Financially Salving Irritations

"The chiefs are being heard. The educators are being heard. And that's really important -- that there be an expressed willingness on the part of the federal government to say to First Nations, 'We recognize that your rights are real."
"There is a sense among First Nations that we have to seize this moment. This is not about pressing or pushing this down the road. It is about moving on the clear plan that we have right now."
"So this is where the hard work absolutely begins. We've had governments unilaterally take decisions in the past. That's a pattern that has to be smashed."
"I feel like we're still in a moment of either collision or collaboration when it comes to natural resources. First Nations are not anti-development -- just not supportive of development at any cost."
"We are four percent of the national population, but we are in every corner of this country. We are adjacent to every natural resource, every pipeline that needs to be transported, every set of power lines that needs to be placed down. And there is no need for there to be a fear about sharing of wealth and resources with First Nations. It just must be done in full partnership."
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston and National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo meet in Ottawa Canada to hammer out a deal regarding Native issues January 24 2012. The Canadian Press / Jake Wright 

 

Right there, in those words that seem to teeter on the brink of political extortion, lies the perceived need to convince First Nations people to remain where they are, isolated and miserable, unemployed and financially dependent, as long as they grimly hold on to what is perceived as traditional lands, through life on aboriginal reserves. This is what respect for one's ancestors amounts to; the practical heritage value of selling to the highest bidder in reverse as it were.

Holding on to that land ownership as sovereign national symbols of Canada's First Nations and their prior claims to the lands settled by a progressive sweep of invading foreign colonialists assures that not only will the country that they are a part of -- but superior and apart from as well, with their own laws and initiatives, values and priorities -- pay them yearly stipends to allow for living with dignity, which is the aboriginal version of welfare, but natural resources must be justly shared.

Because of First Nations' refusals to integrate into the larger society that now is pluralist Canada, they have become, as it were, a law unto themselves. On reserves, signs of greeting that one is entering a sovereign territory, policed by native officers too cowed to bring law and order to their reserve, fearful of facing off against the better-armed 'warrior' contingent that is so fond of challenging the 'right' of the government to control them, set aboriginals quite apart from other Canadians.

First Nations living on reserves have great needs that must be met to ensure they live decently civil lives with all the first-world quality-of-life options available to them, from medical care, housing, welfare payments, education, transportation of food, potable water, with no need for any within the reserve to overly exert themselves, to earn a wage, see to upkeep of their homes, be responsible for the well-being of their children; the unfortunate reality.

Aboriginal Affairs is responsible for the well-being of First Nations who feel it is the responsibility of all Canadians to contribute to their welfare. And the plight of their living conditions in isolated and often primitive areas of the country where basic necessities are difficult to provide, serves as a conscience-prod to the greater Canadian community. Which has tired of the constant bickering between the AFN and government and simply wishes it would all go away.

Money in all transactions between the two is a sticking point. It is always a sticking point. Despite the huge sums of funding made available to the AFN and to reserves for various needs through all layers of government, it is never enough. And why that might be has something to do with the carelessness of administering funds that one never has to earn on their own, just as children have no idea how to conserve what they have and make the most of it. It also is involved with choosing to live in remote, inaccessible areas.

And the other part of the equation is random and ever-present corruption, of entitlements and of quietly claiming funding for personal options meant to be used for fundamental needs. Which is doubtless why on many reserves, members of the reserve who are not part of the governing clique often discreetly bring attention to the grubby acquisitiveness of the chief and council members, in the process robbing the entire population of their due.

"The areas of analysis include the potential misuse of the social-assistance funds to pay personal expenses of the chief and council; and the allegation that band members who are listed as social-assistance recipients never filed an application and never received social-assistance funds", reads one document relating to an audit conducted by Deloitte &Touche through a forensic audit of the Big Island Lake Cree Nation.

That audit came out of a complaint, an anonymous letter received from a band member, handwritten and dispatched in April 2011 relating to the abuse of federal funding. It spoke of band members "taking money from social assistance and other accounts". A second letter to follow the first read thusly: "Vehicles were bought, quads, horses and travel trailers, these were the things the chief David Sandfly bought and still spending on and we have no money for payroll or social assistance."

This type of all-too-common incident does not sit particularly well when it is published in the news. But Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development has a ready and reasonable response:

"The department takes allegations of misuse of public funds in First Nations communities very seriously and will investigate allegations once they have been sufficiently substantiated. The forensic audit work involving this First Nation is ongoing and, as such, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."
"What will be released publicly will depend on privacy considerations. Audit work that reveals criminal activity is handed over to the appropriate policing authorities and is not publicly disclosed."