Below is a Lubicon Nation mailout dated May 10, 1990 regarding the release of the UN decision which finds Canada in violation of Lubicon human rights. The mailout includes associated media reports and the federal government position in reaction to the release of the decision. A link to the UN decision is also provided.
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation
Little Buffalo Lake , AB
403-629-3945
FAX: 403-629-3939
Mailing address:
3536 - 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T6J 1A4
403-436-5652
FAX: 403-437-0719
May 10, 1990
Enclosed for your information is a copy of the long awaited UN Human Rights Committee decision on the continuing Lubicon tragedy.
The UN Committee decision was rendered on March 26th but the Lubicon people only learned of it last week. Committee officials in Geneva mailed a copy to Lubicon lawyer Jessica Lefevre on April 27th, which she received on May 1st. Ms. Lefevre then immediately forwarded a copy to the Lubicon people, who received their copy by courier on May 2nd.
CBC reporter Byron Christopher was interviewing Lubicon representatives about another matter when the UN Committee decision arrived. Since the UN letter covering the decision indicated that it was to be made public, a copy was shared with Mr. Christopher, who then broke the story.
It's since been confirmed that the Canadian Government received its copy of the UN committee decision by at least May 1st. Rather than simply releasing the text of the decision, however, Canadian Government officials reacted typically with a calculated damage control strategy.
First Canadian Government officials used a Conservative Indian Member of Parliament named Willie Littlechild to ask Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon a carefully phrased question clearly intended to give Mr. Siddon the opportunity to deliver a prepared response. Mr. Siddon then responded to Mr. Littlechild's question by "confirming" that the UN Committee had rendered a decision which "acknowledges that an injustice to the Lubicon Band must be remedied", declaring that a remedy to the acknowledged injustice "is the basis on which (the Canadian Government) has proceeded with negotiations for some years", selectively quoting from the decision to the effect that "sweeping allegations made by the Lubicon Lake Band have not been substantiated to the extent that they would deserve serious consideration", and claiming that the UN committee found the Federal Government's so-called "take-it-or-leave-it" offer to be an "appropriate remedy" for the acknowledged injustice.
Next Canadian Government officials released a carefully worded official "communiqué" on the decision, admitting that the UN Committee found there to be a violation of article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, suggesting that this violation was a minor violation consisting of no more than an already acknowledged "obligation to the Lubicons which must be settled", and indicating that "The (Canadian) Government is pleased to note that the United Nations considers (Federal Government) efforts at negotiation, including (the Federal Governments's so-called take-it-or-leave-it offer) to the Band, to be an appropriate remedy to meet that obligation".
Lastly Canadian Government officials unleashed professional Federal Government propagandist Ken Colby, who was on the phone early in the morning of May 3rd, calling reporters and responding to the Christopher story with all kinds of interpretation, accusations and demands regarding how the story of the decision should be handled.
The decision itself is 29 pages long, plus there are an additional pages consisting of two individual opinions" by two dissenting Committee members. The first "individual opinion" is by the Japanese representative on the Committee who argues that "the right to enjoy one's own culture should not be understood to imply that the Band's traditional way of life must be preserved at all costs" -- something which the Lubicon people of course never asked nor hoped to achieve. The second " individual opinion" is by the Swedish representative on the Committee, who makes a technical legal argument, despite considerable empirical evidence to the contrary, that domestic legal recourse had not been effectively exhausted.
Most of the 29 pages is a summary and overview of the submissions made by both sides over the last six years, including the arguments and earlier Committee decision on admissibility. Of particular note in this section of the decision is extensive Canadian Government use of procedural arguments to keep matters of substance from being discussed at all, and/or to keep the case from even being heard by the Committee.
The substance of the decision is found on pages 28 and 29 (paragraphs 31.1 - 33), in which the Committee:
The finding that Canada is in continuing violation of article 27 is of course a far more clear-cut finding than the finding that Canada "proposes to rectify the situation with a remedy that the Committee deems appropriate..." Asked by reporters to clarify this later part of the decision, Committee officials were quoted as saying that "the wording was left deliberately vague so that both parties can interpret it their own way and get back to the table."
