The Lubicon Crees are a small aboriginal society of about 500 people. Their 10,000 square kilometre traditional territory is located in northern Alberta east of the Peace River and north of Lesser Slave Lake. The Lubicons have not ceded their traditional lands in any legally or historically recognized manner.

Between 1979 and 1983, annual trapping income dropped 90%. The number of moose killed for food dropped 90% and the number of people on welfare jumped from 10% to over 90%.

These negative developments are directly linked to resource exploitation on Lubicon land. Public pressure is needed to convince the federal government to negotiate expeditiously toward a settlement offering economic stability for the future and to encourage the province to honour its 1988 "Grimshaw Accord" commitment to make available 243 square km. (95.4 square miles) for reserve lands.

The Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
A TIME LINE
1939 - 2002

1939 -1940 - The Lubicons are visited by Indian Affairs officials who recognize them as a separate, distinct aboriginal society and who promise to establish a reserve on the shores of Lubicon Lake. A membership list is drawn up and left open to permit the addition of members out hunting and trapping.

1942 - The federal government begins its policy of undermining Lubicon land rights by arbitrarily reducing the incomplete Lubicon membership list from 154 to 64.

1943 - 1944 - A federal judicial inquiry regarding membership rules in favour of the Lubicons, but the ruling is ignored by the Department of Indian Affairs.

1952 - The Department of Indian Affairs begins to eliminate the Lubicon community through transfers of members to other band lists, and through enfranchisement.

1953 - Assuming plans for a Lubicon reserve will be struck from the record if no reply is received, Alberta gives the Federal Government 30 days to report on its status. The Federal Government does not reply.

1971 - To open up the area for resource exploitation, Alberta begins building an all-weather road into Lubicon territory without consulting the Lubicons, claiming they are "merely squatters on provincial Crown
land with no land rights to negotiate."

1973 - A federal Order-In-Council reaffirms the Lubicon as a separate and distinct Aboriginal society.

1975 - 1977 - The Lubicons try to file a caveat under Provincial law putting potential developers on notice that title to traditional Lubicon land is contested. The Provincial Government refuses to accept and file a caveat as Provincial law at the time requires. Alberta asks for a postponement of the hearing of the case during which time it re-writes the operative law (Bill 29) making the re-written law retroactive to before the time the Lubicons went to court. The Lubicon legal action is subsequently dismissed as no longer having any basis in law.

1979 - The all-weather road is completed. By 1982 there are 400 oil wells within a 15-mile radius of the Lubicon community. The Lubiconsí traditional, self-sufficient lifestyle is torn apart when animals are driven out of the area by industrial activity. Their staple food - moose - begins to disappear from the area. By 1982, annual Lubicon moose kill drops to 19 from over 200, and average annual trapper income drops to $400 from around $5,000. Unable to subsist in a traditional manner, Lubicon welfare rates shoot up from around 5% to over 90%.

1980 - The Lubicons take federal court action requesting a declaratory judgment regarding Lubicon land rights. Provincial court action begins in 1982.

1981 - Alberta declares the Lubicon community to be "an official provincial hamlet and therefore no longer available for purposes of establishing the Indian reserve." The province fraudulently solicits people for a land tenure program designed to undermine Lubicon jurisdiction. The province threatens to bulldoze peoplesí homes calling them "unauthorized improvements on crown land" but backs down when Lubicons threaten to shoot anyone who tries to demolish their homes.

1982 - The Lubicons apply for an injunction to block further resource exploitation in their area arguing that their traditional way of life is being destroyed. Twenty months later an ex-oil-company lawyer-turned judge denies it, ruling that despite incontrovertible evidence the Lubicons don't have a traditional way of life to protect.

1983 - A fact finding mission by the World Council of Churches concludes "government & multinational oil companies have taken actions that could have genocidal consequences."

1985 - The Hon. E. Davie Fulton is appointed by the federal government to study the situation. After a year's study, the Fulton inquiry report confirms Lubicon rights and outlines proposals for settlement. Indian Affairs prematurely scraps the inquiry, fires Fulton, then suppresses his report.

1986 - Negotiations begin but quickly break down when it becomes apparent that promises to negotiate on the basis of the Fulton report are not honoured by the federal government.

1986 - The Lubicons announce a boycott of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In support, 30 museums worldwide refuse to lend artefacts to the gamesí flagship Indian art exhibit sponsored by Shell Oil. At subsequent negotiations proposed by Ottawa, the Cree are told to knuckle under to the government or "go to the end of the line."

