International Human Rights day & a Canadian action item

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY. . .

and tying in very much with the climate talks now happening in Copenhagen (and Canada's black oil smudge mark. . . ) here is an action item issued by Amnesty International.

Yes, human rights and environment go very much hand in hand. . .

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CANADA (Alberta): Justice overdue for the Lubicon Cree
“All we’re asking is to be a viable community and not dependent on any government. We have that right to be able to say to our kids and our grandchildren, ‘Here’s a land base and here you’re going to be able to live somewhat like the rest of the people in Canada.’”

- Dwight Gladue, in the new Amnesty International film, Our Land, My People: The Struggle of the Lubicon Cree

Corporations have removed billions of dollars worth of oil and gas from the lands of the Lubicon Cree in northern Alberta. The Lubicon, however, live in poverty. Their economy and way of life have been nearly wiped out by the destruction of animal habitat. The government has never provided basic services, like clean water and sanitation.

The Lubicon were left out of a treaty that the federal government negotiated with other Indigenous peoples in the region in 1899. There is still no agreement between the Lubicon and the federal and provincial governments over the ownership and management of their lands and resources. The federal and provincial governments have acknowledged the need to negotiate a land settlement. However, there have been no negotiations since 2003.

In the meantime, the provincial government is allowing oil and gas development to proceed at an astonishing pace on all but a few corners of Lubicon land. The Lubicon have estimated that there are more than four oil and gas wells for every Lubicon person. Now the Lubicon territory is being targeted for tar sands development, which raises more concerns about impacts on the environment.

No other human rights case in Canada has been so often condemned by United Nations human rights bodies.

Amnesty International calls on the federal government to enter into meaningful negotiations with the Lubicon so that a settlement can be reached that will protect their rights under national and international law. Until such a settlement is reached, Amnesty International urges the Province of Alberta not to license any more oil or gas wells on Lubicon land unless the Lubicon people approve.

Please write to Alberta’s premier.
Describe who you are.
Note that United Nations human rights experts have expressed concern many times about the devastating effects that oil and gas development have on the rights of the Lubicon Cree, including their livelihoods, culture, and way of life.
Urge the Government of Alberta to ensure that, until the Lubicon land dispute has been settled, it will permit no new oil and gas development on Lubicon land unless the Lubicon Cree agree to it.
Write to:
The Honourable Ed Stelmach
Premier of Alberta
307 Legislature Building
10800 – 97th Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6

Start your letter:
Dear Premier Stelmach
Postage: 54 cents
Fax: (780) 427-1349

Take action online at www.amnesty.ca/lubicon.

This new Amnesty International website features an online version of the film ‘Our Land, My People,’ background information on the situation of the Lubicon Cree, and lots of opportunities to take action. Visit the website to

send an email to the premier of Alberta
join our photo petition
get your friends and colleagues involved in the campaign.