Strike three for Canada at the UN

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice's remarks regarding a United Nations committee's judgment of Canada's performance under the covenant on economic, civil and political rights have caused a stir.

The remarks were made after the release of a UN report related to Canada's treatment of the Lubicon Cree people of Northern Alberta. The United Nations human rights committee has twice before cited Canada for violating the human rights of the Lubicons. On May 19, the UN committee on economic, social and cultural rights issued a third, similar ruling on the case.

Prentice portrayed the UN committee's findings in a way that Lubicon Cree Nation Chief Bernard Ominayak and several international observers say is misleading-or even false.

"All of these remarks are untrue. Either Mr. Prentice is misinformed or he is deliberately misleading the Canadian public," Ominayak said.

Ominayak said that Prentice's comments that "the position that the government of Canada has put on the table was described in a previous United Nations report as a fair and reasonable position" is based on false information.

Lubicon advisor Fred Lennarson explained. He said the comment refers to an offer the Mulroney government made to the Lubicon in January 1989.

"They did not tell the United Nations' committee that this was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. I talked to UN committee staffers and they said that the government made an offer and they're pleased that there are negotiations going on and what they're saying is that they're encouraging both sides to continue negotiating in good faith. The government turned around and said that the committee approved that offer as an appropriate settlement of Lubicon land rights, not that they were saying to both sides, 'We're pleased to see that you're negotiating, keep it up.'"

The Lubicon negotiations have proceeded, off and on, for more than 60 years. Successive Canadian governments have failed to meet the demands of the Lubicon people. Lennarson said the Lubicons, who were missed by Treaty 8 negotiators in the late 19th century, can legitimately claim title to their homeland. But the government ignores that legal reality, he said, and tries to force the Lubicons to fit into the Indian Act system. Talks currently are on hold and there is no federal negotiator working on the Lubicon file.

"The government's position throughout has been normal government programs and services. You know the problem with that. Can you name one single Aboriginal community in the country that's economically self-sufficient under normal government programs and services? That's what's wrong with it," Lennarson said. "What the government is offering the Lubicons is a life on welfare. They've got that already. There is no motivation for the Lubicons to agree to that. There is no motivation to cede the heritage of their children and grandchildren in exchange for welfare, which they've got now and which they'll continue to get. The government's pleased to pay that price for taking billions of dollars in resources."

The UN committee's carefully worded remarks on the Lubicon matter urged Canada to do what it had to do to break the impasse.

"The committee strongly recommends that the state party resume negotiations with the Lubicon band, with a view to finding a solution to the claims of the band that ensures the enjoyment of their rights under the [economic, civil and political rights] covenant. The committee also strongly recommends the state party to conduct effective consultation with the band prior to the grant of licenses for economic purposes in the disputed land, and to ensure that such activities do not jeopardize the rights recognized under the covenant."

In the bureaucratic and diplomatic world of the UN, the phrase "strongly recommend" is to be read as reflecting a certain amount of impatience and frustration, international observers say.
The Lubicons have support around the world. Amnesty International filed a report with the UN committee about the Lubicon situation entitled It Is A Matter Of Rights.

"In November 2005 the Human Rights Committee renewed its call for Canada to make every effort to resume negotiations 'with a view to finding a solution which respects the rights of the band.' In the absence of such a solution the culture and welfare of the Lubicon Cree remains in jeopardy," the report concluded.

Ominayak and Lennarson believe the minister's remarks are designed to mislead the Canadian public about what's really going on.

Prentice said that "in the time the Lubicon negotiations have been going on, the government of Canada and the government of Alberta have settled nine other treaty land entitlement cases in the Treaty 8 boundaries."

"In fact, the Lubicon dispute is not a treaty land entitlement case," Ominayak said. "A treaty land entitlement dispute involves lands which should have been provided under mutually-agreed treaty terms but for one reason or another were not. The Lubicon people have never signed a treaty with Canada and therefore retain unextinguished Aboriginal title to our entire traditional territory. Under Canadian law, Canada must negotiate a treaty with the Aboriginal owners of a geographical area before assuming jurisdiction. Canada has never done that with our people."

Prentice said "the problem with the Lubicon has been the inability of the government of Canada and government of Alberta to meet the expectations that the Lubicon negotiators have set forth."
Ominayak said the Lubicons only expect just compensation for agreeing to cede title to their homeland, from which $13 billion worth of natural resources has been extracted with no compensation for the Lubicons.

The Lubicon leaders are also angry that international human rights groups that have written to Prentice out of concern for the Lubicons have received replies. Four letters from Ominayak to the Indian Affairs minister, the first dated the day after the Conservative Party of Canada won the federal election, had not received a response of any kind as of June 14. But at least three international groups that monitor human rights issues-from Germany, Belgium and Austria-have received hand-signed responses from the Indian Affairs minister.

A member of one of those groups, Dionys Zink of the Munich-based Aktionsgruppe Indianer & Menschenrechte, spoke to Windspeaker by phone in late May. Zink has visited Lubicon territory in the past and has followed the situation there for almost 20 years.

"As I sit here, I'm about 20 km away from Dachau [a former Nazi concentration camp] and I know we here in Germany have our own fair share of horrible history. But this is more about the present," he said.

He said Prentice's contention that the UN committee saw Canada's position as "fair and reasonable" is simply "not true."

He urged the minister to stop playing politics with the Lubicon people's human rights.