struggle for the land_ native north american resistance to genocide, ecocide, and colonization -...
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SUGG fOR THE lAND
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Oher Books by Ward Church
Authored:
Coauthored:
Edited:
Coeited:
Fantasies the Jstr Race:Liteture, Cinema and the Colonization Amerian Indians
Revise, expande edition published by Ci Ligs, 1995)
A Lttle Matter Genocide:Holocaust and Denal n the Americas to the Presnt(Pubished by Ciy ights, 1997)
Indians Are Us?Culture and Genocde in Natve North erica (1994)
Since Predator Cae:Notes fro the Strule for Aerican Indian Liberation 199)
Fro a Native Son:Selected Esss n Indigenis
8 (996)
acs as Patholoy:Rections on te Roe oj re .true
In
or caWith Mike Ryan 998)
Culture versus Econois:Essays on Marxs in the Multicultural renawith Elisabeth R. Loyd (1984)
gents of epression:The FB Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Partyand the ercan Indian Movementwit Jim Vander Wal
988)
,e CONTELPRO apers:
Docuents from he FBI' Secret Warsgainst Dissent n the United Stateswith im Vander Wall (1990)
Marxis and Natve Aericans (1983)
Crtical Issues n Native North erica (2 vols, 1989-90)
Cages of Steel:e Politics Imprisonent in the United Stateswith J Vander Wall (1992)
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SRUG FOR THE lANDNAVE NORTH AMEICA RESSANCE TO GENOCDE, EOCDE AND OLONZANBY WARD CHURCHill
'CIT LGHTS
SAN FRANCISCO
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00 by Wrd Curc
lRghts Reserved
Cover desgn by Rex Ry
ibrry of Congress Ctogngn-Pubcton t
Curch Wrd
Strugge for the nd : Ntve Nort mericn resistnce to genocide eccde nd
coonizton / Wrd Churchi
p. cm
ncudes bibogrphc references nd ndex
SB 0-886-44-6 (pb.) SBN 0-87286-45-4 (cot)
ndns of NorthercLnd tnure ndins of Nort AmecCis
ndns of North mericGovernment retions Tte
Y.L3 C48 00 0007846
Visit our website ttp://wwwcityigtscom
CITY GHTS B OOKS re edited bywrence Feringtti nd cy J Petrs nd
pubished t te Cty ghts Boostore 6 Coumbus Avenue Sn Frcisco C 94
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or my moer
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CONTENTS
Foreword by Jimmie DurhamBuying Tie
Peface by Winona LaDukeSu cceeding into Native Norh America
A Sec essionist Vie
Intoduction by Ward ChurchillThe Indigenous Peoples of Noth merica
A Struggle Against Internal Colonialis
Pat I: The LaThe Tragedy and he Travesty
The Subversion of IndigenousSov r ignty
in Norh merica
Part I: he andSruggle to Regain a Stolen Homeland
Iroquois Land Rights in Upsate New York
The Black Hils Are No For Sale
The Lakota Struggle for he 1868 Treaty Territory
Genocide in rizona
The Navajo-Hopi Land Dispue" in Perspecive
The Struggle for Nee Segobia
The Western Shoshone Battl for Their Hoeland
Last Sand a Lubicon Lake
Genocide and Ecocide in the Canadian North
Pat I: Oter FontsGeographies of Sacrice
he Radioactive Coloniztion of Native Norh meric
The Water Plot
Hydrlogical Rape in Nortern Canada
Like Sand in the Wind
The Mking of an America Indian Diaspora in th Unied Ses
Part V: A AlernatveI m Indigenis
Notes o n he Ideology ofth
Fourth Wold
Appedx by Russell Means and rd ChurchillTRETY
The Platform of Russell Means' Campaign for President of he Ola People. 1982
dex
9
11
15
37
93
13
135
173
190
239
292
330
367
40
439
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FOREWORD
Buying Time
th the money they made by steang our an
They have ough themseves some tmer tmeater tmear tmend underground tmeBy that they beleve that they have bought hstory
But when ook back, past the hundreds of years
Of hstory they cam to own,Thrugh our ownhousands
of years,
nd when I thnk of the ons of red owersThat opened each Sprng of those thousads of yearso matter how whte the wnters ,
see hors ke stars n the eyes of our chldren
me urham
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. l bl "- t , "_ , QI ,U . " ! OU
H t_ ( G V t a e/ 1 t -u
A Cf J 1t . L (f " .
UJ' .Iu '
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SUCCDG T ATV H AMRCA
A Secessionist View
HE map on the acing page could be caed the indigenous Nor erican view o bioregional secession. lthough the scale in which i
is presented prevents the details fm being clear, the treaty and land claimareas involved are not exactly how it was B.C. (Beore Columbus). They areinstead the basic outlines the lgally dened land areas of native nations.
The map, even through its general contours, ay hep correct some o thebasic
miseduca ion with hich most non-Indian residents o the continenthave been aicted.
First , the map shows ow North merica's indigenous pe opes lived inwhat amounted to natural, bioregional congurations. Second, it shows thatNorth merica's reigning nation-state governmentsthose o the
Ui ed
States and Canadaare,ccording
to the indigenous host"a ions,
onshaky grounds, both legall and environmentally. Very little land in
Nor
merica should not rightl be under native jurisdict ion , administered underindigenous rather than imigran values.
Back to the rst point hen I was in grade schoo , I was taught therewere Plains Indians (walike) , oodland Indians (democratic) , and PuebloIndians (pacistic) , and that's about all. hat was left out was that the treatyareas and treaty rights o indigenous people in North merica are ongoingand that they accrue to recognized nations demonstrating distinct sociocultural and linguistic patterns so omitted rom my education was the actthat these nations had live ui e well within these dened territories sincetime immemorial; there wsis trade betwen each o the indigenous
areas,
but each was alsoessen ia
self-sucient.Today, a lot of peole
ues ion
the necessity and utility ofcen ralize
nation-stategovernances
and econocs.2 They nd the statusuo to be in
creasingly absurd and are seeking al erna ives to the values and patterns o
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cosumptio presetlydomatig
ot oly Nort Amerca but te rest ofte plaet as well. Te livig realit of Native Nort
Am ric ad
tebioregioay
d t r d r d itio of polit it represets ers temodel for a alt ratv arrag t .3 Ad if eopold
or
ad tBasques say sc a aturally grouded structure could wk i rope wt ere? It is obviously mportat tat everyoe lear as muc as pssileaout America Idia reates rater ta te selfservig uk tey suallyteac i scool.
Te secod importat aspect of te map s te lega basis fr prtect-ig te evimet ad its iaitats it poits up. Te ate strugg Nort America today ca oly be propely uderstood as a prsuit
f
terecovery of lad rigts wic are guarateed trug treates . Wt Idiasaskwat we really exectfrom tose wo claim to be our frieds daies is respect ad supprt for tese treat rigts .
Wat does tis mea? Well it starts wit advocatig tat Idis regause of ad urisdicto over wat te treaties dee as beig our lads Itmeas direct support to Idia eorts to recover tese lads but nt govermetal attempts to "compesate us wit moey for lads we ever agreedto sell. Tis i tur meas tat tose idigeous gvermets wctratnay eld regulatory ad rc t poer wti da ou-
tryt te "more mod r ad terse otradtioa "triba cocilsimposed upo Idias by te federal gv r t der te dia Reorgaizato Act of 94sould ave te rgt to resue teir activites nwBy extesio tis ould mea tat mc lad wc s curretly taxedreglated strip
i d
mlitarized droed yydr ctric geeratio or
ov rirrigato ad uk d by te .S. ad aadia gvermets old ologer e uder teir cotrol or
jurisdcti ay loger. Srel ts is a prospect wic all progressive ad socially coscious people ca embrace.
Wat s peraps most mportat aout Idia trea rgts s tepower of te documets at issue t clari atters wc would otesebe cosged by
atiostat apologists to te realm f "opiio ad"terpretatio. Te treaties lay
tigs ot clearly ad tey are strumetsf iteratioal law.6 ts sese te violatio of te treaty rigts of aygve people represets a plai trasgresso agast te rigts of all peopleeverywere. Tis ca be a potet weapo i te orgaizato of struggles forjstce ad sait i every corer of te globe. Ad t suld be apprecated
as sc y tose wo campio causes ragig from ptectio of te evi-ro t
to uiversal uma rigts.
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NativeNor merica is struggling to break free of the colonialist,
inustrialist, militaristna ins a e
omination in wich it is now engulfet is ghting to secede" from te S . an Canada But, because of thebroaer implications of this, we refer to te results we
seek
not as seces
sion," but as success" Ths is true, not just for Inians, but for all livingbeings and the eart itself on't you help us succee in o a full-scale reemergence of our Natural orld?
- Win Duk
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Notes
1 or fur tai Cha C oc Eight nth Annual Report the Amerian Bureau ofEthnogphy: Indian Land Cessions in the United Stats (Wahigto Smithonia titutio 199)
2 A goo raig i thi rgar i Pirr Catre Soiet Against the tate (Nw York riz
Book 1977)3 or oritatio to th pricip at iu ithi th rubric of biorioaim" Axara
art North Amerian Bioregional Congress II: Proeedings August 25-29 96 (orti CA artPubihig 197)
Lopo Kohr e Breakdown of Nations (Nw York E Dutto 1 95 a e veevelopedNations e Diseonomies of Sale (Nw York Schok Book 197) O th trgge o th iigeopop of bria eeth Mhurt Basques and Catalans, Miorit ight Grop Rport No9 Spt 1977
5 or paraaai ctr i a practica cotmporar appicatio Gumuur Afro
Gra a th Lw o Poitica D cooizatio" (Bo German arboo on nteation1 92)
6. S Z Na SefDetermiatio Ur tratioa La Vaiit o Caim to SeceeCase stern ReserveJournal oInt ational La, No 1 3 1 9 1
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INODUCIN
TH INDIGOUS POL F OR MRCA
A Struggle Agast Itera Cooals
The Europeas ho bega takig over the Ne Word i the sixt t aseveteeth eturies ere ot eologists Although th ere ompelled torealize tat t Amerias ere ot quite ihabited they ere ot pr par
to reogize tat these e lads ere, i a eologial sese muh moretha sparsely iabited This seod hemisphere as i fat essetially
-William Cattovesoot
THE standard Euamerican depiction o precontact" Native NortAmericans as long been that te relative handul o us who existed
wandered about pere uay in scattered bands, grubbing out the mostmarginal subsistence by hnting and gathering, never developing writing orserious appreciations o art, science, mathematics, governance, and so on.As ide rom our utilization o urs and hides or cloting, the manuacture ostone implements, use of re, and domestication o te dog, there i s little inthis view to distinguish us om te iger orders o mamalian liesurrounding us in te American widerness."
