Lubicon Supporters' Home Page

LUBICON SUPPORTERS'
HOME PAGE


| Background | About the Lubicon Nation |
| Friends of the Lubicon | Amitié Lubicons-Québec | Lubicon Defense Project |
| How you can help |


BACKGROUND ON THE LUBICON NATION'S STRUGGLES

Enormous and catastrophic effects of massive oil, gas and timber extraction threaten the existence of the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation.

The resistance of this 500 member nation against an unremitting, oppressive, industrial invasion of their land and destruction of their way of life by numerous, extremely powerful, multi-million and multi-billion dollar resource corporations is nothing short of astounding and is becoming legendary in the annals of aboriginal resistance struggles.

The Lubicons have fought back to defend their land and lives by patiently building a global network of organizations and individuals to support their legal battles, boycotts, lobbying, negotiations with the Canadian government and - when all else failed - a blockade.

International public support has immensely aided their courageous and principled stand to protect their fragile boreal forest homeland -- some of North America's resource richest land -- from even greater depradation.

But time is running out. How long the Lubicon can endure the merciless onslaught depends on you.

"I hope people will understand we're trying to survive from day to day and need all the help we can get from the general public. It's a battle against time. We realize that and the other side knows that."
- Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak

THE LUBICON CREE

For more than 60 years the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation has struggled for official recognition of their aboriginal land rights in northern Alberta, Canada. Promised a reserve in 1939, the Lubicon still do not have a land rights settlement. The Lubicon never signed away their traditional territory and were able, until 1979, to peacefully pursue their traditional hunting and trapping way of life.

THE OIL BONANZA: NOT A PENNY FOR THE LUBICON

Starting in 1979, major oil companies moved onto Lubicon homelands, drilling more than 400 oil wells within a fifteen-mile radius of the Lubicon community of Little Buffalo. Industrial development devastated Lubicon society and its subsistence economy. Moose, the staple of the Lubicon's diet, fled the area, along with most of the smaller animals which formed the basis of the trapping trade. The Lubicon experienced alcoholism, birth defects, suicides, a tuberculosis epidemic and other serious medical problems. Meanwhile, gas and oil companies realized more than $8 billion in revenues from their operations on Lubicon land. To date the Lubicon have not received a cent of oil or gas royalties. The community lives in extreme poverty, and many Lubicon homes are over-crowded, have no running water, and lack adequate sewage disposal.

A BOYCOTT SO SUCCESSFUL, THEY SHUT IT DOWN

In 1988, Daishowa, a Japanese-based multi- national paper manufacturer, announced it was being granted 'timber rights' by the province in almost the entire 10,000 square kilometre unceded Lubicon traditional territory. In 1990, Daishowa opened a gigantic bleached kraft pulp mill -- its largest foreign investment ever -- just west of the Lubicon territory. The mill requires the cutting of some 11,000 trees daily. Shortly afterwards, despite objections from the Lubicon, a Daishowa subsidiary began clear-cutting operations on Lubicon land.

In 1991, at the request of the Lubicon Nation, Friends of the Lubicon began a consumer boycott of Daishowa paper products. Public pressure resulting from the Daishowa Boycott has persuaded Daishowa to cancel its planned logging on Lubicon lands since 1991.

To end the boycott, all Daishowa was asked to do was make a clear, unequivocal and public commitment not to log or buy wood cut on the unceded Lubicon territory until the land rights are settled and a harvesting agreement respecting Lubicon wildlife and environmental concerns is reached.

Instead, Daishowa responded with legal action against Friends of the Lubicon, obtaining a temporary injunction to stop the consumer boycott, which the company claims has cost it $5 million. In January 1996, an Ontario appellate court ruled that the boycott was "causing economic harm" to the corporation, and was illegal; Lubicon supporters were forbidden to ask the public to support the Lubicon people by boycotting stores carrying Daishowa products.