1987 - A tuberculosis epidemic strikes the Lubicon community. Tuberculosis infects a third of the community and is active in one in ten. Amid cries of genocide, Ottawa shows interest in appointing a new negotiator.

1988 - After four years of study, the United Nations Human Rights Committee states that the Lubicons cannot achieve effective legal or political redress in Canada and instructs Canada to do no further irreparable damage to the Lubicons pending a hearing of human rights violations. Canada ignores the ruling.

1988 - The Provincial Government grants the Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company timber leases blanketing the entire Lubicon territory. Oil activity continues.

1988 - After 14 years the Lubicons withdraw from all court action and declare sovereignty on their own territory. A nonviolent blockade of access roads to their Traditional Territory stops all oil activity for six days, but then the barricades are forcibly removed by armed RCMP officers and 27 people are arrested. Premier Don Getty meets with Chief Ominayak and negotiates the "Grimshaw Accord", an agreement that the province will return a 95 square mile area for a Lubicon reserve.

1988 - With an election underway, then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appoints his Chief of Staff to work on a Lubicon settlement. Negotiations begin in Ottawa.

1989 - Once the election is past, the Federal Government deliberately breaks down negotiations by tabling a "take-it-or-leave-it" offer which they know is unacceptable to the Lubicon people.

1989 - Federal agents move to organize internal opposition to the Lubicon Chief and Council but are unsuccessful. In a spring election, Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak is re-elected unanimously by the biggest voter turn-out yet.

1989 - Using a draconian clause of the Indian Act, Indian Affairs Minister Pierre Cadieux creates the "Woodland Cree Band" out of thin air to draw members away from the Lubicon, thereby supposedly decreasing any possible settlement. With unprecedented speed, Ottawa recognizes a group of disparate individuals as a "band", while ignoring 70 aboriginal societies waiting 50 or more years for recognition.

1989 - A conference of 33 international organizations that support Indian land rights concludes Canada is using "fraudulent & criminal action to deliberately split the Lubicon Cree Nation."

1990 - After six years of deliberation, the United Nations charges Canada with a Human Rights Violation stating that, "recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Cree and constitute a violation of Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in its dealings so long as they continue." The Committee reaffirms that the Lubicons cannot achieve effective redress in Canada.

1990 - Daishowa contractors begin clear-cutting on Lubicon land. Lubicons accuse Daishowa of violating a 1988 agreement with them not to do so until Lubicon land rights are settled. A logging camp is raided and clear-cutting is stopped for that year.

1991 - The Federal government offers the Woodland Cree basically the "take-it-or-leave-it" proposal previously offered to the Lubicons. To ensure acceptance, the federal government bribes voters with a promise of $1,000 for each family member when the deal is accepted. After the vote, Ottawa reduces their welfare payments by the same amount.

1991 - A national boycott of Daishowa is launched to protest that company's intention to re-start clear-cut logging on Lubicon land. After a number of major customers stop buying Daishowa products, Daishowa announces that it will stay out of Lubicon territory for one year. The boycott continues.

1992 - The Alberta leader of the opposition convenes an independent Commission of Review to study the Lubicon situation and recommend possible solutions to the stalemate. Both federal and provincial governments refuse to appear before the Commission.

1992 - Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon announces a new round of land rights talks, but an Indian Affairs response to the Lubicon settlement proposal amounts to a, "slap in the face" for the Lubicon. As well as offering less than the 1989 offer, it insists that the federal government determine Lubicon membership, unlike all other Indian societies who were allowed to determine their own membership when signing Treaty.

1993 - The Lubicon Settlement Commission of Review report finds Lubicon settlement proposals are reasonable and that the federal government has not negotiated in good faith. It recommends that royalties from Lubicon territory be held in trust until a settlement is in place, that extinguishment of aboriginal rights not be a precondition for settlement, and that settlement be referred to third party arbitration if not concluded within six months.

1993 - 1994 - A newly elected federal government states that resolving the Lubicon situation is a top priority. However an initiative to dismember Lubicon society is launched. "Little bribes" of reserve land, housing and cash are offered to one of the main Lubicon family groups to join the Woodland Cree. After Lubicon supporters protest worldwide, the government backtracks.

1994 - The Daishowa boycott grows. In Canada, the company estimates that it has cost them $20 million in lost sales. Daishowa continues to stay off of Lubicon land on a yearly basis.

