Newsgroups: alt.native
From: leitner@lion.hsc.ucalgary.ca (Roland Leitner)
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: N-L: Goddard's Lubicon Book by Native Reviewer
Expires: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:00:00 GMT

Original-Sender: leitner@lion.hsc.ucalgary.ca (Roland Leitner)
Original-Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1992 03:12:26 GMT

[ For whatever reason, it appears this article was never relayed a couple
  of months ago.  My apologies!  --Gary ]


                                         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




April 3, 1992


Enclosed for your information is another review of the Goddard
Lubicon book.



                           *     *     *     *     *



BEEDAUDJIMOWIN, Winter 1991

               A RECURRING NIGHTMARE FOR INDIAN PEOPLE

LAST STAND OF THE LUBICON CREE
By John Goddard
Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 191
228 pages, $27.00

Review by Tom Howe

What would you do if a powerful stranger came to your house, invited
himself in for dinner and proceeded to rob you of everything that
mattered to you?  What would you do if the same person kept coming
back, asking for more; taking but never giving; and telling you that
it is for your own good?  What do you say when he asks you to trust
him?  What do you do when finally you are told that you are not who
you say you are and that you must leave your house?  This is the
situation the Lubicons of Northern Alberta have faced for more than a
century in their dealings with the federal government of Canada and
the provincial government of Alberta.

Would you stand up and fight?  That is exactly what the Lubicons have
been doing.  The Lubicons are fighting for what matters to them.
What matters to them is a way of life that includes a rich cultural
heritage, a language, and ultimately, the land upon which it all
rests.  Author John Goddard has taken pains to remind the reader that
what matters to the Lubicon should matter to all of us -- Native and
non-Native alike.

Goddard is a white journalist who is based in Montreal.  He
chronicles the story of a desperate but determined group of people in
a struggle against the more powerful interest of the dominant
society.  From Chief Bernard Ominayak who has steadily gained
confidence as a true leader of the Lubicons, and Fred Lennarson, the
wily and energetic political activist, on the one hand, to people
like the ruthless government agent Malcolm McCrimmon on the other,
Goddard successfully brings to life the central figures of the
Lubicon struggle.  Goddard relates how, at one point, he thought that
he and Ominayak might be kindred spirits.  He then immediately
reminds the reader of a stark realization of being a world apart from
Ominayak and his way of life.

The story of the Lubicon is a recurring nightmare for Aboriginal
people all over the world.  It is a story of greed on the part of big
business, of governmental corruption, and of lies and
misunderstandings.  Ultimately, it is a story of a people's struggle
for their very existence.

When oil is discovered in Edmonton in 1947, the Lubicon struggle for
cultural survival becomes intensified.  Goddard also traces the clash
of cultures dating back from today to a time prior to the oil
discovery; of events leading up to 1899 when federal agents sought to
complete an Indian treaty covering Northern Alberta and beyond.  The
object of that treaty was to extinguish Aboriginal claims to the land
and to prepare the way of Canadian westward expansion and
'development'.  One soon learns that the Lubicon are merely obstacles
to 'progress' and must be removed.

This kind of mentality provides the perfect environment for a man
like Malcolm McCrimmon to operate in.  His attitude was simple:  "a
successful person couldn't be an Indian".  He actively pursued a
policy which was designed to reduce the government's Indian burden by
stripping them of their Indian Status.  McCrimmon basically told many
of the Lubicon, "you are not who you say you are!"  He destroyed many
lives and he was only one instrument of the ruthless government
policy of assimilation.  The human suffering this policy entailed was
irrelevant to government then, and remains so to this day.

The issue of Indian Status has been a continuous source of
misunderstanding.  For the Lubicon people, it is linked to the
struggle for the creation of a cohesive community in which the right
to self-determination can be achieved.  Ominayak told the governments
of Alberta and Canada on several occasions that his people's status
was not negotiable.  Neither government would listen to him.  For the
governments, it was, and still is, an economic issue because Band
size dictates land size.  Land size and Aboriginal title to the land
are measured in terms of oil and forestry dollars.  This has resulted
in an absurd situation in which both governments have tried to tell
many Lubicons that they do not belong with their people.  It seems
all too clear that human suffering has been given a dollar value by
the ever popular bed-pals, government and big business.

The degree of human suffering is all too real for the average person
to imagine, especially in a 'developed' society like ours.  Goddard
describes the depth of the social breakdown taking place in Lubicon
society with many disturbing facts about increasing trends of
violence, suicide, disease, and substance abuse.  A general
deterioration of the quality of life is the picture that soon emerges
with horrifying clarity.  It's important to understand that this
story does not end just because someone has written a book about it.
It is not yesterday's news and it will not go away.  People are
dying.  A culture is dying.  Today.

A constant source of hope has been the foresight and determination of
the Lubicon people.  Chief Bernard Ominayak was groomed for his
leadership role many years in advance by his people.  Ironically, the
effects of doing battle with mega-businesses such as Shell and
Daishowa, as well as with two levels of government, has forged a
Nation out of the Lubicon.  Ominayak's black cap which once read
Lubicon Lake Band now reads Lubicon Lake Nation.

The tiny community of the Lubicon stands as a beacon for all
Aboriginal people in their struggle for self-determination and self-
government.  As a person of Aboriginal ancestry, I feel strengthened
and encouraged by this tiny community which refuses to give up even
in the face of such overwhelming odds.

The Last Stand of the Lubicon is a book that must be read.  It is
well-written and it speaks to all of us.  The Last Stand of the
Lubicon symbolizes many things to me.  It symbolizes that there is a
heavy price to pay for trying to hold on to one's traditional ways
but that there is an even heavier price to pay for letting go or
having it taken from you.  There is no question that the struggle is
worth it to me because the Last Stand of the Lubicon also symbolizes
one of Mother Earth's last stands against blind progress and
development.  With this in mind, one can appreciate that the
Lubicon's struggle is also a last stand for our children's future.

(Tom Howe is of the Ojibway and Micmac nations.  He was born in
Boston, Massachusetts but has lived in Toronto for the past 14 years.
Tom is a student at the University of Toronto.)