STATEMENT OF THE LUBICON PEOPLE DEMANDING AGAIN THAT INDIAN AFFAIRS MEET WITH NEW LUBICON CHIEF AND COUNCIL
June 27, 2009
The June 25th so-called “election” called by the small group of elders closely associated with the previous Chief to challenge the recent June 5th election of a new Lubicon Chief and Council has now been held and the facts are out in the open. What’s been going on is very clear and it is time for Indian Affairs to stop using the activities of this small self-appointed group as an excuse for refusing to deal with the new duly elected Lubicon leadership on the many problems facing the Lubicon people.
The new Lubicon Chief and Council was elected on June 5, 2009 at a duly called General Election of Lubicon members that had been posted 20 clear days in advance as required by long-standing and well-known Lubicon government policies, practices and procedures. The June 5th election was conducted by an independent, outside Chief Electoral Officer recommended by two previous Lubicon Chief Electoral Officers acceptable to all elements of Lubicon society including the previous Chief.
The June 5th Lubicon General Election was open and covered by the media. It was attended by 132 Lubicon people who meet long-standing and well-known Lubicon membership criteria. One hundred and one of the Lubicon members attending the June 5th Lubicon General Election were certified eligible to vote by the independent outside Chief Electoral Officer under long-standing and well-known Lubicon voter eligibility rules.
The primary issue in the election was lack of reporting and accountability of the previous Chief to Lubicon members primarily with regard to financial matters. On June 5th Lubicon members deemed eligible to vote under long-standing Lubicon voter eligibility rules by the independent outside Chief Electoral Officer voted overwhelmingly for a new Chief and Council
The number of Lubicon members who attended the June 5th election and were found eligible to vote is fully consistent with the number of Lubicon members who have participated in previous Lubicon General Elections and been found eligible to vote. A formal written report on the June 5th election was prepared by the independent, outside Chief Electoral Officer and copies are available. A copy of the Chief Electoral Officer’s report was provided to Indian Affairs.
The previous Chief was quoted in the local media as saying that he had not participated in the June 5th election because it was not “sanctioned” by this small elders group and because “there were questions over eligibility, both of voters and of those running for positions”. In fact the June 5th election was scheduled by a duly called by a Special Meeting of Lubicon members after the normal Lubicon General Election scheduled for April 29th had to be cancelled when an independent outside Chief Electoral Officer acceptable to all elements of Lubicon society refused to conduct the election after this small group of elders, with whom the previous Chief is closely associated, told the Chief Electoral Officer -- on the day of the scheduled April 29th election -- to use new Lubicon membership criteria and voter eligibility rules that would have disenfranchised a number of Lubicons including people with whom the previous Chief had run in previous Lubicon elections, and who had served with him on Council for many years, but who were widely expected to beat him in the scheduled April 29th election. In other words the previous Chief did not refuse to run in the June 5th Lubicon General Election because of “questions over eligibility” but because he had failed to re-write Lubicon membership and voter eligibility rules in a way that might have helped him win an election that it was clear he was otherwise going to lose.
The June 25th so-called “election” was announced by a member of this small group of elders on June 10th during a radio interview. The man who announced the June 25th so-called “election” came into our area from outside in the mid-1980’s and does not meet long-standing Lubicon membership criteria. It was conducted behind closed doors with no media coverage by a strange man from Vancouver unknown to most Lubicon people apparently using new Lubicon membership criteria and voter eligibility rules recently made up by this small group of elders. People allowed to attend the June 25th so-called “election” were screened at the door.
The elder who announced the June 25th so-called “election” told reporters after the June 25th so-called “election” that he “couldn’t say” how many people attended the June 25th so-called “election”. RCMP officers attending the June 25th so-called “election” as observers report that it was attended by “no more than 50 people” -- about a third of the number of Lubicon members who attended and were independently certified eligible to vote in the June 5th election. Who these people were, where they came from and whether they met long-standing Lubicon membership criteria and voter eligibility rules is not known.
The elder who announced the June 25th so-called “election” told reporters that there was no vote but that the previous Chief “was unanimously re-elected Chief for life”. From now on, this elder said, this small group of elders closely associated with the previous Chief will “appoint Council members and can replace any of the Council members they feel need replacing”. According to this elder the Lubicon people have lost our right to democratically elect our leaders and the previous Chief has now been made dictator for life because he can’t win a democratic election under long-standing and well-known membership criteria and voter eligibility rules that he has always before supported.