So far Canadian Government officials have publicly interpreted the "deliberately vague" wording of the decision as "a victory for Canada", and as "support for Canada's (take-it-or-leave-it-offer) offer". Given that interpretation, Canadian Government officials have reaffirmed that the so-called offer won't be changed. Such an interpretation provides little hope for further negotiations, since even Alberta Provincial Premier Getty agrees that the so-called offer is seriously deficient in the essential area of economic development, and since the Lubicon people have made clear that they're not prepared to settle for a future on Government provided welfare.
A more reasonable interpretation, especially in light of the finding that there will be a continuing violation of article 27 until the matter is settled, and also in light of the stated Committee objective of encouraging the parties to return to the negotiating table, is that the Committee supports claimed Canadian Government efforts to resolve the question of Lubicon land rights through a negotiated settlement.
Erin Carpenter, CBC Newsday
Canada has lost an important case at the United Nations. CBC News has learned that Canada violated the United Nations Charter on Human Rights. The case involves the Lubicon Lake Indian Band. In 1984 the Band complained to the U.N. that their way of life was being destroyed by massive oil and gas development on their reserve. The ruling is not legally binding, but amounts to a black eye for Canada. Lubicon lawyer James O'Reilly says the decision is a victory for the Lubicon people.
Phil Henry, CBC News
The United Nations has found Canada guilty of mistreating the Lubicon Indians of northern Alberta. CBC News has learned that the U.N. Committee on Human Rights has found that Canada violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Lubicons complained that their way of life was being destroyed by oil and gas development on their traditional lands. A lawyer for the Band says that the decision means that Canada does not respect human rights. Byron Christopher reports.
Byron Christopher, CBC News
The Lubicon Indians took their complaint to the United Nations six years ago. The U.N.'s Human Rights Committee finally ruled on the matter in March. But it wasn't until yesterday that the Indians learned that they had won. In their submission to the U.N., the Indians argued that before their land was cut up for oil and gas development that they had a viable way of life and culture. They said it was the responsibility of the Canadian Government to protect them from such development, but that the Government had done nothing. James O'Reilly, a lawyer for the Band, says the U.N. decision is a victory for the Lubicons.
James O'Reilly, Lubicon Lawyer
The United Nations has pointed the finger and said that Canada is to blame for what has happened to the Lubicons and the United Nations has also said that what has transpired is a very serious transgression of international law.
Christopher
Canada may have broken international law, but the U.N. ruling is not legally binding. That means the Indians cannot expect international help to kick out the oil companies. But James O'Reilly says it's a moral defeat for Canada He says Ottawa can no longer point its finger at countries that abuse human rights. Byron Christopher, CBC News, Edmonton.
INDIAN AFFAIRS
Mr. Willie Littlechild (Wetaskiwin): Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
As members will know, the Lubicon Band has had a case in front of the United Nations Human Rights Committee for several Years. Can the minister now inform the House as to the decision, and more importantly what is the government planning to do in view of the decision?
Hon. Thomas Siddon (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development): Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has rendered a decision in the matter of the grievance raised by the Lubicon Lake Band of northern Alberta under the human provisions of the covenant. That decision acknowledges that an injustice to the Lubicon Lake Band must be remedied. That is the basis on which this government has proceeded with negotiations for some years --
An Hon. Member: Nonsense!
Mr. Siddon: -- to find a just, fair and comprehensive settlement of this claim. On the basis of that, we have offered a $45 million settlement package which will affect some 400 residents on al 95 square mile reservation.
(1500)
If I might just quote from the United Nations Human Rights Commission report. I hope the opposition members would be interested in this finding. On page 29 of the report the committee found that "sweeping allegations made by the Lubicon Lake band have not been substantiated to the extent that they would deserve serious consideration." Furthermore, the committee found that "the state party", that is Canada, "proposes to rectify the situation by a remedy that the committee deems appropriate within the meaning of Article 2 of the covenant.