Te conclusions reached by those who claim to idealize Indianness"
are little dirent at base rom te ndings o tose wo open denigrate it:Native people were able to inhabit the hemisphere or tens o thousands oyears without causing appreciable ecological disruption only because welacked the in elec ual caacity to create social orms and tecnologies thatwould substantiay alter our physical envirnment. In eect, a sort o sociocultural retardatio on the part o Indians is typicaly held to b e responsibleor the pri stine uality o the Americas at te point o their iscovery" byEurpeans2
In contrast to this perspective, it has recentl been demonstrated tat,
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ar rom lvg adomo, "Soe Age Idas adered o aecoomc srcre a o oly me er mmedae eds b rovdecosderable srlses o bo maeral goods ad lesre me I as alsobee esablsed a mos radoal ave ecoomes were based agr-clre raer a g ad gaerga clear dca o a saoary,o omadc, way o lel e roea vaso dslcaed e dg-eos olaos o Nor Amerca 4
I s also arged a ave eoles logerm coesece w orevrome was ossble oly becase o or eremely ow olaodesy Seros soras ad demograers ave laely ocmeed owesmaes o recoac dgeos olao levels were elberaely low-ered drg e eee ad early wee ceres order o lessee mlcaos o geocde bod e olces o e US, Caadaad er coloal aecedes A oed ecologs as als recely eer-med a, raer a be dramacall derolae, Nor Aercawas ac saraed w eole 500 e easble carryg caacy oe coe was, moreover, osred y e roea y 0,dese massve redcos o ave olaos ad eros seces olarge mammals
Aoer my s coaed e sggeso a dgeos orms ogoverme were less reed a ose o er roea coerase le s o s oo, owever, we s cosdered a e elg-eed reblcasm esablsed by e Ued Saes drg e lae 00ssally cosdered a advace over erevalg Europ a ormswasled drecly rom e model o e crrely sll cogadeosaee (roqos) coederacy I may ways adeosaeewere dcave o olcal arragemes go Nave NorAmerca Amerca das evdeced smlar acevemes reveave
medce, maemacs, asroomy, arcecre ad egerg, all woegederg arecale evrmeal dsro Sc a jaoso oadvaced sococlral marces ad ssaed ecologcal eqlbrm selcable rom e vaage o o coveoal rodervaveassmos
Ule roeas, Nave Amercas log ago aaed a rood -ellecal areeso a ma rogress ms e measred as a egralasec o e aral order raer a as someg aar rom ad seror
o s body o owledge, elaoraed ad ereed rog oral
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tradition and codied as aw"in
ceremonial/ritual forms theindigenous
pe oples of this hemisphere lived comfortably and in harmony ith theenvirnmen
the health o which was recognized as anabsou e
reuirementor our
con inued
existence.
In simplest terms the merican Indian wod view may be this: Human beings are freeindeed encouragedto develop our innatecapabili ie s
but only in ways that do not inringe upon other elementscalled relations " in the fulest dialectical sense of the wordof nature. nyactivity going beyond this
is considered
as imbalance" a transgression and isstrictly prohibited
Engineering
for example was and is permissible but onlyinsofar as it does not
peranen ly
alter the earth itself Similarly agricuturewas widespread but ony within parameters that did not supplant
na ural
vegetationKey to the indigenous merican outlook is a rmacknowledgmen
that the human populatio may expand only to the point determined bynatural geographic and environmental cirumstances where it begins todisplace other animal species and reuires the permanent substitution ofcropland for normal vegetation in a area. North merica's aboriginapopula ions
never entered into a trajectory of excessive grwth and eventoday many native societie practice self-regulation of population size
a
alows the substance of our rdi ional word views with their in erac ienvirnmental relationships toremain
viable. 2
Cultura mperialism
They came for our lad for hat gre or could be go o it, for the resources i it ad for our clea air ad pure ater hey stole these thigsfrom us ad i he takig th also stole our free ays ad the best o f ourleaders killed i battle or assassiated Ad o fter all that they've come
for the very last of our possessios; o they at our pride our history ourspiritual traditios hey at to rerite ad remake these thigs to claimthem for themselves he l ies ad thefts j ust ever ed
-Margo Thuderbird 9
ithin the industrialwas elnd
of the late twentieth century suchr
ditional perspectives aredeormed
right along with the physicaldimensions
of indigenous culture. iialized and coopted they have been reduced tothe stu of the settler socie's self-serving pop mythology commercialized
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and expoited endessy by everyone frm the Hoywoo ogs and hippiemmakers who over the past 5 years have prouce iteay thousands ofceoid paroies not merey of our histories, but of our ost sacre beiefs,
to New Age yppie aireads ike ynne Andrews o pen crativefeminist fabes of our spiritaity, to te abbiy overpivieged denzens ofthe Men's Movement indugng themseves in their Wiman Weekends,to psuedoacaemic auds ike Caros Castaneda wo fabicate our traditionsout of whoe coth, to welntentioned friends ike Jery Mander wsimpy appropriate the rea ting for their own purposs. he ist mighteasiy be extended for pages.
Representative of the mentality is an oteevise pubic service
annoncement featuring an aging ndian, cad in beas and buckskins,framed against a backdrop of smoking factory chimneys whie picking hisway carefuy among the monds of rusting unk aong a epouted river.e concues wa troug te moern wor y sedng a tragc tearinduce by the panorama of rampant devastation surrnng m e useof an archaic ndian image n this connection is intende to stir te setterpopuation's subimina craving for absoution. Having blieae NativeNort America as a means of expropriating its andbase, e subtext reads,
Euroamerica is now obige to make tings rigt' by peserving an ptecting what was solen. ould it meet te caenge, presumaby, not onywi its frebears' nparaeed aggression a ast be in soe sense redeemed,but so too wi the booddrenched inheritance they beeathe to therposterity be in that sense egitimated. e whoe ting is o course a sham, agib contrivance designed by an for the conuerrs to pomote teir senseof psychic reconciation with the facts and uits of te conquest. 4
A primary purpose of this book is to disturbbetter yet, to estroy a-
togethersuch sefserving an satise tranuiit. n oing so, its aim isto participate in restoring things Indian to te ream of eaity. My hope i sthat it heps in the process to hea the isjuncture betwee the past, presenand future of Native North American peoples wic as been imposed byneary for centries of unrelenting conues, subugatin and dispssessonon te part ofEroamerica's mutitdinous invaders. his oes not mae forpeasant readng, nor shod it, for my message is that thee can be no abso-ution, no redemption of pa st crimes uness the outcomes are changed o
ong as the aggressors' posterity continue to reap the benets of that aggres
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sion, the crimes are merel replicated in the present In eect, the aggressionremains ongoing and, in tat, there can be no legitimacy. Not now, not evr
ontemporary Crcumstances
We re ot ethic grups Ethic grups rur staurts servig eotic"
foo ds We re ntions-Boy Rivera 1986
The current situation o the indigenous peoples o the United Statesand Canada is generally miscast as being that o ethnic/racial
minori ies.
Thisis a undamental misrepresentation in at least two was. First, there is nogiven ethnicity which ecompasses those who are indigenous to Northmerica. Rather, there are several hundred distinctly dierent culturesethnicities," in anthrplogical palancelumped together under thecatch-all classication o Native mericans" (and/or boriginals" inCanada). Similar, at least three noticeably dierent gene stocks"thenomenclature orace"re encompassed by such designators. Biologically,merinds" like the Cherokees and jibwes are as dierent rm Inuits(Eskimo-leuts") and such thabascan" (Na-Dene") ypes as thepaches and Navajos as
Mongolians
are rm Swedes or Bantus 5Secondl, all concepts o ethnic or racial minorit status ail conspicu
ously to cove the sense onational identity by which most or all or h
merican idigenous populations dene ourselves Nationalit not race orethnicity, is the most imprtant single actor in understandng the realiy oNative North merica tday. 6 It is this sense o ourselves as comprisingcoherent and viable natios which lends substance and logic to the orms ostruggle in which we have engaged over the past third o a century andore.
It is imperative when considering this point to realize that there snothing rhetorical, metaporical or symbolic at issue n the contrary, aconcrete and precise meaning is intended The indigenous peoples o
Nor h
mericaideed, everywere in the hemispherenot only constituted butcontinue to constitute nations according to even the strictest deitions othe term This can be asserted on the basis o two majo r legal premises, aswe as a rage o more materia considerations. et's take them
in order:
To begin with, there is a doctrine in modern international law knownas the right o inherent sovereignty"holding
that a people constitutes
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a atio ad is tus etitled to eercise te rigts of uc simpl be-cause it as doe so "sice time mm morial. at is from temomet of its ealiest cotact wit
ot r
atios tep op i ques-
tio ave bee kow to possess a give territr a meas ofprovidig teir ow sbsistece (ecoo) a commo lagage astrcture of goverace
ad correspodig form f legalit ad ameas of determiig membersip/social coostio. As was tosome extet sow above tere
ca be o qestio bt tat NativeNort Am rica
peoples metac of tese
crt ra at t poit ofiitial cotact wit rpeas.
S cod it is a give of iteratioal law cstom a covetio tat
tr atymakig ad treaty relatios are etered ito n by atios. Tipriciple is costitutioally esried i bot S. ad aadiadomestic law. Aricl of te ostittio for stac clearlyresrics reatYakIg HugaLvo h [Jl [I L lor
idividal
levels. I tr te federal govermet tself is forbiddeto eter ito a treaty relatiosip wit ay etity asde from aoterflly sovereig atio (i.e. it is specicall empowered frm tr atigwt provicial stat or local gov rm ts or wt corporatios ad
idivdals). It follows tat te govermet's try ito some 400ratied treaty relatiosips wt
Nort
Amerca's idig osp opl sa eve greater mber prevail i aadaabdatlcorroborates or varous clams to sovereig atoa stadig.