The strange man conducting the June 25th so-called “election” is a member of a group with religious views the previous Chief has apparently now adopted but which are very odd and foreign to most Lubicon members. These views include such ideas as “there is no money”; that “banks have no money to lend”; that the members of the group are “the holders in due course and secured party of (their personal) TRADE NAMES, which (they) unwittingly accepted by the CANADA AND CHURCH CORPORATIONS OF CANADA”; that they have a “copyright claim” to the use of their personal “TRADENAMES” under the Universal Commercial Code; that “any infringement and trespass of the said TRADENAME constitutes a defaulted contract and a True Bill for payment will be issued in the amount of One Million United States of America functional fiat currency for each unauthorized use of the said Copyright/Trade Name”, and that they are “Allies of Her Majesty in Council of Great Britain” who “will issue a True Bill for all trespasses on the lands of our mother-earth and will further deploy the Provost Marshall for our protection as Her Majesty’s Allies”. They claim to be, among other things, responsible for “the protection of our air space of our mother-earth, surface and subsurface salt and freshwater, stewardship of all lakes channels, hot springs, tributaries, estuaries, all raw-resources-surface and subsurface, heavy oil, tar sands, all grades of gravel, all gas, timber, herbs, plants, under-story plants, roots, surface and subsurface water, raw minerals, diamonds, gold, silver, copper, cattle, pot-ash, sheep-range, buffalo-range, horse-range ...and any and all unmentioned renewable and non-renewable resources”.
Most Lubicons were stunned to read these fantastic claims placed in the local newspaper last fall by the previous Chief supposedly on our behalf when we have been fighting desperately for years merely to have our right to our own Territory recognized and respected. We were told by the previous Chief to “stay out of things (we) didn’t understand”.
Following this June 25th so-called “election” the strange man from Vancouver sent a letter to the Provincial Aboriginal Affairs Minister supposedly “providing (the Federal Department of) Indian Affairs and Northern Development with formal notice of (Lubicon) election results and that the (previous) Chief and (a new) Council are the lawful representatives of the Lubicon Cree Nation”. It is not known why this letter was sent to the Provincial Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. The letter provides no details about the June 25th so-called “election” other than to say that the previous Chief was re-elected and that “The results of this election provides for the lawful election of the Chief and Council of Lubicon Cree Nation”.
The strange man from Vancouver signed the letter to the Provincial Aboriginal Affairs Minister with a signature and a fingerprint as the “Electoral Officer”. The elder who can’t meet Lubicon membership criteria signed it as “Representative of the Elders Tribunal”. The strange man from Vancouver than signed it a second time with a signature and a fingerprint indicating that it is a “CERTIFIED TRUE COPY” that it has been “SOVEREIGN VERIFIED”. A woman who was described as the Vancouver man’s “recording secretary” also signed with a signature and a fingerprint certifying that the letter was “SOVEREIGN VERIFIED”.
The letter is stamped “WITH PREJUDICE”. It is also stamped with references to various sections of the Universal Commercial Code. It is sealed with a corporate-style stamp.
All of this stuff can be taken for what it’s worth. The one thing that it is not is a credible excuse for the Federal Department of Indian Affairs to refuse to meet with duly elected new Lubicon Chief and Council claiming that there’s some kind of legitimate Lubicon internal dispute in which the Government cannot become involved unless delivery of basic services to Lubicon people are in jeopardy. Indian Affairs officials know very well that the Lubicon people face serious financial problems that threaten the delivery of basic services the Lubicon people need and deserve. Indian Affairs officials have already plainly said in writing that delivery of basic services to Lubicon people is in jeopardy due to serious financial problems caused by the previous Lubicon administration.
The Lubicon people have elected a new Chief and Council under our own traditions and long-standing electoral policies. It is time for Indian Affairs officials to stop playing political games with the lives of our people and to immediately meet with the new duly elected Lubicon Chief and Council so we can start working together to solve the difficult financial problems we face and to provide the Lubicon people with the basic services the Lubicon people need and deserve.
Contact: Steve Noskey
Chief, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
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