Lubicon deal offers hopeful resolution to dark chapter
The first time I heard about the Lubicon Cree was in 1988.
I was 13 at the time, growing up in Calgary and, like, totally psyched about the Winter Olympics coming to my city.
One night I saw a story on the evening news. A group of Indigenous men from northern Alberta, all wearing blue ball caps, were calling for a boycott of the Games.
I remember being angry. Why would anyone want to shun the best party the province had ever seen?
My parents calmed me down and did their best to explain the issues, though I’m not sure how much my adolescent brain really registered.
That was 30 years ago, nearly half a lifetime during which the Lubicon’s land dispute continued to fester.
Though if you really want to mark time, the more appropriate date is 1933 — when my grandparents were teenagers — the year Lubicon members first filed their claim.
Or 1899, when the band was missed by the federal government and consequently excluded from Treaty 8 negotiations with First Nations in the Lesser Slave Lake area.
The Lubicon can’t get back the time lost to that mistake.
But now, at least, the community can begin to make serious plans for the future after signing a deal this week to settle the multi-generational dispute.
Though it affects just 650 people, the agreement with the federal and provincial governments is nonetheless important. If you haven’t paid attention to this point, you should, because the deal may finally put to rest what has been a highly embarrassing chapter in Alberta’s historical biography.
The basics of the pact include: A land allocation of 246 square kilometres around the community of Little Buffalo;
New infrastructure, including 144 housing units, a recreation centre and a new school;
Compensation of $95 million from Ottawa, plus $18 million from the province.
There’s no disputing the infrastructure upgrades are particularly crucial to improve quality of life in the community, where about half the population is under age 25.
But an equally big plum of the deal is the economic development opportunities.
As a landless people, the band had little control over the resources on its traditional territory.
The creation of a federally recognized reserve changes that equation, while the money is the nest egg needed to begin building financial sustainability.
Community leaders are expected to reveal some of their plans next month, whether it be expanding a local business venture, creating spinoff companies for oil and forestry activities, or looking at opportunities in agriculture or wildlife tourism.
How did the settlement finally come together after so many years of failure?
“Aligning of the planets,” Chief Billy Joe Laboucan of the Lubicon Lake Band told a news conference Wednesday.
The remark elicited much laughter in the room, but there was also some truth to it. After decades of government indifference and recalcitrance, 2015 elections brought in two new administrations in Ottawa and Alberta willing to make the issue a priority.
“We said if we do nothing else … we must get this done,” Premier Rachel Notley said.
Notley also gave due credit to former premier Jim Prentice, who got the ball rolling back in 2014 when he visited the community.
But while that overdue political will was essential, most of the praise belongs with the Lubicon people and its leadership group who made a conscious choice to move on from the past.
It couldn’t have been an easy hurdle to overcome, considering the long history of abuse endured by the Lubicon.
Crushing, chronic poverty has been the daily experience for many band members, who have been mired in substandard living conditions.
There’s been ongoing resource extraction, including the drilling of some 2,600 oil and gas wells, that has damaged the ecosystem and disrupted traditional hunting practices.
Road blockades were erected, leading to arrests. Lawsuits were launched. Court battles raged.
A major pipeline spill occurred in 2011 near Little Buffalo, while recent years have brought increased concerns about fracking.
All told, it’s a lengthy list of bad blood to overcome.
“There’s no use lamenting the past,” Laboucan said.
“We always look forward to seven generations ahead. That’s what we have been taught. So we’re speaking and preparing really for the unborn.”
Undoubtedly, there will be critics who say the settlement is too generous, though it’s important to note the funding is less than what the community was seeking a decade ago.
There will also be those who are overly optimistic.
That’s equally mistaken, because the deal does not change the band’s fortunes overnight. Many challenges remain, including an ongoing leadership dispute from a self-identified chief who may or may not contest the agreement.
Nonetheless, this is an important step forward in achieving justice for the Lubicon.
Lord knows, it’s certainly time.