Ocias i bot Nort Am rica atostat s as ell as te blk ofte settler itelligetsia alig d wit em presetly cot d tat wilative peoples may pr s t a imp ccabl argm t o ral grods ada tecically valid legal case as well pragmatic
cosd ratos i "te real
world at te daw of te tw trst cetry precldes actalizatio of ouratioal idepedece atoom or a oter af statio of g iselfdetermiato. B
t ir
lgtsdg os
peoples are too small bot it rms of or respective
adbas s/att dat
resorces ad ipoplatio
size() to srvive eiter miitarily orcoomically
i t cotemporariteratioal cotet.
At rst glace sc tikig seems plausib eog eve mae.elvig a bit deeper owever we d tat it coeietl igores te e-
ampl s of sc tiy ropea atios as Sa Maro Moaco adiectestei wic ave srvived for cetries amidst te greediest ad
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most arike continenta setting in the istory of the word Further, itbinks the matter of comaraby sized nations in the Caribbean and acicBasins hose sovereign is not ony acknoedged, but wose recentadmissions to the United Nations have been endorsed by both Canada an
te (ee carts on fooing ages) Painy, each of tese countries is ateast as miitariy vunerabe as any North American ndian peope hecontradictions attending /Canadian Indian poicy are thus readiy apparent to anyone iing to view the situation honesty he truth is that thenationstates "humanitarianism is in this connection no more than a gossmeant to disguise a very dierent set of goas, obectives and sensibiities
Nor do arguments to the "intrinsic insovency of indigenous economies hod u to even minima scrutiny he Navao Nation, for instance,
ossesses a andbase arger than those of Monaco, Fii and Grenadacombined Within this area ies an estimated 150 biion tons of ow sufurcoa, about forty percent f " uranium reserves and signicant depositsof oi, natura gas, god, siver, coper and psum, among other minerashis is aside from a imited but very rea grazing and agricutura capacityBy any standard of conventiona economic measure, te Navaosor Din,as they ca themseveshave a reativey eathy resource base as comparedto many hird Word nations and more than a few "deveoed ones o
hod that the Navao Natin coud not survive economicay in the modernord hie amitting that Grenada, Monaco and Fii ca is to induge inseer absurdity (or duicity)
Whie Navao is praby the best iustration of the materia basis forassertions of compete autonomy by Native North American nations, it is byno means the ony one he combined akota reservations in North andouth Dakota yied an aggregate andbase even arger than that of the Dinand, whie it exhibits a somewhat ess spectacuar range o f minera
assets, this is argey oset by a greater agricutura/grazing capacity andsmaer o puation size ther, smaer, indigenous nations ossess andbasesentirey adeuate to support their popuations and many are endowed witrich econoc otentias hich vary om neras to timbering toranching and farming to shing and auacuture mascae manufacturingand even tourism aso oer viabe otions in many instances
l this natura weath exists within the currenty hed native andbase("reserves in Canada, "reservations in the U ) Nothing has been said thus
far about te possibiity that something aproximating a ust resoution
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C N LSquare Miles Indian Tibe Sqre Miles NatiO Square Mies Indian Tibe Square ie
1 Cota Ra 19,Nao
21,32 om Rui ,6 Fot eap 73 ta 14 Faea Tri 969. D mar 16,69 Re Lae Ciewa 2
1941 WarmSp e
114,12 ort Hal Soo 1
awa 136ra La at
711,
9 oo 6 aurtu 20 eae Apaeaia , 1 91 1 Equatoria
Giea 10,2 Not Ce 612 . Buru 077 Laga ueo 6213 a 7 Fot rto
6
. Rwaa0
u eo636
Saaor 60 Sieto 6296 ra 993 ima 2
0 Waer Rer 500 Swaia 604
DVa
519 Kuait 61
owa Comae pa 302 Qatar 60 age 30
apago Soa 300 2 Jamaa 441 6
52 Toga 269
3 amia 40030. Baa 231
Hop
3623 Sgaor
226 Quiat32
aa t200
W RirTre
1
Wit ta pae
29432 ora
92,9 66
Sa Cao Aae 2 33 Baaoe ig Soux 2,6 Ro Borw Tri
2434
war
62C Sox 0 N
13
Tr a a oago
99 22 Hooa 134Yaima T , 34 alta 12ita a ura 1 3 ieCove Tr 69
I
Coue ee 0
Haaa Tri 36 Lietete 62Fot e Soux 34 3 Sa aio 23.o Sioux
6 3 Nauu Ba f et Tri
42
39 Moao
Stag Ro Soux
1 32
0Vata Ct
0
,
W t r Samoa
30
aia pac ri
DeloriaJr The Size and Status of Natons," in Susan and teve Tabot eds. Nav Amercn Vcs: Rdr (NewYk Logan 1998) pp460-
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b
Countries
Fewer than 1000000 Population
1.Vatican Ct 000
2. Nauru 70003. San Marino 20000
4. ndorra 20550
5. iechtenstein 21550
6. Monaco 2000
7. Tonga 90000
8. Maldes 110000
9. atar 115000
10. Western Samoa 14600011. nited rab Emirate 200000
12. Siim 200000
13. Iceland 210000
14. Bahrain 220000
15. Barbado 240000
16. Euatorial Guinea 290000
17. Malta 30000
18. uxemburg 34000019. Gambia 380000
20.Swazilan
20000
2. Gabon 500000
22. Fiji 533000
23. Cyprus 40000
24. Botswan 70000
25. 80000
2. Guyana 7000027. uwait 80000
28. Mauritiu 840000
29. esotho 90000
30. Cogo (Brazzaille) 90000
Source:Vine Deoria,Jr, he Size ad Status of Nations, in Susan obo and Steve
Taot e ds ative eica ices eae (New York: onan, 1998 p 463
23
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might be eected concerning indigenous claims to vast trritories retainedby treatyor to which title is held through unextiguished aboriginalrighta of which has been unlawfuy expropriated b the to NorthAmerican settlerstates.4 ere, the akota Nation alon would stand torecover, on the basis of the stilbinding 1868 Fort arami reaty, some vepercent of the . 8 contiguous states area. he region icludes the BlackHills, reputedly the 00 most mineralrich suare miles on the entireplanet. A tod, naturalization of persos residing within the treaty areasor those who mght wish to relocate there for purposes of placig themselves under native rather than ./Canadian urisdictinwoud likelyincrease the citizenry o f Native No rth America by several illions
n sum, ust as the indigenous peopes of North America oncepossessed the reuisite ingredients of nationhood, so too o we continue topossess them. his is true whether on e uses a s ones point() of reference thedimension of our territories, the basis of our economie, the size of ourpopulations, or any other reasonable criteria erhaps mst important n aleg sense, as well as in terms of ethics and morality, we continue to holour inherent rights and standing as nations ecause, uite simply and undeniably, we have never voluntariy relinuished them o ague oterise, asso many settler ocias and schoars are prne to do, is t argue the ivalidity of the aws of Nations .
C
he sea he sea gMge mo !Log may ro bewee Ead ad me;God help he poor cosme heyl ever be fre we are srroded by waer!
radoa rs og
One of the maor problems confrontig those seekig to articulate thesituation of indigenous nations on this contient has to d with te form ofimperiaism imposed upon us internal colonialism. Adttedly, the idea isa bit unorthoox he conventional analysis of coloizatio ranges from thatadopted by the United Nations under Resolution 151 (XV) i 960which reuires by strict deniton that at least thirty mies of ope bluewater separate colonizer from colonized for a condition f true colonialsm to existto that of typical sociaist thinking, wich, wit certain
24
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exceptons adheres to asomewha
less rgd but nonethelesssmilar
interpretaton.2Internal colonalsm on the other hand is the result o an especally
vrulent and totalizng socoeconomc and poltcal penetraton whereby the
colonizing power ute lterally swallows up contguous aras and peoplesncorporatng them directly nto tsel3 In a closely related variation knownas settlerstate colonalim" the colonzng power exports a sucentporton o its own popuaton ( settlers") to supplant rather than smplysubordinate the indigenous people(s) o the colony.3 Oten under suchconditions the settler populaton tsel eventually revolts aganst the otherCountry and establshes tel as an ndependent or
uasndependen
sovereignty Indgenous peoplenatons are conseuently encapsulated within
he
resulting settler-state's" caimed terrtory rather than beng subject to emore classicormula
odomina ion
rm abrad.32sde rom the U S. and Canada the modern wold witnesses numer
ous otherexamples
o ths phenomenon mong ese are ustrala NewZealand Northern relan Israel Kurdistan and most of South and Centralmerca.33
Until their transormatons by rcan lberation orces bothZimbabwe (ormey Rhodesia) and South rca (zania) ell into thscategory34 The same
coul
be sad o the host o nationaltesecapsula ed
withn the ormer Soviet Unio as we as those w hn presentdChina35dd ionall
avarian or
o internal colonialsm m be see asprevailing n many o the old comar men s o the classc uropean emires:Zaire is-vis Katanga or
ins ance
or Inda is-is Nagaland.36 By thesame token t is possble t ew a number o peoples n Europe
i sel he
elsh and Scots n the Unted Kingdom or example or the Basues andCatalans in Spanas ben internally colonzed natons.3
Plainly the magntude o the problem represented by nternal colonal
ism has been vastly underestimated or rather arbitrarily discounted byanalys s o virtually every ideologcal persuasio n. One solid ndication maybe ound howeer n a survey conducted durng the late
980s . Conductedby cultural geographer Bernard Neitschmann t revealed that o the morethan 00 armed conicts
he
ragng aund the wold about 8 percentwere between indigenous eoples and one or more natonstates presumingto exercse
jurisdic onal a hor y
over them and/or ther traditonal territories3 ittle has transpired snce then to change thngs or the better. n
the contrary indicatons are that escalation has occurred n many uarters.3
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his, then, is the context in which the native libera io strugle inNorth America should be viewed. he agendas o the American Indianovement (AI) and the more organic warrior societies which have late(re)emerged in several indigenous nationsas well as ared confrontationsat places l ike ounded Knee, ka and Gunnison akehve nothing to dowith attaining civl rights and other orms of eualit" or native p eoplewithin the U.S . and Canadian systems. 4 Nor are the
me
to oster somerevolutionar"
reorganiz io
of either. ather, the urpose is, uitespecicall to reassert the genuinely sovereign and sel-deterining status towhich our nations
re
and have always been entitled.4Hence, while we share a comn oppressor with our relatives o Ai
can, Asian and atin" originsas wel as poor whites, whether the realie
it or notthe goals, obj ectives and man o the means o ur struggle muste understood in terms necessarily dierent rom theirs.42 We, the Indans"o the North and the Indios" o the South, alone aon the peoples nowresident to the Americas, struggle or the liberation o our homelands ratherthan or the lieration o land on which to build our omes. We, aloneamong the peoples o the Americas, engage in such struggles on the basis oour culturesour freely collectve societies, born
n
and thus alwasindgenous to ths hemisphererather than struggling t create
lbera or
cultures alowng the expresson o human freedomurs, n a word, is a struggle to acheve dcolonizatio We
see
neitherto better our place" wthn settler-state societies nor to eize
e reigns opower over them. Instead, or us,
libera on
can be oun nowherebu in
our ultimate abili to detach ourselves rom the corpus the states themselves, dismantling their purported geographic integrt ad, to that extent,radicall dimnishing the basis upon which te wield eonomc, politicaand mlitary power. In this, there lies the potential of lieration not simpl
or merican ndians, but or everone.
