Daishowa backs away from confrontation with Lubicons

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The prospect of a logger-Indian confrontation has caused Japanese-owned forestry and pulp giant Daishowa to buckle to Lubicon Lake Cree Nation demands - for now.

Wayne Crouse, Daishowa's communications co-ordinator, told Windspeaker there'll be "no logging in Lubicon claimed areas by Daishowa, its contractors or subsidiaries."

But that's just this year, he warned, adding that he thinks it unfair to be caught in the middle of a federal-provincial fight with the band over ubicon land claims.

Before Daishowa's no logging promise, the Lubicon battle to protects its traditional territory promised to turn nasty.

Not only were the Lubicons still fighting the federal and provincial governments in a legal battle to win control of a 10,000-square-kilometer area it claims, but logging companies who prize the timber in the region threatened to call in the police to protect loggers they were going to send onto the disputed land.

That sparked an immediate response from the Lubicons, who have already stopped oil companies from operating in the region.

Lubicon advisor Fred Lennarson, in a thinly veiled warning that the Lubicons would retaliate with force, had said the Lubicons would "render the trees unsuitable for the mills" if logging went ahead.

Asked what that meant, he suggested the "options" included hitting roads, bridges, hydroelectric lines and plants. Natives in other parts of the country have also warned these objects could be targets unless land claims are resolved.

The new round of verbal hostilities was sparked when Doug Adikat, a spokesman for Brewster Construction of Red Earth, told reporters his company - a Daishowa subsidiary - wanted police protection before they invaded Lubicon-claims land to cut the trees.

But Crouse told Windspeaker it stands by an agreement it made with the Lubicons to leave the land alone until the land claim is settled. However, Lennarson said before Daishowa made the announcement to suspend logging he suspected the agreement would be broken as soon as winter freeze-up permits logging.

Adika said Brewster planned to go ahead because the Lubicons "don't have a settlement or land base."

And that was backed by a letter from Brewster president L.M. Brewster to Lubicon chief Bernard Ominayak saying "we have no alternative but to log in the specified areas."

But Crouse said Daishowa won't allow it to happen because "the last thing Daishowa wants is a confrontation in that area."

However, while claiming Daishowa will soon have what he terns a "consistent plan" - to be announced soon - on how it gets wood for the pulp mill, he said Daishowa can't control where private logging companies it deals with get the wood.

Subcontracting companies like Boucher Bros. aren't particularly worried about the Daishowa edict to stay clear of Lubicon land for awhile.

At worst it means a one-season delay, John Boucher, a Boucher co-owner, told reporters. "I guess next year we will have to go there."

Lennarson, a non-Native with a long history of involvement with Native and Black causes across the continent, said Lubicon worries are based on written information provided by a forest ranger, outlining winter logging plans by Brewster and another company which has contracts with Daishowa.

Those logging plans included Lubicon claimed land, he said.

Journalists who live in the Peace River area say their RCMP contacts have told them the police don't want to get involved - and haven't made any preparations to protect logging companies operating on Lubicon claimed land.