1994 - The Lubicons protest a plan to build a sour gas processing plant within 4 km of their proposed reserve. Sour gas plants are associated with serious health problems and deadly leaks. Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board fails to convene a regulatory hearing until after the plant is built.

1995 - Daishowa launches a lawsuit against the boycott organizers in Ontario, contending the consumer boycott is illegal and seeking a permanent ban.

1995 - 1996 - 1997 - Daishowa obtains interim and interlocutory injunctions shutting down the Daishowa boycott for over two years pending a full trial.

1995 - Despite the concerns of the Lubicons and numerous groups and individuals who intervened on their behalf at the regulatory hearing, the sour gas plant is approved for operation and starts up.

1995 - The federal government appoints a new federal negotiator closely associated with the Alberta provincial government and the oil and gas industry. A new round of talks begins.

1995 - Another major initiative to split Lubicon society commences, organized and supported by people closely associated with top levels of the Alberta government. A minority group of Lubicons proposes separating from the Lubicon Nation and seeks an injunction to stop land rights negotiations. They stall the legal action when the Lubicon Chief and Council join the action to counter unsupported and untrue allegations.

1995 - Shortly after announcing the new dissident group, Alberta falsely states that the 1988 "Grimshaw Accord" was based on population. Citing membership loss to the Woodland Crees and to the Lubicon dissidents organized by provincial operatives (the so-called "Little Buffalo Cree"), the province announces that the "Grimshaw Accord is [off ] the table". Former premier Getty and Chief Ominayak both affirm that the size of the reserve negotiated at Grimshaw was not linked to Lubicon population.

1997 - The talks, which started in 1995, fail to reach agreement on construction of basic community facilities and break off.

1998 - After a 27 day trial, the court rules the Daishowa boycott legal, calling it a, "model of how such activities should be conducted in a democratic society." The judge notes the, "tragic, desperate and intolerable" circumstances of the Lubicons.

1998 - Daishowa agrees not to log or buy wood cut on Lubicon land until the land rights are settled. The Lubicons and supporters call off the boycott.

1998 - A new federal negotiator is appointed and a new round of negotiations with the federal government begins in July. By September, the federal government has agreed to the reserve quantum defined by the Grimshaw Accord and an agreement in principle on Lubicon determination of membership is reached.

1999 - Ex-federal and provincial government officials organize and finance a legal challenge of the 1999 Lubicon election that saw Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak acclaimed and 4 of the 5 councillors reelected. The case is still before the courts.

1999 - Talks with the federal government are suspended as the Lubicons are pressured to include the provincial government in negotiations before substantial agreement is reached with the federal government.

1999 - 2000 - Daishowa appeals the court ruling in favour of Ontario Lubicon supporters. An out-of-court settlement is reached and Daishowa drops the appeal. Lubicon supporters agree to cease activities against Daishowa as long as it respects its commitment to stay out of Lubicon territory.

2000 - Negotiations resume briefly but are soon suspended again, as the regional office of Indian Affairs reneges on a social services agreement negotiated between the Lubicons and a previous Indian Affairs Minister and tries to impose a discriminatory social assistance policy. After 3 months of public pressure the government agrees to honour the earlier agreement and reinstate the existing social assistance funding policy.

2000 - The neighbouring Whitefish Lake band announces logging within the Lubicons' traditional territory. This is described by the Lubicons as "a transparent tactic... on behalf of both levels of government" to encroach on the territory under negotiation.

2001 - Three neighbouring bands including the Woodland Cree begin clear-cut logging within Lubicon traditional territory. All three bands receive federal funding for logging activities.

2002 - Negotiations stall over technical issues after a January meeting.

2002 - In July, Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak and Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault meet in Calgary to discuss the stalled talks.

2002 - Talks between the federal government and the Lubicons resume the first week of September.

2002 - On September 5, Friends of the Lubicon (FOL) launch an international campaign to urge Prime Minister ChrÈtien to fulfill his 1993 promise to the Lubicons before he leaves office in February 2004.

2002 - On September 5, the Lubicons and the federal government reach agreement on a capital construction package just hours before Minister Nault makes his first visit to the Lubicon community at Little Buffalo. Construction of a new community with running water and adequate housing is one portion of an overall settlement agreement.

2002 - Alberta joins the talks in October. Reserve lands, economic development, compensation packages, and a wildlife and environmental management agreement over traditional Lubicon territory, are some of the elements of a final settlement agreement that will be negotiated