Strule or the and
We beieve that the conscious and organized und rtkng b a cooz dpeope to reestabish the soveregnt of that nation consttut s the mostcompete and obvious cutura manifestation that ests.
26
-rantz Fano
e Wreched he Earh
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e present voume, comprising a considerabe updating and revisionof te edition originally pbised by Common Courage ress in 1993, isintended mainly to elaborae upon and ampi certain of te temes raisedabove Beginning wit a new essay, e ragedy ad te ravesty, wic
traces te convoluted and oten untenable ega doctrines troug wic te and Canada ave sougt to ationaize teir coonizaton of NativeNot America, te book oes on to expore te impacts of suc sopistrywen appied to te real wrld.
is is ndertaken tug a series of case studies ranging from tat ofte Haudeno saunee in uptate New York (truggle to Regain a toenHomeand) to tat of te Lakotas on te nortern ains (e Back HisAre Not For ae), fm tat of te ubicon Cree in nortern Aberta
(ast tand o f te ubicon Cree) to tat of te Din and Newe (Westernosone) in te upper noran and ntermountain desert regions of teU (Genocide in Arizona and e truge for Newe egobia)Numerous oter exampes migt of course ave been seected, bt tosecosen seemed indicative f te rest at te time te book was conceived,and tey sti s eem so.
Eac essay was written not ony wit an eye towards iuminating temotives underyng te varous modalties of domination visited by Nort
America's setterstates upon indigenous nations, but te pysica/materia,cultura and poitical eect of tis upon te targeted peopes Here, avepaid close attention not only to artre's amous dictum tat cooniaismeuas genocidea proposition to wc not ony subscribe, but wic seek to vaidate tougou my workbut to a esserknown formuationolding tat cooniaism ao euas ecocide e atter idea is taken upmost directy in a pair o esays deaing wit uranium mining in Canada andte U. . ( Geograpies of acrice) and water diversion pro ects in te
Canadian nort (Te Water ot) .A new essay on anoter of internal cooniaism's more debiitatingeects , te systematic dispacement of indigenous pe ope m teir omeands (ike and in te Wnd), is aso incuded before Strue or the ndwraps up wit a piece ( m Indigenist) oering a scenario of wat anaternative future for te . portion of Nort America migt ook ike tsoud be borne in mind tat tis utopian visioncommony describedas dystopian by statists and wite supremacists aikewas is meant as a
discussion paper rater tan as a bueprint, and tat it migt be as readiy
27
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aled o Canada (eras more so) Mc e sae an be sad of hnely aaced aendx (TATY: Te Plafor f Rssell MeansCamagn for Presden of e glala Laoa Peole, 198)
I sold also e noed a earler versons o mc of e maeralconaned eren ave been blsd elseere nona LaDesScceedng Ino ave or Amerca, c s ncded as a reface,rs sa e lg of day n CoEvolution Quarterly (No 32, 1981) JmmeDrams oem yng Tme, c srves as a foreord, s aen froms Columbus Day (Mnneaols es nd Press, 1983) John Trdells oery,c aears as reldes o eac secon of e boo, s excered from sLiving In Reality: Songs Called Poems (Mnneaols: ocey of PeolSrgglng o e ree, 1982) Arecaon s de o ahors and erblsers for ermsson o se e or n s resn caaces
f my on essays, Te Tragedy and e Travesy aly aeared ne American Indian Culture and Research Journal (Vol 2, o 2, 1998) Thelac ls Are o For Sale came o n s orgnal for n ournal Eth-nic Studies (Vol 18 , o , 990) Ieraons of Las San a Lbon Laeand Te aer Plo ere rs blsed n Z Magazie (Se 1989 andAr 199 1 rese cvely) Porons of Radoacve Colonaon aeared nEnvironment (Vol 28, No 6, 1986) and Akwesasne Nots (Vol 18, o 6 ,1986) I Am Indgens made s db n The Z Papers (ol 1, No 3, 1992) To secons of s nrodcon ere orgnally resened a e IISemnaro sobre la saon de las negras, ccans, bana, navanoreamercanas, erorrena, carbena y asaca e los sadas Undas naana, Cba drng December of 198 and sbseenly blsed Black Scholar (Vol 16, o 1, 1985) Tans o all blsers for ermsson orern
A nmber of eole ave rovded nvalable avce and cr csm
over e years, mc of ndng s ay no s boo Aong e morcogen ave been a Aagle, Nla ler, obby Csllo, Selly Davs,Vne Delora, Jr, Jme Dram, e la Le Gr, oaa Jacso,Llala Kameelea, e Kelly broersJon, red and Peer, nonaLaDe, Rss Means, Jon Moa, Nc Menar, lenn Morrs, JmPage, ob Robdea , Cef Jon Ross, e lae Rber K Toma s,Madonna Tndera, George Tner, Mllan and ananKay Tras,Jon Trdell , Jm Vander all, Saron Vnne, Deard E. aler, Jr , Troy
Lynne Yello oo d and Phylls Yong And, o be sre, I have leare d mc
8
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rom th ldrs, th pople o thlad
thmslvs. Probably most inuntialin this rgard have ben Thoas Banyacya, Robrta Blackgoat, ShortyBacksmi h,
Carri Dann, th late Philip Deer, th lat Chi Frank FoolsCrow, th lat atthw g Nobl Rd Man),o andVivian Locust, th
lat David onongye, oacita, K Shay, Ka hrin Si h, th lat D avidSohapy, and Chi Raymond owll. Crtainly, whil ach has contributdsignicantly in hishr way, non o ths individuals bars th last rsponsiility or whatvr rrors, eithr o act or in mphasis, I may hav mad.
y thanks to Hllad, ormr
sta cartographr in the Dpartmnt o Gography at
h nivrsi y
o Colorado, or his hlp in prparingth maps. Gratitud is
also
xtendd to Todd Scarth and ohn Samson atrbitr Ring
Publishing
r thir abl orts in editing and prparing this
scond dition, to lain a brgr o City Lights or hr comparablrole with the copublishr, d to th Saxirage Group or itsassis ance
withindxing and proong. Colrado I providd al the support, spiritual andatrial, anyon might have asked in a pjct o this sort. Th Dpartmnto hic Studis at UCouldr provided the necssary nvironmnt ocollgiality. n d, o cours, there was Lah to s m hugh . . .
29
-rd Churchill
Bould ColoradoJun
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Notes
frcs i tis rgar ar gio. a caoica ss t prfct rprstatio ma fou i a gt sctio ssas assm argart a a Rt L Buz a tit elden Age American Anthrplgy: e rwth th Science Man n the Nrh m rican Continent as Tld
by se Laid the Fundatins Nw Yor: Gorg Brazir960)
2 Tis was crtai tru urig t itt ctur s .g . racis au ruca . Americanizing the American Indian: Writings f the Friends the Indian 00-90 Lico: ivrsit ofNrasa rss 1973) For cotmporar coutrpoit s gJrr ar th e Absence f the Sacrede Failur fchnlgy and Survival the Indian Natins Sa Fracisco: Sirra Boos 1 991 )
3 arsa Sais Stne Age Econmics Cicago: Ai 1972) pp 1-404 Wit rspct to t approimate wotirs of vgta foostu curret cum
umait a wic wr uer cutiatio i tis mispr ao as of 142, s Jac WeaterrsIndian ivers: h Indians the Ameris rm d the Wrd Nw Yor row 1 8) Cocerigagricutura forms a teciques s t eep aw ut otss usfu stu Dougas urtit Indian Agriculture in Am ri Prehistory t h Present Lawrc: ivrsi rss ofKasas 1987)
5 T appart i rctioist maipuatio of mograpic ata pertaiig to ativeNort Amrica
storias suc as Jo Gorma a a susqt
atropoogists iJams oo a A L or is wcovr Fracis Jeigs i is e Ivasion jAericaIndia Clonialism and the Cant f Conquest Nw or: WW Norto 76) pp. 1 5-3 1 As compar tot oo Kror sti mats of appimat o miio pop ort of t o Gra i 1492 agur og s as ru msoa suo mor rasoaraisic assmsuggst a popatio of 2 5 - 8 5 miio S g r F Dos eir Nub r Become inned: NaiveAmerica Ppulatin Dynami n the Eastern Seabard Kovie: ivrsi ofTss rss 9 76) p 42 uss Torto Amrica ia istoric Dmograp: A Review Ess wit Rcommatiosfor t Futur American Indian Culture and Research Jurnal, N o 3 1 7 9 Rsse Torto AmericanIdian lcaust and Survival A Ppulatin istry Sice 492 Norma: Uirsit of aoma rss987) pp vii 242 A st guss amog rsposi scoars at ts poit is ta t wr aot ee
miio pop rsiig i Nort Amrica at t tim of t Comia aaKirpatric Sae
eCnques Paradise: hris'ph r Clumbus ad he Clumbian acy Nw Yor: Kopf !) p.