Ottawa (May 3, 1990) -- The United Nations' Human Rights Committee (HRC) has made known its findings regarding Canada's treatment of the Lubicon Lake Indian Band. It confirms Canada's view that there is an obligation to the Lubicon which must be settled and supports the Canadian offer to the Lubicons.
The decision was prompted by claims made by Chief Bernard Ominayak on behalf of the Lubicon Lake Band regarding treatment under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The HRC is composed of independent experts on human rights matters which can hear complaints about violations under the Covenant. The Committee noted that there have been historical inequities in the treatment of the Lubicon Lake Band which constitute a violation of article 27, dealing with minority rights. The HRC also observed that Canada has made an offer to the Band "to rectify the situation by a remedy that the Committee deems appropriate."
Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon has issued the following on the HRC decision:
"The finding by the United Nations' Human Rights Committee confirms what the government of Canada has acknowledged. We have an obligation to the Lubicons which must be settled.
The Government is pleased to note that the United Nations considers our efforts at negotiation, including our offer to the Band, to be an appropriate remedy to meet that obligation. The offer to the Band to continue to pursue its claims in the courts for additional financial compensation.
The Lubicon leadership has so far refused our offer and clearly the Government cannot impose a settlement on the Band. We hope that, with this decision by the Human Rights Committee, the Band leaders will accept our offer. We want to resolve this matter and reach a fair settlement with the Lubicon Lake Band."
-30-
For more information contact:
Mr. Ken Colby (403) 286-3411 or 234-7200 regarding offer to Lubicon Lake Band:
Mr. Martin Low (613) 957-4944 regarding Human Rights Committee process.
To: All news media
From: Ross Harvey, M.P., Edmonton East
Release: Immediate, Thursday, May 3, 1990
Ottawa -- Edmonton East New Democrat M.P. Ross Harvey today hailed the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding the Lubicon Cree band.
"It is deeply regrettable that Canada had to be dishonoured in front of the world community in this fashion," said Harvey in a prepared release. "But the actions of the current and preceding governments left the Lubicon people no choice but to seek redress before this international tribunal.
" I am for that reason profoundly grateful that the UN committee reached the just decision that it did."
In its decision of March 26, 1990, the Committee found, "Historical inequities, to which the State party refers, and certain more recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band, and constitute a violation of article 27 so long as they continue."
(Article 27 of the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "in those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language." Canada acceded to the Covenant on May 19, 1976.)
Speaking this afternoon in the House of Commons, Harvey said, "For more than 50 years the Lubicon Cree have been seeking a treaty settlement form the Canadian government sufficient simply to allow them, to the degree possible, to continue with their traditional way of life, and, to the degree necessary, to build the required community infrastructure that may enable them to cope with the technological culture we have thrust upon them."
"For more than 50 years they have received nothing but delay, denial, deceit, and destruction."
Harvey told the House the only way for the government to " end this sordid chapter in our history and restore Canada's good name" was for it to resume immediate negotiations with Lubicon "in good faith and without preconditions" and thereby conclude a "fair and just settlement".
-30-
Attached:
Statement to the House of Commons on the March 26 decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee by Ross Harvey, May 3, 1990
For more information: (613) 992-2289
Indian Affairs
Mr. Ross Harvey (Edmonton East): Mr. Speaker, largely because of this government's mean-spirited and persistent refusal to deal fairly with a small Cree community in a remote settlement in northwestern Alberta, Canada now stands dishonoured before the world.
For more than 50 years the Lubicon Cree have been seeking a treaty settlement from the Canadian government sufficient simply to allow them, to the degree possible, to continue with their traditional way of life, and, to the degree necessary, to build the required community infrastructure that may enable them to cope with the technological culture we have thrust upon them
For more than 50 years they have received nothing but delay, denial, deceit, and destruction.
Now the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has determined the Canadian government's treatment of this small, embattled band to be unacceptable.
