeting in Edmonton. But Siddon suggested the new proposal includes more money than the government's $45-million, take-it-or-leave-it offer that has been a long-standing point

of dispute.

"When you see the elements of this proposal you will see that it is our best effort

at responding to the matters the Lubicon people have raised," he said.

Any offers over the original $45 million will have to be approved by the federal cabinet, he added.

Ominayak said he wants two or three weeks to study the proposal before discussing it publicly. He said the latest offer "is somewhat different" from its predecessors.

The Lubicon are seeking $170 million compensation for loss of traditional lands around their Little Buffalo reserve 500 km north of Edmonton. Over the years, the band has lost much of its traditional hunting and trapping lands to oil, gas and forestry development.

Of that money, the Lubicon want $100 million put in a trust fund made up of

equal contributions from the federal and provincial governments.

Siddon said the trust fund issue might best be decided in the courts.

Siddon and Ominayak last met in June, when Siddon travelled to Little Buffalo. Following that meeting, Ominayak said the Indian Affairs minister was trying to confine the band to the original $45-million offer.

Siddon insisted the federal offer would be much lower than $170 million.

The meeting ended with Ominayak demanding a detailed federal response to the band's settlement proposal, which was promised earlier.

Following the recent Edmonton meeting, Siddon said disputes over the legalities shouldn't get in the way of the process.

"I would like to see us get on with the construction of a new community and the beginning of a new future for the Lubicon."

Victor Buffalo, chief of the Samson Cree Nation, also attended the meeting between Ominayak and Siddon. The Samson band has loaned the Lubicon $500,000.

Meanwhile, the Lubicon Settlement Commission, a coalition of church and social organizations studying the Lubicon situation, is planning to hold public meetings in Little Buffalo in early August. Business and political leaders from the nearby city of Peace River are expected to make presentations.