3 6 6 Wiiam R. C atto r O rsh: e clgical Basis for evoluinar Cae raa i rsi
of iois rss < 8 1 ) 7 or a tai acco tig of t auosa ic o t
oig Fatrs
costructio of te .S. Ctitutio s Doa A Gri r. a Bruc Joase Exemplar Liber Native America and he ding f American Demcracy Lo gs: U merica ia StiCtr
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Uniesity Pess 1988 Buddy Mas Anci iies of he Souhwes (Sa Facisco Chonicle Books1982 coves the latte topic as wl s engineeing maels such as the 400 mils of Hohokam iigationcanals which a sti used by th city of Phoeix
1 0 O e exaple of this pactice that of te audenosauee i s delineated i Paul A allace's ie Roos < Peace (Phiadelphia nivesit of Philadelphia Pess 1 946
1 1 Fo alysis ad discussion see the essays cotaied in Chistophe V c s y and Robet W
Veables, eds Naie Aerican Enionens: Ecoogica Issues in Aerica> Indian Hisory (Syacuse Syacuse ivesity Pss 19801 2 . Se e g Fa ates 7e Boo < he Hopi (New Yok ikig 1 963 1 3 . The examples liste d as we as a numbe of othes ae dis cussed at length in my Fanasies < he
se Race: Lieraure inema and e ooniaion of American dians (Sa Facisco City Lights [2nded 1998 ad Indians R Us: ure and Genocide in Naie Norh Aerica (Winipeg Abeite Ring2nd ed fothcoming200
14 Such ppagandistic mniulation of nativ imagey by the settle socity has ampl histoicapecedent; see eg. Rob t F Beofe e ie Man Indian: Images of he Aeri India ooubus o he Prese (New Yok ed A Knop 1978. O th specic image efeeced see tmemois of the acto d pict d; Io y s Cody Eyes: My L as a Holywood Indian (New YoEeest ouse 1982
1 5 The thee gupigs ae ecognized by linguists and genticists alike;os ph
H. GeebegLanguage in he Americas (Stafod CA Stafod nivesit Pess 988 Of the tio Ameid i s by fa theoldest and most extesive deostating a contiuous pesenc in the hemisphee fo at least 40000y asp aps 70000 yeas o longead ecompassing most of the aea om ctal Caada toTiea del Fuego; S Cessman ehiso of he Far Wes: Homes o uishd Peopes (Salt Lake CityUniesity of Utah Pess 1977; ihad Wolkomi w ind Coud R wit the Stat of AmicaHistoy" Smihsonian, No 21 Ma 1 991 The cuet agument that the may have been a fouth stock iswelmade in Thodo Schu t al Ameidian Mitocodial DNAs Have ae Asia Mutatios atHigh Fequncies Suggestig The eived om ou Pimay Matnal Lineags" American Joua aC of h nn h A " mmr t
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Suhrto whose mltry proves rect securtyfor
BreX's opertons hs n especllyooy hstory In 96 he le the coup nst Inonesn present Sukrno tht left s mny s mllon people e; om Choms n Ewr S. ermn Te Political Ecoomy o Huma Right l 1: The shi>zgfo1 Connection ad d World Fascism (Boston:
Sou h End Press, 1979) pp. 205-9. Morerecenty he h as oerseen the
g nocial
pacicat io ofEas
t Ti m o r ; J o h n G . T
ayor
"don sia ' Forgott l
:ni Hidde History< Eat Timo (non: Pluto Press 99) . T h royltes p a I d by BreX whch c aim s
to have discovered Indo sia ' s richet gold deposit, stand not ony to r inforc this ghastly rgime, but toument the personl fortune Suhrtocurrently estmte t some $60 hs lrey sphone ofrom
hs enerlly mpovershe pe ople.2. On
ov
0 997 O Resources Vce Present forGov rnm nt
ArsTb u
Pquetnnounc
the "n e Down oject to secure prtnersn
openng mnesn
Crescent V y. TheVncou rbs
Plcer Dome Cororton subsry of Kennecott ws
ost
promnently spotlht s possbty proy becuse of ts exstn mnes n the re. Others mentone were the Torontose Brrck Gol Corporton n Deers ewmont nn; "Oro ev Acton Alert Letterseee! te hohoe Dee oject Nelette Vol. No. 2 997 . On Co rtez Gol see ChrsSewll "Cortez Th Conquest Contnues
t
hohoe D PojectN l V.
3 o. 9 9 .On the Pp ln n see Chrstoer Sewl Pp ln 's Drty ttle Secrets Plcer Dome's new nen Crescent Vley experencn proems t hohoe De"5e Poject NeletteVol. No 2 997 .On South Ppelne see Chrstophe Sewll "South Pp l We Tol ou So ' te hohoe DePoject NeletteV. o. 997 In ton to Ppelne n Ppelne South nother sxteen mnes reopertn n the re n sventeenth Echo B nns pnne p t t Twn Creeks hs recenty eenok ; Tom yers "Twn Creeks ne Approve y B
t
Shoh D Poject N 'l tt ol. o.
I. 97.
3. Chrstopher Sewll "Austrl nn Gnt [Western nn Corporton] Hs Eyes Onestern Shoshone n te hohoe De Poject Nelette Vol 5 o.
997
Ase fmWMC other corportons wth secutve nterests n the re nclue Amx Gol Inepenencen
Ry Gol Bttle Mountn Gol Homestke nn n rn z "Oro Acton Alert op. c t.4 On testn n crones see son
C
"ltrzton n In nous Peoples Prt I Them rcs
n the Pcc Cltul uvival Quately o. 3 9 87 . On testn n ev se Dmr
Thorpes Nee egobia e te hohoe People ad ad (Lee NV Western Shosh one Scre nsAssocton
982 n the essy "Cor
Impcts on Ntve North Amerc The Potcl Economy ofoctve Colonzton n y A i ttle Matte o eocide Holocaut ad Deial i the Ame ica 92 toe Peet (Sn Frncsco/Wnnpe Cty hts/
Ar t r
Rn997) esp. pp. 32432.
.In Zrt
"Western hoshonetonl Sov r nty
Vote by Sub crtc ucer pons Test Wete hohoe
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lAST SAND T LUB CON KE
Geocie d Ecoce i the Ca i N oh
We've been pushed as far as we can Ths s where w make ur stand
Chef BernardOmnayak,
989
OFT the situation of even the smaest of peoples can provide con-siderabe insight into the likely
ft
of much boader groups the out-com s
of their seemingy particularized circumstances becong indcative ar J g pr0bkl. Sud! L Ug se f eubicon ake and of Cree in northern Alberta to presere their ancestralandbase their ay of life and their very identty as a pele The methodshich have been and are beng used by a consortium of anadan govern-m nta nd
cororate entities to deny such things to the opl of ubicon
ake and the reasons underpinning this governmenta! crporate behavioradd up to a prospectus for al the ndigenous peoples in the Anglodominated portion of this hemishere
The hole thng began in 1 899 hen a delegation from theCandian
government traveled thugh ort rn Alberta to secure the signatures ofrepresentatives fm various aborignal groups in te are pon an interntional document tited Treaty 8 The purose of this nstru nt as had b t case of each of the oter CanadianIndian treaties (a legal pcess b gu
in 181), as to gan "clear title to as muc native land s possibe for theritish Cron In exchange uder provisions of Trety 8 each Indan bandas to retain a formay acknoledged (reserved) are
thn
tstraditonal domain for its own exclusive use and occupac as ll as hnting shing and trapping rghts ithin much larger cotguous territoriesAdditionally each band as to receve a small on tary settlement for lndsost and each individua band member as to receive n perpetuity anannua cash stiend
It as ell und rstood in Otta at the time that te treatycomission rs
had failed to contact ors cur agreement o the terms and
9
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coditios ofTreaty 8, o may of the sal bads scattee across the vastarea aected by the documet The Canadia govermet oetheess choseto view these bads as being equay boud by the treat ad relied upothe Indias' "moccasi teegraph to eventually spread the word A impro
vised arrageet was established wherein ebers of previouslyuotied bands might smpy show up at agecies serving the sigatorygroups i order to receive aual per capita payets Little or o thoughtappeas to have bee devoted by the govermet to deciding how to keepsuch itermiglig sorted out for recordkeeping purposes, or how Caadaight go about meetig its obigatio to demarcate acceptabe reseved areasfor each lateotice bad
s it was idetied As it tured out, members of the ubico ake Bad did ot receive
word o eaty 8 util sometime aud 1 9 0 t that poit, othig uchchaged for them other than that bad meers gradualy bega to makea aual trek to Whitesh Lake, the locatio of the agecy s ervig aotheree group, i order to receive their auities The local Idia aget,following govermet guidelies , simply recorded thei aes o his pay listad wet o about his busi ss For their part, the Lubicos cotiued tolive where ad how they had, very much ucocered with what went o
Ottawa, or eve at Whitesh Lake The situatio remained uchanged for
about a quarter of a cetur3At some poit i 19, however, the residets o Lubico Lake wereiformed that, give the appearace of their ames on the list of Whiteshake payees, they were cosidered by Caada to be part of that moresoutherly bad It was sugested that they wee therefore ivig i a locatiow l outside "their reseved area and should accordigly reocate to a placeearer the Whitesh Lake agecy Those
at
ubico ae, o course,protested this misideticatio ad for the rst time requested the establish
ment o a reserve of their ow This ed, i 99, to a visit om c.PSchmidt, the Aberta Ispector of Idia Agets, for purposes of ivestigatig their claim This resulted i a report by Schidt to Ottawa stipulatigthat he had cocuded te peope at Lubico Lake were i fact a baddistict frm the peope at Whitesh ake, ad that they wee thus etitedto a reserve5
The govermet iitiay accepted Schmidt's recomendatio, a s welas his cesus xig the Lubico populatio at 1 2 pesos This uber was
ultiplied by the 128 acres per perso the goveret felt was a suciet
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omai for Idias, a it was thereby ecided that the ubico akeeserve shoul be copose of some twetyve square iles of territoryA aerial survey was couce, a i
940 the lies of the ew reserve
bouari s were t tativ y draw o the map A seeme o be goig quitewell, with the oly reaiig formality beig a grou suvey by which toset the
bouari s enitively ut Canada, emeshe i old ar II at thistime ad qualie surveyors eig correspodigly scarce, decide to delayalizatio
of the process til hostilities ha cease6Thigs bega to get sticky uring the suer of 1942 whe a ma
amed Malcom McCrimo was set to A rta to see that the provicesauity pay lists were i orer McCrimmos state cocer, as part of a
broaer esire to "put all of Caadas resources ehid the war eort, wasto esure that "these ias are ot gettig somethig for othig To thised, he arbitrarily rewote the rules p rtaiig to eligibility for per capitp:yts so ht : 1 who h;d bee ed te eat R a lists after
9 2
were elimiated outofhad e the wet o to equire that "aidiviual must furish acceptable pof that his male acestors were of pureia loo
Give that oly writte birth records were posited as costutig such
proof, ad that ias traditioally aitai d o such ecords, the latterclause ca be viewe as a attept ot oly to limit t mber of ativepeople recogize as such (a therefore receivig aites), but to eiae them altogether I ay evet, cCrimo uicly removed theames of more tha 00 orth r berta Idiasicludig iet of the14
th
belogig to the ubico ake adf the pay lists e alsospecically r com n agaist stablishg the ubico ake eserve e-cause there were o loger "eough
ligib
Iias towarrat such actio
ece, the earier "postpoemet of the reserves actualizatio assmed aaura of permaece 7
Enter the Oil C panies
O April 1 92 the irector of th Techical ivisio of (lbertas)Provicial Lads ad Forests Departmet wte to
th federal Departmetof the Iterior
i Ottawa that "ue to the fact that there are cosiderableiquiries regardig the mierals i the uico ake] area, a also the fact
that there is a reues to estalish a missio at this poit, we are aturay
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axious to ear our reords of this pvisioa reserve if the ad is otrequired by this Bad of ndias Alberta followed up shorty thereater byiforming
ttawa that the ubio ake site seemed "too isolated to betiv y
admiistered as a permaentr s rv ad that:
It is recommended tha t the twenty-four sect ions of land set a side for a reserve atLubicon lake be exchanged for [a more convenient site] . . . [The D eputy Minister forProvincial Lands and Forests ad] no objections to the transfer though there is
no
assurance thatth
mineral rights could be included [with the moreconv i nt"
site. . . If the reserve at Lubicon is retained, th Bad would hae the mineral rights . .{ e} reomend the exhange be made eve micl right annot be uanteed (emphasisadded.
