The last round of Lubicon land negotiations collapsed at the end of 2003 when
federal negotiators took the position that they did not have a mandate to
negotiate long standing and pre-agreed settlement issues including
self-government and financial compensation. Available for your information are
copies of the most recent exchange of correspondence between Lubicon Chief
Bernard Ominayak and the current Canadian Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.
Strahl's letter to Chief is at
http://www.lubicon.ca/Im
The Chief's response is at
http://www.lubicon.ca/Im
When Mr. Strahl says he "also find(s) the Government of Canada's offer (of
financial compensation) to be fair and reasonable", he is talking about a number
tabled by federal negotiators after they brought discussions on a substantive
basis for financial compensation effectively to an end by asking the Lubicons to
table a bottom line figure. Having changed the discussion from a discussion of
such things as the value of the natural resources extracted from unceded Lubicon
Territory to discussion of what the Lubicons would be prepared to accept by way
of financial compensation, federal negotiators then tabled a fractional figure
and proposed to negotiate the requested Lubicon bottom line. When the Lubicons
refused to negotiate the requested bottom line and proposed to return to the
discussion of a substantive basis for financial compensation, federal
negotiators refused to discuss anything other than the figure they'd tabled
saying they had no mandate to discuss anything other than the number they'd
tabled.
When Mr. Strahl says he believes the federal offer "provides the Lubicon people
with a means to realize their self-government objectives", he is repeating what
his predecessor Mr. Prentice said in a letter dated August 18, 2006. In that
August 18th letter Mr. Prentice characterized Canada's so-called "offer" as
follows":
"Canada has also offered to enter into negotiations on a (non-binding)
Self-Government Framework Agreement pursuant to Canada's Inherent Right Policy
(independent of negotiation of Lubicon land rights) rights), or to include
legally binding clauses in the Land Claim Settlement Agreement, agreeing to
into into self-government negotiations after the successful ratification
of the Land Claim Agreement when the Lubicons are ready to begin".
The Self-Government Framework Agreement to which Mr. Prentice refers is in fact
only a non-binding agenda for negotiating recognition of self-government
post-settlement of Lubicon land rights. The "Inherent Rights Policy" under
which non-binding self-government framework agreements are negotiated includes
secret Justice Department Guidelines for Federal Self-Government Negotiators on
how to negotiate self-government agreements that are not binding on the
government of Canada.
When the Canadian media requested a copy of the secret Justice Department
Guidelines under the Canadian Access to Information Act, Justice Department
officials illegally denied the existence of the Guidelines. The Canadian
government was later forced to acknowledge the existence of these secret Justice
Department Guidelines in a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee after
the Lubicons provided the Committee with a copy. The Canadian government
submission to the UN complains bitterly about the supposed impropriety of the
Lubicons providing the United Nations with secret Canadian government
"instructions" to federal negotiators on how to negotiate self-government in bad
faith.
"Legally binding clauses in the Land Claim Settlement Agreement agreeing to
enter into self-government negotiations after the successful ratification of the
Land Claim Agreement" -- which federal negotiators proposed as an alternative
to negotiating a non-binding self-government framework agreement independent of
land settlement negotiations -- is of course again no more than agreement to
talk about recognizing the right of the Lubicon people to be self-governing post
settlement of Lubicon land rights. In both cases Canadian negotiators refused to
even talk about the supposedly constitutionally recognized right of the Lubicon
people to be self-governing until the Lubicons first cede their rights to
valuable Lubicon lands and resources upon which successful negotiation of the
Lubicon right to be self-governing obviously depends.
Friends of the Lubicon
P.O. Box 444, Stn. D,
Etobicoke, ON
Canada, M9A 4X4
Tel: 416-763-7500
Email:
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Web: www.lubicon.ca
