Friends of the Lubicon press statement

24 April 1998

Ten days ago, the Ontario Court ruled that our boycott of Daishowa products was not only legal, but "a model of how such activities should be conducted in a democratic society."

When Justice MacPherson released his judgement, we decided to wait ten days before re-starting the boycott of Daishowa in order to give Daishowa some time to put together a clear, public and unequivocal commitment not to cut or buy wood cut on Lubicon territoryuntil there is a land rights settlement negotiated with both levels of government and a harvesting agreement negotiated with the Lubicon which respects their environmental and wildlife concerns.

That ten days is up.

Last Monday, Daishowa's Tom Cochran asked to meet with us in order to discuss the matter. On Tuesday, April 21, we met with Daishowa and they asked us to extend that ten day period to thirty days. However their only justification for this extension was the vague assurance that they were "hopeful that there may be a possibility of something happening."

It has been ten years now since the Lubicon people first made it clear that they would not allow logging on their unceded traditional territories without a land rights settlement in place. It has been six-and-a-half years now since the Friends of the Lubicon first expressed to Daishowa that same request as the raison-d'=EAtre of the Daishowa boycott, and that same request has been repeated ad nauseum by countless letters from Lubicon supporters.

Daishowa knows exactly how to end the boycott.

If their hopes that Daishowa might finally make that commitment are well founded, then we'll look forward to that announcement. Should the Lubicon Nation receive such a commitment from Daishowa, the boycott will end immediately.

But in the absence of any evidence that Daishowa is planning to do anything other than stall or seek further legal remedies, we will not grant Daishowa any more than the ten years and ten days they've already had to make the simple commitment being asked of them. As of today, the boycott is back on.

Last week I also promised that this boycott would be bigger than any boycott they've faced before. We've come through on that promise. Today, a well-organized boycott campaign is beginning not just in Ontario, but in Quebec, Manitoba, the United States, and Europe. And we are especially pleased to announce that a Lubicon support group is now forming in Japan. They were scheduled to meet with the company today, in preparation to take on Daishowa on their home ground.

It's our hope, however, that our boycott will end just as quickly as it's beginning. Because we hope that Daishowa will finally do the right thing and make the simple commitment being asked of them. There's no need for any of this.

Daishowa told us earlier this week they need more time to make that commitment. Daishowa doesn't need more time. They need more honour, they need more integrity, and they need more compassion, but they don't need more time.

The boycott is on.

Kevin Thomas
for Friends of the Lubicon