Doesn't employing an impartial third party take responsibility away from government and promote self-governance though?
NDP leader slams PM's Attawapiskat response
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
Doesn't employing an impartial third party take responsibility away from government and promote self-governance though?
No, it takes us in the opposite direction. The break down in limited (FN) governance, is what leads to the necessity of interim third party management.
Hmm.. It just sounds like you've stated a reversal in process, but I'm not sure that the solution to limited governance is less governance.
A few of the bands here like my DILs are doing quite well with self governance. Most are close to reasonable sized communities which probably helps a lot. It is the more remote ones with few economic opportunities that seem to have the biggest problem.
I think self governance, probably along the municipal model will work but total control cannot be handed over to those with zero experience. They will have to hire outside managers and tech staff for some time since much is OJT and cannot be learned in any school.
Not too sure that there should be self governance in all aspects either. Some things like health care and education might be better off and more cost effective when intergraded with the larger population.
Perspectives maybe.
Since I believe the way to gain autonomy is to act responsibly, and being accountable. I see third party management on a reserve that claims that all their woes are someone else's fault, as prudent.
If not for the type of mind set that permeates approx. 23% of all reserves. Autonomy would not be a distant pipe dream at this point.
I'm absolutely sure fiscal mismanagement is NOT the solution, to gaining autonomy.
Do you think autonomy would prevent what we have happening on 23% of reserves?
A commonality among many reserves.
Even if they placed experienced FN politicians in office, I'd still want Elections Canada oversight.
Call me gun shy. I've seen far to much corruption to want to see the keys handed over without some external authority and oversight.
No arguments here.
Hey MF, this is a decent Op/Ed piece that sums up pretty much where I stand.
The problem is the Indian Act
Paul Martin. Now there's a honest guy who would never lie or stab you in the back for political expediency.
Thanks.
I've given the issue much thought over the years and while I don't have all the answers I don't like a lot of what I currently see. And part of what I se is that those in power on both sides are reluctant to change since it would take away from there ability to syphon off tax dollars. I think the problem is more in DIFND and the tame chiefs than the political arena.
Effective reform of the Indian Act mean repealing it, this parallel system will never work in Canada. Indians will be much better of becoming Canadians and the reserve system coming to an end. It is simply an all or nothing way, digital if you like, there's no third way to get Indians on their way to living in a first world country. Our Bantustans never work and they are an embarrassment.
Paul Martin: Canada's treatment of aboriginals is a 'moral issue'
"It is a moral issue because we have discriminated against aboriginals since the beginning of the first settlement."
"It is a moral issue because we have discriminated against aboriginals since the beginning of the first settlement."
The above statement is clearly wrong. If Martin had read any Canadain history he would know that Jacques Cartier in 1534 wintered with Indians along the St Lawrence and that later French colonisers made treaties with Indians. They fought with and against Indians. It was complicated, much more complicated than he is able to comprehend. Like most politicians he has written nothing about the issue and he is thoroughly clueless on the topic. All he wants to do is "help", I think they've gotten enough of that. Make Indians Canadians for simplicity sake.
Like most people in eastern Canada, he's referring to USA history, which was hostile from the start.
Like most people in eastern Canada, he's referring to USA history, which was hostile from the start.
Well,I could help out in some of these communities with my contacts but right now it looks like a blame game and politicians at their finest.
I am one of the only guys that have kept a camp open over the winter in the Arctic and I did it well!!
I am an expert at logistics,I can supply any town or camp and keep them alive for the winter.
My old boss in the Arctic is famous as about the toughest guy you ever would meet when it comes to survival.
I am one of the only guys that have kept a camp open over the winter in the Arctic and I did it well!!
I am an expert at logistics,I can supply any town or camp and keep them alive for the winter.
My old boss in the Arctic is famous as about the toughest guy you ever would meet when it comes to survival.
It's always only ever been about the blame game, imho. As a resident of the most southern part of Canada, I can honestly say I know nothing about what it takes to supply and survive in the northern climate. If I had to, well then I'd go to people who do know. The fact that no one in authority is really asking folks who do know, to me suggests that no one is really all that serious about putting a dent in the problem.
