Friends of the Lubicon
PO Box 444 Stn D,
Etobicoke ON M9A 4X4
Tel: (416) 763-7500
Email: fol (at) tao (dot) ca
www.lubicon.ca
April 28, 2005
Deep Well Oil and Gas has begun to respond to the many letters they are receiving from Lubicon supporters. We have yet to hear of responses from Surge Global Energy, Paradigm Oil and Gas, or Welwyn Resources.
Deep Well responds to complaints that they have ignored the rights of the Lubicon people and proceeded to level trees in Lubicon Traditional Territory without ever consulting with the Lubicon Nation as follows:
"We appreciate your feedback and share your concern for Canada's environment and the rights of our indigenous people.
"We have prepared the following information statement for public release:
"INFORMATION STATEMENT Calgary, March 31, 2005
"Deep Well Oil & Gas Inc. and Northern Alberta Oil Ltd. have purchased the right to develop oil sands in the Sawn Lake area from the Alberta Department of Energy. All regulations and legal requirements with respect to drilling and recovery of heavy oil have been complied with. To date, field activity in Section 36 Township 91 Range 13 West of the Fifth Meridian, has been limited to the clearing of a Mineral Surface Lease to facilitate the racking of a drilling rig. This activity is more than two miles distant from any lands, including any buffer zones, that have been set aside for the Lubicon Lake Indigenous People.
"Legal ownership and beneficial title to the land involved is with the Province of Alberta. Deep Well Oil & Gas, Inc. appreciates that the Lubicon People have been in the midst of a lengthy legal contest with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in order to attempt to gain a financial and land settlement for outstanding land claims.
"Corporate officers of Deep Well Oil & Gas, Inc have stated that they have and will continue to adhere to all laws, rules and regulations, including environmental considerations, respecting the legal rights of all First Nations People."
Anyone who's been following the Deep Well/Lubicon situation knows that "clearing of a Mineral Surface Lease to facilitate the racking of a drilling rig" prior to obtaining a well license from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board is not the same thing as complying with "all regulations and legal requirements with respect to drilling and recovery of heavy oil" in Alberta. In fact under Alberta law companies are not allowed to do any land disturbance prior to obtaining a well license from the AEUB and none of the companies have even applied for a well license -- let alone received one -- as of this date. And under Canadian law the government of Alberta is required at minimum to consult with the aboriginal owners prior to issuing leases on their lands -- which has not been done.
Further, supporters should know that Deep Well did not just clear a site to rack a drilling rig but rather cleared two sites: one for the drilling rig, and one across the road for a well site. Clearing the latter area included clear-cutting and stacking approximately 18 truck-loads of spruce trees and twelve truck-loads of poplar trees. Photos of the two sites are available at: www.tao.ca/~fol/ ???
Deep Well says that "legal ownership and beneficial title to the land involved is with the Province of Alberta" and yet adds that they "appreciate" that the Lubicon Nation has "outstanding land claims". The Lubicon Nation has yet to reach a land rights settlement with either Canada or Alberta and therefore every inch of land Deep Well is seeking to build on is subject to an ongoing land rights dispute involving unceded aboriginal title.
Deep Well was informed of this in writing in September of 2004. That they have chosen to proceed with their project without even speaking to the Lubicon Nation says volumes about how much they "share your concern for Canada's environment and the rights of our indigenous people."
fol-request at masses.tao.ca