Showdown over Lubicon trees

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When, oh, when will the Lubicon Indians finally be able to call their land home?

This most thorniest of land claims disputes would be a good starting point for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney if he's really serious about finally dealing with Canada's Native people in good faith.

It will take more than appointing an Indian chief - Walter Twinn of the Sawridge band - to the Senate to set the record straight.

Only when the Lubicon claim has been settled will these people be finally able to live in peace.

Time and time again their homeland has come under attack.

Of course if the Lubicon claim is settled their land will be off limits to resource hungry developers and governments, which have hauled away enough boot y already from the land to fill Fort Knox many times over.

But the Lubicons have already forced oil companies on the land to shut down operations and this week Daishowa confirmed it will suspend, for one year, plans to log Lubicon land.

It was a wise choice, for Lubicon official had suggested there'd be trouble if the logging went ahead.

But here may still be some private loggers hoping to make a few quick bucks on the Lubicon timber.

They'd best back off, too.

Daishowa official are wrong to claim they're unfairly caught in the middle of a federal-provincial battle

They knew only too well when the province set out the boundaries of their Forest Management Area some of their timber was on Lubicon land.

Company official should have made it clear from the start they weren't interested in timber on land claimed by the Lubicons.

They then wouldn't have found themselves in a showdown with the Lubicons.