Try not to pull anything.
I almost lost my sh!t when I read dumpster talking about the complexity of something he has no basic understanding of. Then topped that off with talking about who knows what about Canadian history.Try not to pull anything.
I'd give my left nut to see dumpster in a formal debate with Martin. Hell just about anyone, even my 15 year old son knows more about Canadian history than the dumpster.
You spend so much time on the floor rolling in laughter, I just get concerned is all. It can get cold down there. Perhaps some in-floor heating is in order?
SCB likes it when I do that, it keeps the hardwood floors clean. I think that's why she bought me the lap top, so I could do it all around the house, lol.You spend so much time on the floor rolling in laughter, I just get concerned is all. It can get cold down there. Perhaps some in-floor heating is in order?
Mark Milke
Release Date: December 9, 2011
Imagine two small Ontario towns. One is a reserve that blocks an outside investigation into its $31.2 million annual operating budget. That town, Attawapiskat First Nation, has 1,549 people on the reserve according to the last census.
Now imagine another town, a non-Native one, where recent budget estimates peg its annual operating expenditures at $8.4 million. That's the township of Atikokan, near Thunder Bay, with 3,293 people.
Careful readers will notice that the larger town, Atikokan, has a much smaller operating budget than does Attawapiskat.
What's additionally curious is where the money is spent. According to Attawapiskat's latest budget documents, $11.2 million went to salaries, wages and employee benefits. That equates to $7,249 per reserve resident on just compensation-related expenditures.
In contrast, according to the latest available estimates from Atikokan, that town spends just under $3-million on salaries and benefits, or $904 per person.
That contrast might explain the resistance by some to a third-party investigation into the finances of Attawapiskat First Nation. After all, one might reasonably ask this question: given Atikokan spent $3-million on compensation for all city staff, why must Attawapiskat spend $11.2 million? That's an $8.2 million difference, some of which could have paid for needed housing on the Attawapiskat reserve.
Here's another contrast. In Atikokan, (for the fiscal year ending in December 2009), the mayor's salary was $7,713 with travel expenses of $4,268. The total cost to taxpayers thus just under $12,000. In fact, total salaries and expenses for Atikokan's mayor and seven councillors was just $46,691.
On the Attawapiskat reserve (for the fiscal year ending in March 2010) the chief's salary alone was $51,803. In total, salaries for Attawapiskat's chief, deputy chief and 18 councillors that year amounted to $386,129. With $28,535 in expenses, the total cost to taxpayers was $414,664. In the next fiscal year, that cost jumped to $615,552—a 48 per cent increase.
The Attawapiskat-Atikokan comparison isn't the only useful contrast.
Consider other northern Canadian towns that are also not reserves. In 2010, the northern Alberta town of Athabasca, with a population of 2,575 had an operating budget of $5.5 million. It spent just over $1.6 million spent on wages and benefits for all city staff, council included. That crunches out to just $644 per Athabascan.
Or how about Valemount in northern British Columbia? That village, with 1,018 people, had an annual operating budget of $3.2 million in 2010. It paid out $811,852 in compensation-related expenses, or $797 per capita.
Here's another calculation. Per capita, if the city of Toronto spent as much on wages, salaries and benefits as did Attawapiskat First Nation, Toronto's remuneration bill would have been $20.1 billion in 2010, this as opposed to $4.8 billion. (Toronto's wage and benefits bill is still curiously high, at $1,741 per capita, but that's another column.)
Such comparisons should be recalled by everyone when Chief Shawn Atleo from the Assembly of First Nations, and Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence mount the rhetorical barricades and urge everyone to move on without "assigning blame," which is a dodge. Or when they blame "colonialism".
Such facts should be recalled by anyone concerned about Canada's First Nations reserves and their too-often sub-standard shape. What's clear is that a lack of money isn't the problem. Rather, it's how that money is spent.
With the exception of obvious short-term help for the people of Attawapiskat in winter—to make up for past monies that were spent on a large bureaucracy instead of housing—more money won't solve anything.
Instead, a long-term strategy is needed with the following elements: accountability for money spent; eventual transfers directly to individual natives with money then taxed back for band services; property rights for individual Natives on reserves which would help foment accountability, entrepreneurship and pride.