The iitiative embodiedi
this urry of orrespodee om Aberta
was apped o o tober 22, 19, whe the provie haded the federagovermet a virtua
ultiatum: "t is some years ow sie the ubioake site was povisioa reserved, ad it woud be apr it d if yououd orm that the proposa to establish this reservatio has bee abadoed no repy has been receve wthn 30 ays) t w be assume that thereservaton has been struck from the recors (emphasis added)
For its part, the epartet of the terior opted foriatio o-
rg its akowledged obligatios to the ubio ake Cree, aowig
the provie of Alberta to pay the heavy i what amouted to a emergigad
fully atioa poiy of eergy developmet i the Caadia orth Theatter was rather leary
dmitt d i a February 2, 194, letter from theAberta regioal upervisor for Idia airs to the Idia aget withiwhose area of resposibiit the ubios fe.
As you are no doubt aware te Deputy Minister for Provincial Lands and Forests] hadfrom time to time
ask d n
ourD partm nt
[of the Interi or was likly to make adecision as to whether or not to take up [the Lubicon Lake] Reserve. Tere were o
any inquirie fro oil opanie to explore the area that i t a beoing ebarring to tatethat it uld not be entered. hat
situatio
existed when our Branch [Indian Aairs] wasadvised that unless the
D part nt
gave a denite answer before the end of 1953t
Provincial Autorities were disposed to cancel the reservation and return it to CrwnLands whic
t n
could be explored . . . This was discussedwh n
Iwas in
Ottawa lastOctober. I a o the opinion that our Bnh had taken no ation and tha t the blok { landat Lubion Lake] would automatially return to Alberta (emphasis added
The supervisor the wet o to expai that the federa goveretwas very well aware of the impiatios of this lie of atio, istru tig his
ag nt to oaborate diretly i eetig the expropriatio of uio re
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sources "In approaching the subject with the Indians, thnk t woud be weto keep n mnd that the mne rghts [at Lubcon Lake] my be vey much morevauabe than anythg ese . ths Bock [of and at Lubco was gven up then i
s very unkey that mne rghts woud be made avaabe wit the suce rghts qany other reservethat
mght be pcked up (emphasis added) The minerals with which the government corespondence ws
primarily concened at the time mostly consisted of oi an natural gas, ichdeposits of which had earlier been determined by etroCanada, Ottawaswn energ corporation, to undeie the entire eace Rive region Petro-Canada had already enlisted a consortium of ten transnational energgiantsincluding oyal utch Shell, Shell Canada, Exxon, Gulf, and Stan-
dard il of Californiato become involved in " xporation and develop-ment of the area Both the federal and provincial govenments stoo oreap a considerable prot on the bargain, ith only the rights of a fe smaa r l m of Tn;ms snim" n the wav. Te obvious "solution under such
conditions,
was simply to deny native rigts ithin the intended evelopment zone, se tting the stage for the removal of all Indians fom the ea
ven at that, there appears to have been substntia ocial sistnc(especially within the Alberta government) to the idea of poviding any acre-
ge with hic to stablish substitute or "replacement eserves for thoseIndians targete for coeced relocation As concerns the ubicons in prticu-lar, the focus of governmenta discourse had shifted to he verncular ooutright liquidation by early 1 a matter readily eviened in an instu-tion issued by the federal Superintendent of Reseves nd rusts to is sta
Consult the appopiatel s
and advisewh t
action wastak y t pam
to ocially estalish he Luicon Lake Band as a Band fo a that ime any sucaction appeas athe shotsighted and if this gup was not
talish d
as an ocaBand, i will serve our puoses ver well a he presen ime (emphasis aded
In another memo, the Alerta Regional Supervisor for IndinAs
claried te governments intent in denying the ubicons existence " []hehitesh ae Band have no objection to the ubicon ke people] beintransf rr d
to their Bnd and I am suggesting [the localIdi aent] con-
tact those memers [of theubicon ae Band] ho ae t presen residing
at hitesh ae and Grouard and ascertain if they ish to le applicationsfor transfer If they l wish to transfe it would reduce he ubicon ae
Band mb ship to appoximately thity Elsehere, te supervisor o-served that
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It is quite possible that te seven failies [who had been apprache and said they'daccept enfranchisement in another band if they could not have a reserve at LubiconLake itsel wil make aplication for enanchisement in the near future . Shouldthey do so I woul recend that enfranciseent be granted . The few reainingmembers of the [Lubicon Lake Band coud no doubt be absorbe into soe oter
band13
In the nterests of o extracton and attendng pt potentas, then,the Lubcons nshed the decade of the 90 s wth the gans they hadseemed to make n the reatonshp to the Canada government durngthe 90s nd eary 40s rgey erased and confted nstead by the spectreof ther compete admnstratve emnaton as an dentabe humangroup 1
Developmen Begins
Thngs no doubt proceeded more sowy than Ottawa and Abetaognay
nt nd d
The aundant avaabty and ow cost of o durng the960s ceated a stuaton n whch etro-Canadas transnatona partnersdeemed t costpohbte to underrte the nfrastructure necessary toaow producton n the Canadan hnterand, and t was not unt theOEC-nduced ener rss of the eary 970s that ths ssessment of
conomc
reat was atered Thus, t as notunt
97 that nvestmentswere nay secured wth hch to begn the
budng
ofan
aweather roadfrom
Edmonton thrugh te Lubcon ake are 15
In the nterm, the ubcons had had ampe opportunty to overcomether nta confuson concernng the governments varous poys, and hadl but unanmousy rejected the noton that they shoud be merged wththe ros of other bands At about the same tme the rd constructonproject commenced to te south, the tadtona governng counc at
Lubcon Lake met to rearm the exstenceand rght to cntinuing exstenceof the band. They aso decded that, snce Ottawa had done nothngpostve to sove the queston of who n fact
b ong d to the band, thebd woud exercse ts soveregn rght of deternng ths for tsef, ndependent of federa concerns and crtera Most of those who had beenpced on the rls of other bands theeupon resumed ther dentcaton asLubcons
For apprxmatey e yeas a rough stass was antaned, as rad
work dragged on and on The Lubcons contnued tov
ad conduct ther
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aair very muh a they had throughout the twentieth etury, epteth
peritentf d ra
adproviial
poliy ontroverie t r xit hadparked Then, in 1978 a the road reahed the ubio ke regon, there
wa a udden uprge i eimi and other for of oil n g explorationWhile otider poured into the area, etting dynamite harge, bulldozgae roa and marking utline , the true dmenion of at wa happen-ng
gan
to rg
With their tr wa of life plan i eopardy, theLuion old no longer imply ignore the governent 6 theyexpained it in a
983 pr ntatio i
Otta:
Until aut 10 yeas ag the questi ns f lan Ban memeshi mineal ights anigts genealy wee essentialy acaemic Ou aea was elatively islate an
inacc essile y a We ha little c ntact with utsies inluing Gvenmentcias. We wee left p etty much alne e wee awe t live u lives se ufamilies an usue u taitinal way f ie withut muc intefeence [But] abt 0 yeas ag the Pvincia Gvenment state cnstuctin an all-weathe aint u aea The pupse the a s ceay t atate eve1ent aeaThe a was cmple te aut ve yeas ag Face with the sect an inuf utsies int u taitinal aea we tie t le a caveat with the PvinciaGvenment the eect which wul have een t fmal seve ntice n autsies u une xtinguishe a iginal claim t the aea17
b rta refued to aept the aveat an the bon ttepe tofore the matter n federa ourt .