When Daishowa tried to make their temporary injunction permanent, the Ontario court ruled that the boycott was a protected form of freedom of expression and therefore legal, and lifted the injunction. Still having no promise from Daishowa to hold off clear-cutting on Lubicon territories, supporters re-launched an expanded, international boycott. Within months, Daishowa met the Lubicon's terms and agreed in writing not to log Lubicon lands until land rights are settled. The boycott thus came to an end. However, Daishowa is still seeking to have the boycott declared illegal -- showing their intention to continue repression of activism supporting indigenous peoples.

The struggle does not end here. The Lubicon Nation and their supporters, like Friends of the Lubicon, continue to fight government-backed corporate destruction of the Lubicon's unceded territory on many fronts.


ABOUT THE LUBICON NATION

Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
P.O. Box 6731
Peace River, AB T8S 1S5
Phone: 403-629-3945
Fax: 403-629-3939

Please note that the Lubicon Nation's address has changed. The old address, which was in Edmonton, has shut down. The address listed in many of the off-site documents linked to this page may not be correct. Please use the Peace River address (as above).

A brief history of the Lubicon Nation

Other documents

Aug 03/98: Federal govt resumes talks with Lubicon
Jun 12/98: Daishowa gives in, boycott called off
Mar 19/98: Status of talks between Lubicon & federal government
Jun 14/97: Newspaper editorial and Chief Ominayak's reply
Nov 01/95: Letter from Lubicon Chief Bernard Ominayak
Jun / 92: Statement from Lubicon Lake Women's Circle

Also see the NativeNet archives and Roland Leitner's archives on the Lubicon Nation


FRIENDS OF THE LUBICON AND THE BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN

Friends of the Lubicon
485 Ridelle Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M6B 1K6, Canada
Telephone: (416) 763- 7500
Fax: (416) 535-7810
Email: fol@tao.ca


Information on Friends of the Lubicon


Friends of the Lubicon and Daishowa



SPEAK NO EVIL:

From left to right, FOL defend-
ants Stephen Kenda, Kevin Thomas and Ed Bianchi.

Photo by Jen Metcalfe, for "The Arthur".


Brief chronology of the Daishowa vs. FoL lawsuit

Daishowa's position and FoL's response


Court Decisions: Daishowa v. Friends of the Lubicon


Legal Updates & Commentary


Other Boycott news

Actions in support of Friends of the Lubicon


AMITIÉ LUBICONS-QUÉBEC

Amitié Lubicons-Québec
C.P. 854
Kanesatake, Territoire Mohawk
via Quebec, Canada J0N 1E0
Tel: (514) 844 0484
email: paqando@web.net

Nov 08/98: Support fair & just Lubicon settlement

Nov / 97: ALQ bulletin #2
Sep / 97: ALQ bulletin #1

Sep 02/97: Why is Daishowa using courts to silence opposition?
Aug 29/97: Trial set to open

Feb 19/97: New Lubicon supporters' group formed in Quebec
Jan 24/97: Mainstream reports on ALQ demo

no date: ALQ pamphlet

Correspondence between Daishowa and Amitié Lubicons-Québec

   Jan 23/97: Letter from ALQ to Daishowa-Marubeni and Daishowa Forest Products

   Jan 31/97: Daishowa-Marubeni reply to ALQ
   Mar 28/97: ALQ reply to Daishowa-Marubeni

   Feb 06/97: Daishowa Forest Products replies to ALQ
   Mar 28/97: ALQ replies to Daishowa Forest Products

LUBICON DEFENSE PROJECT AND THE U.S. BOYCOTT OF DAISHOWA

The Lubicon Defense Project
5009 46th Ave South
Seattle, WA 98118
Dan Clarke: (206) 722-5785

About the Lubicon Defense Project

Jun / 97: On Indian Land - Update
Fall /96: Support Lubicon, stop Daishowa


HOW YOU CAN HELP



RECOMMENDED LINKS

* Anti-McDonald's campaign * Daishowa vs. FoL trial archives *


This site is hosted by Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty, in support of the Lubicon Nation and Friends of the Lubicon

S.I.S.I.S. email: SISIS@envirolink.org