After 34 years as chief of Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Alphonse “Al” Lameman, 68, is retiring from politics.
Lameman was first elected in 1971 when he was only 28 years old, making him one of the youngest chiefs in Canada at the time. Since then, he’s travelled the world to campaign for the Beaver Lake Cree’s environmental and human rights, and – most importantly – seen the conditions in his community greatly improve.
Lameman, who worked for AGT in Edmonton in the 1960s, had been away from his home in BLCN for over a decade before he moved back with his wife Doreen in 1970.
“They looked at Al as a young man who had finished school and who was doing very well for himself,” said Doreen, Al’s wife of 42 years, who remembers meeting her husband in Edmonton when he helped to organize sock hops at the local YWCA. “He moved back around election time and they approached him to run for chief.”
Although Doreen said her husband didn’t much care for the politics that first term – he didn’t run again in the next election – the problems he saw in his community compelled him to run for chief again. In 1970, when he and Doreen moved back to BLCN, the community lacked water treatment, infrastructure, fire protection, and proper education.
“I look at this now 34 years later – we didn’t have central heat, [electricity] was there but it wasn’t great, and the drinking that was going on was very bad – it was not a good place to be at the time,” Lameman said in his typical soft-spoken manner. “Since then, the improvements have been astronomical.”
But he didn’t just focus his energies on improving conditions in his hometown: politics have taken him from London to Geneva, Ottawa to New York, and Germany to Beijing. In England, he was part of signing historic treaties for aboriginal rights, and has met with the UN in New York. Throughout his career, Lameman said he’s never shied away from controversial campaigns and doing things that ruffle feathers.
“Politics can be pretty rough,” he laughed. “I just stepped into it – I’ve seen a lot of the world in my tenure as chief, and I’ve been involved in some controversy. I usually go a little against the grain – somebody has to do it.”
Case in point is the massive lawsuit that he filed on behalf of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in 2008. Named in the case are the governments of Alberta and Canada, accusing them of violating BLCN’s treaty rights by allowing thousands of oil and gas developments on their traditional lands.
“I realize that oil is very important,” Al said. “It’s also very dangerous to our environment.”
The campaign was quickly picked up environmentalists worldwide, and Lameman was invited to the United Kingdom on multiple occasions to speak about how oil and gas developments have affected his community.
“I have the utmost respect for Al Lameman as a true champion of the environment, his community and First Nation rights – he is a principled and inspiring man and leader,” said Colin Baines, campaigns advisor for UK bank The Co-operative.
The Co-operative has donated and fundraised over $400,000 to the BLCN’s ongoing court battle. Baines and a student group flew to Canada this summer to spend time at BLCN and to bring moral support and international attention to the campaign.
“We appreciate how difficult it must have been to take on not only the governments of Alberta and Canada, but also virtually every major oil company in the world,” Baines said. “The world can learn much from Al Lameman and the Beaver Lake Cree Nation.”
But it was his health – and not powerful governments and corporations – that have finally slowed Lameman down. This summer he had a quadruple bypass surgery. And like he told some friends at a meeting earlier this year: “I think I’m running out of gas.”
He admits that he’ll miss politics, but he has hope that his community is going in the right direction: now Beaver Lake Cree Nation has a school, a water treatment plant, fire and community halls, and an international reputation as a community that cares about the environment.
“He takes the time to listen,” Doreen said. “He’s very understanding, he works with the people, he’s caring, he has humility, he’s humorous, and easy to get along with. If you’ve met him, then you’ve made a friend.”
