Daishowa Boycott on Month-long Trial
8/28/97
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Headline: Daishowa Boycott on Month-long Trial
Source: Friends of the Lubicon (Toronto)
485 Ridelle Ave
Toronto, ON
M6B 1K6
T: 416-763-7500
F: 416-603-2715
fol e-mail: fol@tao.ca
Date: 8/28/97
DAISHOWA BOYCOTT ON TRIAL
Month-long Trial to Decide Legality of Consumer Boycotts
Trial starts September 2, 1997, 10:00 am
Opening day rally Tuesday Sep. 2, 8:30 - 9:45 am
Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto
(TORONTO) An Ontario Court will be deciding on the limits of consumer
boycott campaigns and freedom of expression in a landmark trial beginning
September 2.
Friends of the Lubicon, a small Toronto group supporting the Lubicon Cree
Nation of northern Alberta, are being taken to court by Daishowa Inc. The
company is seeking a permanent injunction which would prevent the Friends
from telling customers of stores, which use Daishowa bags, where their
money is going.
The court action is in response to a six-year boycott campaign against
Daishowa products. Daishowa Inc. is part of the Daishowa group of
companies led by the giant Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company Co. Ltd.
of Japan. The focus of the campaign is to pre vent the Daishowa group from
acting on the licence they bought to clear-cut contested Native lands in
northern Alberta. Since the boycott began, Daishowa has been held back
from clear-cutting Lubicon lands.
Daishowa claims the boycott has cost them over $11 million. With the
boycott in effect, 47 companies representing over 4,300 retail outlets in
Canada chose alternative suppliers for their paper products. Daishowa
obtained a temporary injunction against t he boycott in January, 1996.
They are now trying to permanently outlaw the boycott and squeeze damages
out of boycott volunteers. Defendant Kevin Thomas says "the trial will be
a pitched battle between freedom of expression and Aboriginal land rights
on the one hand and the right of corporations to do whatever the hell they
want to whoever they want on the other."
The trial will span fifteen days during the month of September starting on
Tuesday the 2nd.
The Friends will be holding a support rally and opening prayer at Nathan
Phillips Square at 8:30 am on Tuesday Sep 2. Recently-elected United
Church Moderator Bill Phipps will give an opening address and a
representative of the Lubicon Lake Cree will be present.
For more information please contact:
Friends of the Lubicon (416)763-7500 or FoL defendant Kevin Thomas at cell
phone (416)209-6186
Karen Wristen, Sierra Legal Defence Fund at (416)368-7533
Lubicon Lake Nation Chief Bernard Ominayak at (403)629-3945
visit the Lubicon supporters+ web page at
http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Lubicon/main.html
To receive regular e-mail updates about the trial, send an e-mail to
majordomo@tao.ca & include in the body of the e-mail the command:
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