Band plans to halt development-Ominayak

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Developers working on Lubicon-claimed territory this summer "will certainly know we're still alive," says the chief of the Lubicon Lake Indian band.

Winter in Little Buffalo, 360 km northwest of Edmonton, has been quiet, but Bernard Ominayak stressed "it'll be an interesting summer, we have not given up yet." Ominayak said a plan to end development work in the area is in place but he refused to discuss details.

As an example of the sort of development activity the Lubicons plan to stop, Ominayak pointed to Norcen Energy Resources. "They are not out of the woods yet," he said in a recent interview at Little Buffalo. Ominayak said the Lubicons won't "leave the matter alone but it's a question of when we'll move."

Norcen re-opened 18 oil wells, partly owned by Petro-Canada and Husky Oil, in early December. The wells had been shut in since Nov. 30, 1989 after threats of sabotage from Lubicon members.

The Lubicons have been out of the headlines since December when 13 Lubicon members were charged in connection with the torching of logging equipment belonging to Buchanan Lumber. In December, prior to charges being laid, Ominayak stopped short of saying he ordered the firebombing.

"I believe in the cause and no RCMP or developer is going to stop me, they'll have to hang me. How can the Creator point the finger at me who has devoted his whole life to helping my people? How can anybody be wrong doing that?"

At the band office in Little Buffalo in mid-March, Ominayak said he's "not afraid of what the police or the courts may do. I believe very strongly in what I'm doing and whatever is done to me in the process I don't think about it. I try to keep my focus. If at any point I get charged or thrown in jail, I don't care."

Referring to the 13 band members charged in the Nov. 24 equipment torching, Ominayak said "I would have felt better if I had been charged instead of my members."

Looking somewhat weary, Ominayak said "a person gets tired and frustrated with the attitude this government has toward Native people." But Ominayak said that in no way means he'll give up.

"I've made a commitment to my people and as long as I have their support I'm determined to keep that commitment. Whether I'm tired or to is not an issue at this point because I'm not at a point where I'm bound to give up."

Ominayak, who still retains the Indian culture he will "die with," said his vision is to give his people "a chance of building a future."

The Lubicon Cree have been struggling for over 50 years to reach a land settlement with the government but Ominayak said his people "will hang tight, we won't take an unjust settlement."

Last year the federal government offered the band $45 million and a 246-square-kilometre reserve but the Lubicons turned them down. They want $167-million compensation for lost royalties on oil taken from Lubicon-claimed land.

Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon called Lubicon demands "vastly in excess" when compared to other settlements reached by the government with other Native communities.

But band adviser Fred Lennarson points to numerous settlements across the country which exceed Lubicon demands.

Ominayak doubts whether a settlement will be possible "while this particular government is in power. When Native are prepared to give up or negotiate everything away, then they'll get a settlement. But if you're looking for just and fair settlement, the government takes a hard-line position by saying 'no settlement'."

In the late 1970s a group of isolated Lubicons, used t o a traditional way of life with little help form either level of government, were given a devastating blow then oil companies moved in.

The development brought few benefits to the Lubicons, but instead forced them to live a dependent way of life. It destroyed their once viable hunting and trapping economy, now the Lubicons need help producing a viable mixed economy, said Lennarson.

The Lubicons face an unemployment rate of 95 per cent, alcoholism is the most prealent disease, families are falling apart and houses are crowded.

"We don't have any desire to move out of our area and yet the way of life is almost all gone. Oil development destroyed our hunting and trapping and now we've got this pulp mill wanting to clear-cut within our traditional area. And yet we can't come to an agreement with the federal government to turn to a different way of making a living," said Ominayak.

Daishowa Canada relies on logging companies in the area for spruce and aspen chips to run its $500-million megamill in Peace River, 90 km from Little Buffalo.

Ominayak said if a settlement isn't reached soon, "the young generation doesn't have a future." But he said the Lubicons won't agree to a settlement "if it's not going to benefit our younger generation, then there's no point discussing it."

Despite the poverty and array of social problems, Ominayak said his people are "still hanging in there trying to fight for survival."

Lennarson said there's "no doubt in my mid the federal government is committed to their destruction. They don't want a settlement unless the Lubicons are prepared to accept anything they offer."

Lennarson said the government doesn't want the Lubicons "to serve as an inspiration to other aboriginal people to stand up for their rights." The government, said Lennarson, wants "to crush and destroy" the Lubicons and "anybody who challenges their jurisdiction."

Yet the Lubicons throughout their struggle have remained a peaceful and shy people. Although they have been waiting for half a century for a reserve promised to them by the federal government and a decade for economic compensation from oil and gas pumped out of their traditional lands, they have struggled to remain non-violent.

In 1998 when unarmed band members set up a roadblock, the confrontation, which ended in 26 arrests, was peaceful.

Ominayak said he hopes the situation doesn't get violent "but keep in mind people have to try to protect themselves as best they can."