Vancouver bands picket Japanese office

Page 2

The distance between the downtown Daishowa offices and the remote areas of northern Alberta will be temporarily bridged on March 7, when a rally to support the Lubicon takes place in front of the Japanese forest products office.

The rally is to protest a recent forest management agreement between the Alberta government and Daishowa which the Lubicons say infringes on their traditional lands.

This spring, the Japanese company will build a $500 million pulp mill north of Peace River and the timber lease to supply the new pulp mill completely covers the entire Lubicon traditional area, says the Lubicons.

"They (Daishowa) have no business accepting this deal when the land is in dispute," says Aaron Greycloud, who is coordinating the Vancouver rally.

He expects about 300 people to turn out in support of the Cree band, including members of the Nigha, Squamish, Gitksan' wetsuwet'en, tribal councils as well as members from the Stein Valley; who are currently trying to stop the province of British Columbia from coming into the area to log.

Demonstrators will march from the Vancouver museum to the Daishowa offices, where there will be speakers and drum groups. Greycloud, who is also a local president with United Native Nations, says the rally will last a couple of hours.

Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak will attend the rally which will take place on 100 Block West Hastings in front of Daishowa's Canadian subsidiary offices.

The Cree band's high profile during the Calgary Winter Games has made the Lubicon situation a "hot issue" here, says Greycloud in a telephone interview from his Vancouver office. He believes the Lubicon situation is the most serious issue facing a Native group today.

"It's not just a land claim they're fighting. They're fighting for their very survival (and) existence as a band."

The rally will be followed by an evening public forum at the Robson Square Media Centre which will focus on the Lubicon claim and land claims in the province of B.C.

The Lubicon band has recently asked the public to write tot Daishowa stating opposition to any logging which may take place on their traditional lands prior to a land settlement.

Vice-president of Daishowa Canada Koichi Kitagawa says "hopefully, they (Lubicons and government) will work things out."

In the meantime Daishowa maintains they will be logging in the disputed area.

"We know the area that the government has set aside and that possibly there could be a larger area than that . . . we're aware of that and we're not intending to be in that area," Kitagawa said from his Vancouver office.