he vincia Gvenment aske te ct t stne heaing the e tanthe eing tie in the Nthwest Teities was ecied The cse in tTeities went against the nians; hweve the ecisin ea that the cut thwul have un f the ians ha the law een witten as it was in Alet anSaskatchewan The Pvince then went ack t cut an aske f nthestnement uing which they ewte the elevant Pvincia egisatin, akinte changes etactive t ee the time we tie t le u caveat n light f the
ewitten etactive Pvincia egistin, the [ee] juge ismisse u case as nlnge having any asis i n aw t is ntewthy that the Feeal Gvenent ch set execise its tst esnsiility t the nianJ uing te caeat case y ling aie i behalf o the PrO ical COVerne t easis ae)
The uion then petitioned Ottawa uderonntional Canadian
trut prviion to aloate them nanial upportwt
whih to eeknuntive relef through the ourt an to appoint a eial lad laimomiion r
to attempt to reolve lan ttei
n the Peae Rver re
gion. Thee d a were reeted by the government in 19 Intead, uring
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th smr of981: [Th Provinci Govrnnt cr [th bicon
conity to b Povici h
srvy it ivi it p nto ittcr pots n tri to forc or pop to ither s ths pots or ccpt thm s gifts' f th Provnc. Pop who spport th Provinc
ovrnnt's Ht nd n Tnr rogr wr prois srvics ndscrity. op who opose the prgr fc kins of consqncs . .
Frng tht ccptnc of th Provinci Hlt n n Tnrrogr wol jopriz thir
nd
rights the bnhn
sk thprovinc to y pm a ion of the prgr nti its ct co betrn.
Thy fused stting tt thy hd checked th g implictions of th pog d
hd ben ssud tht thee ws "o eltionship btwn nd clims nd nd teu When w continud to ustion the ct implemnttion of thi pogm wouldhve on ou nd ights they soted to egistic fom of dcption On oldwomn who cn nith d no wite signd pgm ppiction fom bingtold tht sh ws signing fo wood noth ws told tht sh ws signing fon lbt Housing tile thid ws tod she ws signing cnsus fom.
Th r rtionshi btwenAer 's
Ht n n TnrProgr on th on hnd n the bicons' borigin rights on th othrws py rv th foowing yr. Whn it bc
bso y an
nvoibly cr tht wwod
not gt nywhr with th PvinciGov
rnnt" th iconsreco i their 183 prsnttion w pp
to th FrMnis r
orIni
Airs. H rspon by sningh
Provinc tx rqestng six-onth y in th ipnttion of thProvinci n tnr pgr ring which ti he sid h hop to rsolv th qstion of or ln rights . . . . Th Pvinci Ministr of MnicipAirs rspond to th Fr Ministr's x with ttr qestioningth vry xistnc of or Bn n stting tht our community could not bepart a land claim anyway snce it was now a Provincial Hamlet and was no longerclassed as unoccupie Crown land . (phsis e "2
egal Saleae
h fr inistr concrn E. Dvi im" Fton pprs toha
bn sothng of verck in govrnmnt circs n wsncoinc
by Abrt'srgn .
Futhr h cty st own n tk with th
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ubico leadersi, reachig t coclusio tat the bads ositio was otureasonable ad could be acommodated i some fasio by bot Ottawaad te rvice He therefore coveed a
m tig b tw reresetativesof his ow federal
Idia mistry ad t roviial gov t ofAlb rt
durig Jauary of 982 , itedig to egotiate a resolutio to the Lubicolad issue "agreeable to all arties cocered (tyicay, te dias temselves were etirely excluded we it came to suc ighlevel deliberatiosover teir rigts and
fat )
To te miister's udoubted astoismet,egotiatios bre dow almost immediately
During them tig
between Federal and Pvincialocias
teProvinc
rejectedoutofhand most if not al of the p oints discussed etween Federal
ocias
andocials of the Band Provincial ocials refused to consider the question of land
entitlement until they were satised as to the merits" of that entitlement They refusedto agree to a timetable for determining the
rts
of thatntt nt
Tey refused toconsider the land
which had
been origiay s ct d or whichicld d our traditioal
C!'!"} 8f Lit e U . ( Lk . Th f to ncu mn,Jl ig y Fto consider any compensation whatsoever They even refused to
t wtha
representatives of the Band*
I te wae of te Jauary meetig, te Lubicos oe agai euestedacial assistace from the Idia miistry it ic to litigate tei lad
caims Imlausibly uder te circumstaces, ulto d i d te euest ot
basis tat "te egotiatig route as ot bee exausted3 At acoi
meetig, te Lubicos te resolved, i view of te exressed itsigeeof Alberta autorities ad te bad fait evidet i tei otiuig usutof the Hamlet ad Lad Teue Program, to
sus d
all furter dealigswit te
rovicial
govermet It was also decided to ursue gal
emediesdesite Fulto's default o federal trust obligatios,
o te basis of telimited bad resources and watever xt rl suort migt be obtaied
Coseuetly, a secod legal actio was etered by te bico Lae Creebefore te Alerta Cout of the Quee's Benci erar, 982
In the second lega action we asked the court for a decato that we etanaboriginal rights over our tradtiona
lads,
tatt s
rightsicd m a
rgts thatthese rights are under excusive
F d ra
jurisdiction ad that the oi and gas leasesgranted by the Proince [on Lubicon land are nul void
and
unconsttutional or atleast subject to Indian rights
also asked te court to grat an mmediate iuctonpreventing the oil companies fm undertaking rther deveopent actvities i ourarea25
ttor ys
for Alberta ad for the vrious cororatios iv d argued
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- K
LUBICON LAND
Hghy
1 =
I -
BERTPeace
Rvcr
d
ag
hty tht th provn tsf noy nty fro th srinnctv rf, n tht th corportons (ncng
P -n,
pryfrl ntty)s contrct gnts of th provncwr shtr nrth s nt of
ni .
To ts crt, th cort rin
r of
Lbicons on ths otrgos thsis Bt ithn
cost tslf to consir rng of procdr sss ris by th provinc n corportons concrnng why th nnctv ttr sho not b hrd, vn thogh th Innswr ntit to bring it b for th bnch
Utimty, w bt bck of ths procdurl chllngs, but not in tim to stopmuch of th dmg tht w'd hopd to stop Concuding rgumets on thprocdurl poits wr hrd o Dcmbr 2 1982 In brt, such p rcdurl pointsr usuy dcidd vry fst Howvr, in this cs, dcision ws not brought downuntil Mrch 2 1983 xctly thr months to th dy from th time cocudingrgumnts wr hrd hs thr months coincidd xctly with th o compnis'wintr sson, wich is of cours th priod of most intns developet ctivity,sin c t h gund t this tim of yr is fzn, llowing for th rtivly esy trnsport
of hvy quipmnt
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Thus the courtwas
al to arrive at a judcally sonccsin
avoiding the entry of adisas rously
contaminatingprceden
intoCan
aw or rsking bing ovrturn upon review by a highr court whiesiltaneously alloing those it was preparng to
rue
against to compte
their objctional actitis prior to entry of its ruing. A the oi cpanes had to o was acclrat thir exploration operations so as to b abl tcoplte thm in on wntr rathr
han
th r thre which had benrmaining on thir
varios
schduls. he Luicns wre thenprsn
with the pptuniy to obtan an injunction suspndinggovernmen a n
corporate oprations which had arady en complet.This was th iit of the Luicons ' legal succss."With the ost ei
ronntally amaging aspects of the oil extractin prcss argly
copltd the cort was fr to rul that pumping oprations cd prceed insofar as theyin thslvsprsnt no real treat" to te reeway of if. N attpt was a to dterine hther th shr infusinf outsidrs into th forrl isolat Luicon territor ight nt haeprcisly
is
eect. As a rsult of th court's de factoo ervn in in oi
explotatin the val of the ptrou being pumped f th mdiatarea of th ubicon cla had xcdd $1 illin in S dollars per ay ymd-1987 an was rising rapdly.2
oncernng the ar issues ofad rghts and jursdction he courtheld that it coud not rsoe th issues ecause as Bill cKnight
Fu ons
placent as federal nian Minis er would aterp it e ad
attpted toflow
twou ualy
excusive pcessesa sttementune
Treaty 8 and a sttnt n aborigina tite." The court ae o ntat all on th fact that it had ben th goerment itself whch ha barrxrcise of Luicon rights undr th traty whil simutaneusly hoingthat they wr coverd by the ocument at least for purpss f extinguis
ng heir aboriginal ttle Furthr no hnt as ered as to what n hecort's viw ight b a corrct course for the ban to purs in eting asttent under on aw.
The ubicons of course took the matter t the erta Cour fp
pa which uphl th lowr Quns Cort in anuary 198 . narc
anagai in May of th sae year the Supreme Cort of
Canda
refus tohar the case. 2 Although the ubicons have continue to pursu legal rdies in Canaian couts snc thn th eight of their eorts t achi a
real solution has shiftd havily into ther areas of navr.
