[IPSM] FW: [OLS-Campaign] Lubicon settlement achievable - "the cupboard is notbare"

[antoine libert]

----Original Message Follows----
From: Outaouais Lubicon Solidarity <ols at lubiconsolidarity.ca>
To: OLS Campaign <campaign at list.lubiconsolidarity.ca>
Subject: [OLS-Campaign] Lubicon settlement achievable - "the cupboard is 
notbare"
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:15:02 -0500


Friends of the Lubicon
P.O. Box 444, Stn. D,
Etobicoke ON  M9A 4X4
Canada
Tel: 416-763-7500
Fax: 416-535-7810
Email: fol at tao.ca
Web: http://www.tao.ca/~fol

February 15, 2005

Canada likes to argue that it is unable to deal fairly with the
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation because they have limited funds available
to settle Lubicon land rights. They like to argue that providing
adequate compensation for their failure to settle Lubicon land rights
-while resource companies were allowed to strip the land of billions
of dollars in oil and gas resources - is impossible. They like to
tell people that "the cupboard is bare".

Supporters of the Lubicon Nation who have been participating in the
Outaouais Lubicon Solidarity's "Wells, Pipelines and Broken Promises"
campaign know better. An estimated $13 billion in oil and gas
resources have been taken from Lubicon lands. Over 1700 wells have
been drilled within Lubicon Traditional Territory since the onset of
resource exploitation activity in 1979 when the first all-weather
road was completed into Lubicon Territory. More wells and pipelines
are being approved on an almost daily basis.

And the article below notes that the Canadian federal budgetary
surplus this year is over $9 billion.

Meanwhile the Lubicon people still lack basic services like running
water, a recreation centre for their kids, and adequate housing.

The attached article makes note of Prime Minister Paul Martin's vow
to make native poverty "a national priority like never before."

We'd like to also make note of Prime Minister Martin's earlier vow to
make a Lubicon settlement "a priority for the Government of Canada"
which "must be effectively pursued until a mutually acceptable
solution is negotiated," and his assurances that he is "committed to
a just settlement of this land claim".

Perhaps the members of Martin's Cabinet should ensure that they carry
through on those promises by demonstrating the political will and
committing the resources necessary to negotiate a fair and just
settlement with the Lubicon people.


(To join Outaouais Lubicon Solidarity's "Wells, Pipelines and Broken
Promises" campaign please visit: http://www.lubiconsolidarity.ca).


* * * * * *

Budget to dash hopes on aboriginal promises

Canadian Press

February 14, 2005

OTTAWA - The federal budget will dash high hopes that the Liberals
are set to back up big aboriginal promises with new cash, sources say.

A draft of the document to be released Feb. 23 includes only modest
amounts for urgent native housing and education needs, say those
who've been briefed on the contents.

Sources say new commitments include:

	* $100 million over two years for dilapidated native housing.
	* $50 million over two years for special education on reserves.
	* $30 million for healing programs for survivors of residential school 
abuse.
	* $100 million over five years for early learning on reserves.

Those amounts will be eclipsed by the billions of dollars expected to
be set aside for national child care, a revamped military, rebuilding
Canadian cities and keeping Kyoto commitments to cut greenhouse gas
emissions.

Aboriginal leaders won't be happy, a senior government official conceded.
"But we have a plan,'' said the source on condition of anonymity.

Federal officials have been meeting for months with native leaders,
drafting priorities on everything from aboriginal schooling to
economic development.

The lengthy talks are the lead-up to next fall's summit meeting of
aboriginal leaders and first ministers. That could be where Canada's
First Peoples finally see some big-ticket funding to go with Prime
Minister Paul Martin's increasingly ridiculed vow to make native
poverty "a national priority like never before.''

Until then, urgent needs will go unmet.

Ottawa last fall committed $700 million over five years to ease a
growing aboriginal health crisis, but no plan has yet been released
on how it's to be spent.

And last month, a Manitoba reserve filed a lawsuit against the
federal government claiming housing conditions violate the
Constitution.

If successful, the challenge by the Red Sucker Lake First Nation
could cost the government tens of millions to upgrade sub-standard
housing across Canada.

Aboriginal issues seem to have fallen off the budget priority list
even as Ottawa racks up a surplus of at least $9 billion.

"It seems that we're swimming in money for many things,'' Phil
Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said in a
speech last week to the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association.

But First Nations are annually told "the cupboard is bare,'' he said.
"Or if it's not bare, it will soon be bare.''

Fontaine called for an attitudinal shift and verbally prodded Indian
Affairs Minister Andy Scott, who was in attendance.

He praised Scott for his efforts to build a positive relationship.

"We will see the success, though, of this relationship in a couple of
weeks,'' Fontaine said of the pending budget. "And we've been careful
not to hold our breath. You don't want to turn blue and keel over.''

A big problem is the misconception that more than $7 billion spent a
year by Ottawa on native programs is widely misused, Fontaine said.

"Our officials are held to one of the highest standards of
accountability -- including officials in the public and private
sector. Nevertheless, there is a persistent false impression that
there is widespread extravagance or misuse or mismanagement among
First Nations.''


* * * * * * *


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