There is only one solution: the government must immediately resume negotiations with the Lubicon people, in good faith and without preconditions. Only the conclusion of a fair and just settlement will end this sordid chapter in our history and restore Canada's good name.
By Walter Krevenchuk
Edmonton (CP) -- A United Nations Human Rights Committee has stepped into a 50-year-old Indian land-claim dispute in northern Alberta with a report both sides claim supports their cause.
Fred Lennarson, a spokesperson for the Lubicon Lake Cree Band, said the report confirms the band's rights have been violated. He called it an international black mark against Ottawa.
"It is a conclusion Canada has not respected the civil and political rights of the Lubicons Indians," Lennarson.
Ken Colby, a federal negotiator based in Calgary, said Thursday the government does not question there has been a violation of Lubicon rights as a minority group and the band is entitled to a settlement.
But he said the committee found Ottawa's offer of compensation appropriate.
"It is not a slap in the face," Colby said. "It is support for Canada's offer".
The Geneva-based committee, in a chapter titled Violations and the remedy offered, said:
"Historical inequities … and certain more recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band, and constitute a violation of article 27 (of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) so long as they continue.
"The state proposes to rectify the situation by a remedy the committee deems appropriate…"
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said in a statement the report confirms what Ottawa has acknowledged: "We have an obligation to the Lubicon which must be settled.
"The Government is pleased to note that the United Nations considers our efforts at negotiations to be an appropriate remedy to meet that obligation".
The Lubicon approached the UN Committee in 1984, claiming they were being denied the right of self-determination.
A committee official in Geneva said the report "is telling both sides to continue negotiating in good faith."
The band has been fighting to get land set aside for a reserve promised 50 years and compensation for energy and forestry development in the Little Buffalo area, 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Led by soft-spoken Chief Bernard Ominayak the band's efforts have made international headlines.
The Lubicons encouraged an international boycott of a cultural exhibition on natives during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Later that year the band set up a blockade on roads into land it claims until the RCMP tore it down five days later.
Late last year oil companies shut down oil wells on the disputed land when the Band threatened to dismantle them unless talks resumed. The wells remain closed.
Ottawa has offered $45 million, which includes money for buildings, roads and services and $10 million for economic development.
But the band says that money is available through existing government programs even without a settlement. The Lubicons say they're entitled to $179 million from lost oil and gas revenues and federal funding.
The Band and Ottawa last met in January 1989.
Colby said Thursday the offer will not be increased. He and Siddon said if the band feels it deserves more money, it will have to prove its case in court.
Ominayak could not be reached for comment.
In Ottawa, NDP MP Ross Harvey told the Commons Canada stands dishonoured before the world.
The member for Edmonton East said the Lubicons have received "nothing but delay, denial, deceit, and destruction for more than 50 years.
"The government must immediately resume negotiations in good faith and without preconditions. Only a fair and just settlement will end this sordid chapter in our history."
Dick Scott, CFRN News
The Federal Indian Affairs Department is charging the Lubicons with deliberately misrepresenting a U.N. decision in an effort to embarrass Canada. Alberta's Lubicon Indians say a U.N. Committee has upheld their complaints about the Federal Government. The Band says the U.N. Human Rights Committee found Ottawa violated the Native's rights during land claim talks. But Federal Indian Affairs spokesman Ken Colby says that's not true.
Ken Colby, Federal Indian Affairs Spokesman
Canada told the U.N. that the Lubicons had an outstanding entitlement. The U.N. views agrees with that, and the U.N. says the offer that Canada has made, the remedy Canada has proposed, is appropriate. If the Lubicons are willing to deliberately misrepresent decisions by the United Nations in an attempt to embarrass Canada, then one has to wonder whether they are prepared to accept a settlement and whether they are prepared even to meet in good faith.
Scott
The Band has been trying to negotiate a reserve that was promised 50 years ago. They also want compensation for energy and forestry development on the land.
