‘I could sense the decency’: Bernard Ominayak recalls Don Getty

EDMONTON – Along with his other accomplishments, former Alberta premier Don Getty was responsible for one of the most memorable media events held at the provincial legislature.

In an effort to reboot talks with the Lubicon Cree, whose unsettled land claim was giving Alberta an international black eye, Getty met with Chief Bernard Ominayak in the legislature parking lot in March 1989 and handed over the reins to a racehorse from his own personal stable.

The previous fall, Ominayak and Getty had thrashed out a cash and land deal that became known as the Grimshaw Accord.

“I had great respect for him,” Ominayak recalled Friday. “I could sense the decency in the man.”

The federal government, ultimately responsible for signing a settlement, shelved the accord in the following months over a dispute about band membership. Ottawa was prepared to recognize about half of the band’s 500 members and the Lubicon wouldn’t accept that.

The gift of the horse to Ominayak was an attempt to get talks going again.

The original deal — involving 250 square kilometres of land, economic development funding, resource ownership and compensation for resources already extracted — remains the basis for current treaty talks with the Lubicon.

The land that was set aside at the time remains in trust.

Ominayak said he stayed in touch with Getty for years after receiving the retired thoroughbred named Magnificent Probe.

“(His) initial question was, ‘What’s it going to take?’

“On that basis we started the discussion and at the end of the day we thought we found a way for the federal government to move in and finalize it.”

Ominayak said he remembers Getty as a gentleman.

“I had the good fortune of meeting one of the few people in government who had the integrity and honesty of a man who tried and understood the hardships that our people faced and still face,” he said.

“I’m very saddened to hear he’s left us.”

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960