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Asseio of Lubico Sovreig
In 1982 nder the leadershi of Chief Bernad Oik the eoleof Lbicon ake dening theselves at this oint s being soe 20individals began to express ever ore strongy their traditiona rights as wholy sovereign eole ollowing this logic they increasingly deemhasized their entitleent alays esisted by the Alberta governent to the24 sqare mile reserve pvisionaly demrcated in 940 Insted reasoningthat since tey'd never siged a treaty of cession they'd ceded no land at llthe bicons began to articlte their
ad
rights i ters of the territoryhistoricay
sed by their acestors for rposes of hnting shing trppigoccpncy
nd trading prosesIn totl this aont to bot a thosnd ties the area involved in
the eseve berta hd so resoltely attempted to cheat the of (bt whichth y might well hae accepted had the governent et its obligatio toconvey title t the dring od ar II) The 2,000 sqare ile trct ofland claied by aboriginal right corises bot a qrter of the entirerovince of lberta In addition the Lbicons stiplated that they were deoe $900 illion in US dollars for damages done to thei territory dringthe er iod of illegal Candian occancy3
The ocial resonse was initialy t sco at sch "resptosnessThe
Lbicons
enwhie rather than cntining to arge their cse in thecorts lnched a pbic treach and edcatio capaign to secre polar sport To the governent's srrise and consternation the esose tothis eort was so generaly favorble that stes were necessary to contain thesittion This assed the fo of an "independet investigation nder-taken in 1 98 4 by the everend Dr andal Iva Ombdsan of bertawho dtifly wet throgh the otions of exaiing the Lbicon clisefoe elesig a reort entitled Complaints the Lubicon ake Band Inins. Predictably the docment conclded that there ws "no sbtanceto the bicons' aegatio and "no factal bsis to their charge that vris lers of Canadian goverent were engaged in
coitting
cltalgeocide aginst the3
hile Ivay's report was intended to d rct the r ising tide of blicsetient fvring the Lbicons its very transrency generted n altogether oosite dynamic apitalizing on this P widf Chief Oiayakand other Lbico leaders hortly bega to is se stateents to the eect tht
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ty were consderg codctng a boycott, largescal dmonstratons andoter dsrptons of te 988 Wnter Olypcs, scedled for Calgary,lberta.
n sometng of a panc, bot Alberta and Ottawa ckly resorted to
wat eac must ave felt were etraordnary measres" n a tual ortto avert a ntrnatoal ebarrassent and scrutny of wat tey ad b dong to ndgenos peopes nder te gse of doestc aars" Iany'ssa nvestgaton was ckly supplat d by
aot r,
t one fctonngunder auspces of McKngt's Department of Idan and Nortern Aarsbut car d by te nster's predecssor, J Flton (wo, ng ben removed fo oce for
ot
bng scentlyardln , was ow
ndustroslyyped as a frend of te Idan") . 32
e rst tangbl reslt of ts ocal cange n attude was an oer,ade on ecebr 0
9 8 5 ,
and recommended by Futon, of te 90reserve
ar a, compl t
wt te mneral rgtswc ad appeared so
probleatc toCanadan
polcymakrs oly a yea ere> s overturwas rejected on te sae day by te ubcos, wt Cef Onayak potng ot tat t was te governet's own greed ad devousness wc adblocked establsmet of te reserve for nearly alf a cetry, forcng teIndans to pursue te fl etent of ter aborgnal rgts te rst ace
e ubcons, e sad, would be prepared to enter nto any seousnegotatos cocernng Canadan recognto of ter sorgnty and treal scope of ter terrtory.3 4
After a uck dd , Ottawa ocals retrned
Jnary 98 wtte oer of an x gia awardwc tey'd prevously refsed to do ontwo separate occasosof $5 mllon n Canadan dollars to coe tecost of bcon tgato for reserved lad rgts, to dte. e
ubcons
acceptedt paymet ad ten d st n Aprl for tt aount piS a
addtoal $750 000 Caadan dollars to coe ftre costs of ltgaton; Novembe of 98 te st was amended to encompass $ mllon pastltgato
costs and $ llo prjected legal fees.3 te latter
ot,
t bcons also stepped p t r capag to organze ctons ad teOlympcs, undertakg ter rst truly mass malng o te sbject adsendng a delegaton to Erpe to rally support 36
Meanwle, n une, Fulton was replaced agan, ts tme y ogerasse, a former Mnster ofJstce, wo was carged wt sng trog a
negotated settleet" n wc te bad mgt drp t protest plans ad
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assertion of broder lnd rights i exchange for cler title to tct ppximately the size of the 1940 reserve. Chief Ominyak greed to eet withfederal ocials, but only on condition that the government of Albertawould be completely ecluded frm the proceedigs. In Jly, after
reliminary discussios, the Lubicons broke o negotitions when it becmeclear tht O ttawa was nt yet prepred to tke up the tter of theiraboriginal land rights i any meaingful way. 37
This was followed i January 98 by a aounceent by theLubicons that they had etermined i council tht the bnd ws nowcomrised of 458 idividuls, some 250 of who did ot pper on federalndian registratio lists, ad that they wee prepred to ccept ninetysquare mile reserve centerig o the community of Little Bo, over
which they would exercise fu contro. Additionly, they sserted undisturbe hunting, shing nd trappig rights ove n re of pproxtelyfour thousnd square miles and isisted tht, in order for these ights to hvemeaig, the Lubicon bn would require a voice eql to those of othergoverments i deteriing corporate licensing ad the deveopentolicy impctig their reion. Chief Oinayak so stted tht the bndwould heceforth begi, b force if necessry, to evict corpote work crewswithin the reserve proper and elsewhere as need be. In March, the size ofreserve area was aended to read "92 square miles/26 suare kiloetersin a motio led ith the ourt of Quee's Bech in Abeta.3
May of 198 saw deegations of Lubicons in both the United Statesand Europe explaining the band's position, mustering support for theroosed Olympic boycott, and preparig an intervention on their cse forsubmission i Jly to the nited Ntios Workig Goup on I ndigeousPoulations (a subpart of ECO SOC, the U.N. c ooc nd S ocialCounci, reportg to the Han Rights Comission).3 Aother ite othe delegates' gend was a prtially successful eort to covince variousmuseums not to ed objects to "The Spirit Sings, a governent-sposoredexhibition of ntive rtifcts scheded for dispy in conjunction with theOlymics i Cgary. Such outrech eorts contied to chieve veryositive resuts.
n the face of outig interational pessure, both Ottwa ndlberta appointed forl egotitorsBin Moe fo the fedel goverment, Jim orsen or the provincein October 198. he federlgovernmet siultaneousl reeased e Fulton Report p prepred by
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th ormr ndian ministr caing for tripartit tings btw ttawa,Abrta and th ubicons to rsov th and rights and sovrigty issus"quitaby and prmannty.4 h ubicon adrship rjctd th ida,pointing to th outcom o a simiar tripartit ngotiting arrangmnt
signd on cmbr 3, 9 8 6 btwn ttawa, Abrta nd th thousadmmbr Fort Chippyan Bad of Cr, in which th Indians traditionatrritory had bn rducd into a mr twty squar mi rsrv dividdinto nin sparat parcs
Chif minaya statd that his pop hardy considrd this to b th"productiv rsut o gotiatios toutd by Abrta, at last not rom thindignous prspctiv. H oowd up on January 3, 1988 by rasingthrugh th Caar erald th informatio that th ubicons had trd
into a forma alliance with othr bads and many whits in th northcountry, and that ths "ndias and nonndians i Albrta, askatchwaand Qubc hav agrd to st up a rsidnt ary on ubicon trritory.Provincia sh and widi ocias woud "b subct to arrst and tria, hsaid, in th vnt thy attmptd to intrr with th xrcis o ubicosovrignty anyhr within th uncdd ara.4
uch warnings carrid a tangib rig o authori. As aayst JohnGoddard has osrvd, "t is hard to imagin an dian bad btt
prpard to ursu its nationa rights "than th ubico ak bad o y988
By the tme the Oympc Games opene n Cagary, the Lbopeople commane nternatona support an the meas to covert that ppot topoltca power hey ha prevae n sputes wth non l an al the othozens of other o companes that ha gone from postng "No respassg sgns toasng the bans per msson to wor n Lubcon terrtoy Ban bconte the nnety square mes they ha ente as ther rserve ans for a nw
communt were reay for tener Essentay, the ubcon ae Cree emane acohesve nan socety e by purposefu eers an a gfte che 44
Facd with th prospct o an outright ar conntatio, AbrtPrir on Gtty at ast gan to giv bits of groud, oring i arch toimmdiaty pac th 9 acr rsrv ara caimd by Abrta undubicon contr, and to aign with th ndians in ngotiating or additionaacrag om ttawa Chi minayak dcind th trasfr, but accptdth attr proposa, joining with Gtty in caing or stabishnt of a
thrmbr tribuna to har and ct a bindig rsoution upo th
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uco clas aast oth the povice ad the etral goveet.5Mct ow v r stoewalled the dea couter that f "Aleta shesto e
od
y a tiual in pvd ta lad to the uos that isA ta's rht ad that he expected the provce to prvde a 4 square
pac l "i full satsfacto of a uco clas thus eeptttawa rom ay resposity the stuato whatsoeve6 May , hel d suit to compel Getty t accede to hs demads.
onfrotaton
ere folloed seveal moths of leal aeuver
wchMct twarted all erts to acheve a reasoale copse. Fallyo ctoe , 88, James 'Relly the Lucos' head ltiato appearedefoe the Aleta Cout o Appeal at Calay to read a stateet preparedy s clets susp d furthe volvemet the Caadia udcalproess "hs eort has va t stat d. "Fr this day wll olo partcpat a court proceeds which the uicos are pes-ty a pa weter tis court the Cout of Quee's Bech of rtate Fderal Court of Appeal o the Fedeal Cout of Caada. Istead itcotued y ctoer 1 5 , "te uco Nato iteds to assert adfoe
ts aoa rts ad ts sov urisdcto as a d p d tato
with ts o law eforcemet ad court systems .7
The plan was t erect checpints n the fur main radst
Lubicn territory As fOctober 15 1988, band mmbers wuld stp lvehicles Anbdy wish ing to wrk inthe area
would
have t buy permits frm the band ce at the same rates as ths paidt the Alberta gv rnm nt. ll payments wuld be due in advance. Cmpanies wuldhave t submit cpies f eisting prvincial authrizatins t the band and pst cpiesf apprved Lubicn
p rits
at all wrkst s . . . Oilcmpany emplyees refusing t
acwl dg
theband's auhrity wuld be turned back at th checkpints. Ocialy
band m mb rs wuld be unarmd. But they had prepared spiked bards t thrwacrss the rad in an emergency and sme membershint d
bradly that guns wuldals be at
hand.
4
"We do't have ay choce Chief ayak fored eporterssortly afte
'R ly
had read t