Edmonton (CP) -- A United Nations Human Rights Committee has stepped into a 50-year-old Indian land-claim dispute in northern Alberta with a report both sides claim supports their cause.
Fred Lennarson, a spokesperson for the Lubicon Lake Cree Band, said the report confirms the band's rights have been violated. He called it an international black mark against Ottawa.
"It is a conclusion Canada has not respected the civil and political rights of the Lubicons Indians," Lennarson. The decision isn't legally binding, he added.
Ken Colby, a federal negotiator based in Calgary, said Thursday the government does not question there has been a violation of Lubicon rights as a minority group and the band is entitled to a settlement.
But he said the committee found Ottawa's offer of compensation appropriate.
"It is not a slap in the face," Colby said. "It is support for Canada's offer".
The Geneva-based committee, in a chapter titled Violations and the remedy offered, said:
"Historical inequities … and certain more recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band, and constitute a violation of article 27 (of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) so long as they continue.
"The state proposes to rectify the situation by a remedy the committee deems appropriate…"
Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said in a statement the report confirms what Ottawa has acknowledged: "We have an obligation to the Lubicon which must be settled.
"The Government is pleased to note that the United Nations considers our efforts at negotiations to be an appropriate remedy to meet that obligation".
The Lubicon approached the UN Committee in 1984, claiming they were being denied the right of self-determination.
A committee official in Geneva said the report "is telling both sides to continue negotiating in good faith."
The band has been fighting to get land set aside for a reserve promised 50 years and compensation for energy and forestry development in the Little Buffalo area, 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Led by soft-spoken Chief Bernard Ominayak the band's efforts have made international headlines.
The Lubicons encouraged an international boycott of a cultural exhibition on natives during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Later that year the band set up a blockade on roads into land it claims until the RCMP tore it down five days later.
Late last year oil companies shut down oil wells on the disputed land when the Band threatened to dismantle them unless talks resumed.
Norm Ovenden
Ottawa
It took six years for a prestigious international panel to tell the federal government and Lubicon Indians what they should have known all along.
Closing the book on one of the saddest chapters in Canadian history won't be accomplished by muted pressure from Geneva.
In taking even-handed diplomatic swipes at both the band and government, the United Nations human rights committee made it clear this week that both sides are going to face each other across the bargaining table, swallow some stubborn pride and make a more honest effort at settling the Lubicon's 50-year land claim.
But in the wake of the committee's report, it became equally clear that dug-in band and government negotiators seem more interested in scoring political points than pulling out all the stops to find an honourable compromise.
Essentially, the 18 diplomats and international law professors on the committee concluded Canada has violated human rights covenants designed to protect the cultural and religious rights of minorities.
"Historical inequities … and certain more recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band, and constitute a violation … so long as they continue.
Score one for the Lubicon.
First off the mark Wednesday night in announcing the March 26 ruling, band spokesman Fred Lennarson immediately pounced on that critical portion of the 32-page decision and called it an international black mark against Canada. Chief Bernard Ominayak had hoped for that rebuke when in 1984 he took the exceptional step of seeking an international hearing of the band's grievances.
But what Lennarson ignored was the committee's final conclusion that the government's January 1989 offer to the band was an "appropriate" remedy.
Ottawa picked up the gauntlet the next day. Starting with Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon, the feds fired back that the band was distorting the situation.
Lennarson had "deliberately misrepresented the document with the aim of embarrassing Canada." Muttered Ken Colby, the Calgary consultant hired by Indian Affairs.
"Surely that offers an explanation for the protracted length of this land claim." Colby said.
Siddon went on to say the federal proposal for a $45 million settlement package for the 400 band members on a 246 square kilometre reserve was a "very, very extremely generous offer."
Absent from the federal rhetoric was any hint that it cares why the Lubicon rejected the offer or understands how deeply the band feels its traditional hunting grounds have been destroyed by decades of resource exploitation. Ottawa also showed no sign of concern there have been no meaningful talks for 15 months while the Lubicon insist on additional compensation.
