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Build a home for the Lubicon - Sept. 26th @ 11 am
Please Distribute Widely
ON tuesday, 26 september JOIN US TO
build a reserve for the Lubicons on Parliament Hill
in the 1930's, the federal government promised a reserve area to the lubicon
lake indian nation. but then oil was
discovered in their traditional territory. sixty years later, the lubicons
still don't have a reserve. they have no land rights agreement, no
protection from corporations
destroying their natural environment and stealing their resources, and no
compensation.
sixty years is too long! jOIN US ON THE 26TH TO DEMONSTRATE TO OUR
GOVERNMENT HOW IT IS DONE. bRING YOUR CONSTRUCTION HATS.
Construction begins at 10:30; THE reserve will be opened with a formal
programme at 11:00.
The Lubicons need a settlement. there's no more time to delay.
background
The Lubicon Crees
The Lubicon Lake Indian Nation is a small aboriginal society whose 10 000
square kilometre traditional territory is located in northern Alberta. The
Lubicons have never signed a land rights agreement with Canada.
Until the 1970's, the Lubicons were largely self-sufficient, relying on
hunting, trapping and gathering for their livelihood. Then oil companies
moved into their unceded territory. By 1983, more than 400 oil wells had
been built within a 25 km radius of the Lubicons' community.
Moose and other animals fled from the rapacious activity. Within a decade,
the Lubicons' forest-based economy collapsed. Tuberculosis, respiratory and
skin diseases, cancer, still-births and birth defects resulted from the
poverty, shattered social structure and oil pollution.
While the oil industry has made off with about $10 billion dollars from
Lubicon lands, the Lubicons have not seen any compensation.
In 1988, after fourteen years in court had failed to halt the destruction of
their society, and with a new threat of clear-cutting looming, the Lubicons
non-violently blocked all access to their traditional territory for six
days. After armed RCMP dismantled the blockades, Chief Bernard Ominayak was
invited to meet with Alberta Premier Don Getty in the small town of
Grimshaw. On 22 October 1988, they came to an agreement on a 95.4 sq. mile
reserve area surrounding Lubicon Lake.
The Grimshaw Accord has not been fulfilled. The federal government is
negotiating with the Lubicons on the basis of the Grimshaw Accord, but
Alberta is now saying that they will not respect the Accord.
The Lubicons want to negotiate a land rights settlement which will give
their people reserve lands and the basis for economic development. They want
a future!
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