Ominayak delivers candid speech to high school students

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Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak pulled no punches in a speech to St. Paul high school students during the town's Native Awareness Week.

A good number of the 450 people in attendance came to hear Ominayak, who dealt with the problems facing aboriginal people like land claims and treaty rights' disputes. Awareness week ran from April 30-May 4.

"If the government feels it can shortchange aboriginal people, you will see a settlement in days. On the other hand if aboriginal people hold onto their treaty, there will be no settlement," said Ominayak.

"As long as Native lands contain resources with industries extracting, there is no desire to settle. The longer they (the federal government) delay, the more extraction is done as in the case of the Lubicons," said Ominayak. His band has been locked in a bitter land claim dispute with the federal government for the last 50 years.

Ominayak was critical of police for their response to the Lubicon road blockade set up in the fall of 1988. It was dismantles without concern for the problems of the people involved, he said.

"We weren't there to start a war," he said. "The RCMP came in prepared for a war. We had our families there - children and old people.

"As long as the Canadian public stands by and lets the government continue doing what they are doing to aboriginal people, it will continue. A lot of the non-Native public is beginning to understand the problem, but the government is not prepared to listen to its constituents and the general pubic."

The Lubicons have tried to use the court process only to find there is no court in the country to take the government to, said Ominayak.

He said the band tried to get a political solution but has been unable to sway the government to sit down and settle.

"They are extracting billions of dollars off our land but they have no money (to settle the land claim)," said Ominayak cynically.

During the 90-minute presentation, Ominayak - together with Native lawyers Albert Angus and Sharon Venne and Goodfish Lake Chief Ernest Houle - touched on a wide range of issues facing Native people including treaty rights, land claims, politics, business, education, discrimination and success.

Native Club president 17-year-old James Large referred to Ominayak as a little man with a lot of power and respect. He felt honored to be able to present Ominayak with a Native club school jacket at the close of his presentation.

Havomg P,omaual speak at the school would help give students a broader political perspective, said school vice-principal Dave Jorgensen. It will help them see "their world goes much beyond the video and movie halls."

Native Education Coordinator Andy Jackson noted the four guest speakers had "to overcome discrimination, prejudice and obstacles society put in their way and they made it."

Venne delivered a powerful opening presentation about treaty rights. A local lawyer working with surrounding bands, she made some strong points that silenced the predominantly non-Native teenage audience.

"A lot of people don't believe indigenous people have any rights," she said. "They tell us it's the 1190s, they tell us to join the 20th century. This land was ours, we never sold it. We entered into treaties and said we would give the land in exchange for treaty rights.

"We have to fight for our rights every day. Not a day goes by when an Indian doesn't stand up and fight for his rights."

"We are the indigenous people of the land, we are the Indians of the land and the treaty didn't give anyone the right to take it away from us."

Saskatchewan lawyer Albert Angus, who specializes in administrative and constitutional law dealing with land claims, stressed the importance of education to Native students in attendance.

Adjusting his feather headdress, Chief Ernest Houle took the podium to address the issue of Natives in politics and business. He spoke about business ventures on his reserve and the impact of the reserve economy on surrounding nn-Native communities.

"No jobs in Goodfish Lake mean no money for St. Paul," said Houle, who supports Natives and non-Natives working together for common goals progressing "into the 90s."

Jorgensen challenged students "to get to know someone from that other solitude. It's never easy."

"If you leave here with nothing else, remember the anger, the frustration, the hope and the challenge," he said.