In Siddon's view, any capitulation must come from the band. "It's for Chief Ominayak now to look at the offer, to look at the (UN's) findings, to look at our sincerity and then to re-examine the position they've taken," Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon.
He accepted the UN's contention that the government has an obligation to correct past injustices, while overlooking the fact that the "appropriate remedy" was only offered last year after half a century of neglect.
In a minority opinion backing the government, Japanese committee member Nisuke Ando said petroleum exploration on the band land wasn't threatening the Lubicon.
"The right to enjoy one's own culture should not be understood to imply that the band's traditional way of life must be preserved intact at all costs," Ando wrote.
Regardless, the long-festering sore is far from healed. It's back to square one and the two sides are talking to reporters, not each other.
Going to bat for the Lubicon, Edmonton East New Democrat MP Ross Harvey regretted the return of the old intransigent attitudes.
While the battle on the international stage is now over, the country came out of it with two black eyes, Harvey said. The first smack was when the committee decided to hear Ominayak's grievance in 1987. The second came when the UN body took the rare step of criticizing a member country which is so quick to condemn rights violations in other parts of the world.
"The federal government is fighting over a matter of several hundred million dollars. The Lubicon people are fighting over the matter of the future of themselves for all time.
"It is an unequal struggle. Power is overwhelmingly on the side of the federal government," Harvey said.
The UN committee hoes its decision will encourage both sides to return to the table said a Geneva official.
The six-year deliberation was "unusually long", resulting in the lengthiest decision in committee history, said Jakob Moller, chief of communications of the Centre for Human Rights.
Asked if the deep bitterness marring the dispute in Canada had complicated the committee's task, Moller said: Reading between the lines, that may be a fair assumption.
Roy Cook
Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton
A United Nations ruling puts more pressure on Ottawa to resolve the longstanding land claim of Alberta's Lubicon Indian band, Premier Don Getty says.
"I haven't reviewed the report, but I hope the federal government does feel pressure to resolve the issue," Getty said Friday. "I urge the federal government to be generous and caring towards the Lubicon band and let us conclude the agreement."
The premier was responding to a decision by the United Nations human rights commission that the federal government violated the cultural and religious rights of the Lubicons, as set out in article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The committee also said that by working to settle the band's 50-year land claim dispute, Ottawa had mitigated the damage.
Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon has said the decision highlights Ottawa's obligation to resolve its "longstanding injustice" to the band.
Getty has repeatedly intervened to help reach a deal between the band and Ottawa. In October 1988, he signed the Grimshaw Accord with Lubicon chief Bernard Ominayak, in which the province agreed to set aside a 246-square-km reserve, with full mineral rights.
The premier said Friday he's frustrated by delays in settling the land claim. Asked when an agreement might be reached, he said it's "completely in the hands of the federal government."
But Ken Rostad, Alberta's minister responsible for Native Affairs, said he believes the land claim could be settled this year.
Rostad said officials in his department are talking to both the band and the federal government to see what impact the UN ruling will have on negotiations.
"I'm hoping that they can take it in the vein that, in the past, the band perhaps has not been treated properly. However, there is a process and some offers on the table that can overcome that. There's going to have to be give and take on both sides."
Rostad said the next step is to move towards building housing and a community for the band. Negotiations between the band and the province are continuing toward that end.
"I would like to have, this fall, a position where the infrastructure could be started so that next spring we can have a reserve," Rostad said.
"If there's a will by all three parties to get this thing under way quickly, I think it can be accommodated. I think everybody is going to have to leave their baggage at the door and start in an open mind."
Norm Ovenden
Journal Ottawa Bureau
Ottawa
Canada is violating international human rights conventions by its treatment of the Lubicon Lake Band, a blue-ribbon United Nations committee has concluded.
But the federal government escaped with a slap on the wrist instead of a global black eye because it has taken concrete steps to try to settle the 50 year land-claim dispute with the northern Alberta band.
The country was embarrassed on the world stage in 1987 when the Geneva-based UN human rights committee agreed to investigate Chief Bernard Ominayak's complaint that the band's cultural and religious rights were being denied, ass set out in Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
After nearly three years of weighing wildly contradictory claims, the committee diplomatically attached blame to both the Lubicons and the federal government.
"Historical inequities … and certain more recent developments threaten the way of life and culture of the Lubicon Lake Band, and constitute a violation … so long as they continue. (Canada) proposes to rectify the situation by a remedy that the committee deems appropriate.
The ruling was reached March 26, but not released until Thursday.
Putting the best light on the 32 page report, Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon said it "merely points out Canada has an obligation to settle a long-standing injustice to the members."
Ominayak in a telephone interview from Little Buffalo said the federal government has created an image of Canada as being concerned about human rights violations, "provided that they are in a different.
"Here we're within Canada, and this kind of thing has continued, and it has come to a point where the human rights committee has decided that this is a violation of human rights of the Lubicon people."
Ominayak said the band and its advisers will study the ruling, and use it to continue pushing the federal government for an acceptable settlement.
In January 1989 the federal government offered a $45-million settlement package for 400 band members on a 246-sq.-km. reserve. That offer still stands, although Siddon side-stepped a suggestion that the offer was only made because of the UN probe.
Ominayak rejected the package. The band wants $167 million in economic compensation and there have been no meaningful talks for 15 months.
I think the evidence of the government's sincerity of commitment in these matters is obvious from the major (aboriginal) claims that we have settled in recent times" in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, the minister said.
"This offer, in relation to other settlements is extremely generous. On that basis, we are very encouraged by the finding of the human rights committee."
No further changes to the offer are being contemplated and Siddon said the next step is up to the band.
But Edmonton New Democrat MP Ross Harvey accused the government of continuing a 50-year policy of "delay, denial, deceit and destruction."
Canada stood "dishonored before the world" because of its mean-spirited refusal to deal in good faith with the small Cree community, Harvey told the Commons.
The 18 member human rights committee, composed of diplomats and international law professors, rejected other "sweeping allegations" by the Lubicon that they were the victims of genocide, a biased court system and economic devastation. ..have not been substantiated to the extent that they would deserve serious consideration."
Rev. Bill Phipps, chairman of Friends of the Lubicon, said the ruling is a mixed blessing for the band, in that it recognizes the human rights violations yet deems Ottawa's settlement offer appropriate.
"How do you know whether $45 million is adequate (compensation) for the total destruction of a way of life and having to start from scratch to build a community?" Phipps said.
Dr. Kim McBeath, chairman of the Edmonton Interchurch Committee of the North, another group which supports the Lubicon band, said she hopes the ruling "will encourage the government to settle the outstanding Lubicon claim in a just and expeditious manner."
Canadians would never put themselves in the sorry company of nations that ignore international law and basic human rights. This isn't Iran, China or Guatemala, we tell ourselves smugly, this is a country with a conscience.
It's a conscience with some blind spots. There was barely a stir last week when the United Nations Human Rights Commission ruled that the Canadian government had violated the Lubicon Lake Cree band's rights under Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Lubicon band began its fight for a promised reserve in northern Alberta in the summer of 1939. For decades the band has doggedly pursued the case through the courts, negotiations and an appeal for public support. The elders are still waiting for a reserve.
Alberta agreed to set aside a 246-square-kilometre reserve with full mineral rights in 1988, but the Lubicon claim is snagged on the amount of federal compensation. Premier Don Getty supports the band's contention that Ottawa's offer is inadequate, but says the matter is "completely in the hands of the federal government."
The UN committee urged both sides to bargain again. But how? Federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon concedes that the UN ruling highlights a "long-standing injustice," but his officials insist they've made their final offer. It isn't easy to negotiate with a brick wall.
And so the Lubicon Lake Cree wait as they have for half a century. Premier Getty waits. Albertans ashamed of the Lubicon stigma also wait.
Will it be another 50 years before this shameful episode is behind us?