Lastly, realism is needed about the fact so many reserves are not economically viable. For the last two centuries, people around the world have moved from rural areas to the cities. Similarly, many people on reserves (mostly in rural areas) need to find their way close to educational, economic and social opportunities closer to major population centres, if not for themselves, then certainly for their kids.
Such opportunities are why the majority of First Nations people, 57 per cent, already choose to live off-reserve.
The challenge for politicians, native and non-native alike, is to remove existing incentives for people to stay on remote reserves, and to provide transitional help those same people move closer to opportunities.
Appeared in Financial Post.
But found at
First Perspective
Release Date: December 9, 2011
Imagine two small Ontario towns. One is a reserve that blocks an outside investigation into its $31.2 million annual operating budget. That town, Attawapiskat First Nation, has 1,549 people on the reserve according to the last census.
Now imagine another town, a non-Native one, where recent budget estimates peg its annual operating expenditures at $8.4 million. That's the township of Atikokan, near Thunder Bay, with 3,293 people.
Careful readers will notice that the larger town, Atikokan, has a much smaller operating budget than does Attawapiskat.
What's additionally curious is where the money is spent. According to Attawapiskat's latest budget documents, $11.2 million went to salaries, wages and employee benefits. That equates to $7,249 per reserve resident on just compensation-related expenditures.
In contrast, according to the latest available estimates from Atikokan, that town spends just under $3-million on salaries and benefits, or $904 per person.
That contrast might explain the resistance by some to a third-party investigation into the finances of Attawapiskat First Nation. After all, one might reasonably ask this question: given Atikokan spent $3-million on compensation for all city staff, why must Attawapiskat spend $11.2 million? That's an $8.2 million difference, some of which could have paid for needed housing on the Attawapiskat reserve.
Here's another contrast. In Atikokan, (for the fiscal year ending in December 2009), the mayor's salary was $7,713 with travel expenses of $4,268. The total cost to taxpayers thus just under $12,000. In fact, total salaries and expenses for Atikokan's mayor and seven councillors was just $46,691.
On the Attawapiskat reserve (for the fiscal year ending in March 2010) the chief's salary alone was $51,803. In total, salaries for Attawapiskat's chief, deputy chief and 18 councillors that year amounted to $386,129. With $28,535 in expenses, the total cost to taxpayers was $414,664. In the next fiscal year, that cost jumped to $615,552—a 48 per cent increase.
The Attawapiskat-Atikokan comparison isn't the only useful contrast.
Consider other northern Canadian towns that are also not reserves. In 2010, the northern Alberta town of Athabasca, with a population of 2,575 had an operating budget of $5.5 million. It spent just over $1.6 million spent on wages and benefits for all city staff, council included. That crunches out to just $644 per Athabascan.
Or how about Valemount in northern British Columbia? That village, with 1,018 people, had an annual operating budget of $3.2 million in 2010. It paid out $811,852 in compensation-related expenses, or $797 per capita.
Here's another calculation. Per capita, if the city of Toronto spent as much on wages, salaries and benefits as did Attawapiskat First Nation, Toronto's remuneration bill would have been $20.1 billion in 2010, this as opposed to $4.8 billion. (Toronto's wage and benefits bill is still curiously high, at $1,741 per capita, but that's another column.)
Such comparisons should be recalled by everyone when Chief Shawn Atleo from the Assembly of First Nations, and Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence mount the rhetorical barricades and urge everyone to move on without "assigning blame," which is a dodge. Or when they blame "colonialism".
Such facts should be recalled by anyone concerned about Canada's First Nations reserves and their too-often sub-standard shape. What's clear is that a lack of money isn't the problem. Rather, it's how that money is spent.
With the exception of obvious short-term help for the people of Attawapiskat in winter—to make up for past monies that were spent on a large bureaucracy instead of housing—more money won't solve anything.
Instead, a long-term strategy is needed with the following elements: accountability for money spent; eventual transfers directly to individual natives with money then taxed back for band services; property rights for individual Natives on reserves which would help foment accountability, entrepreneurship and pride.
Lastly, realism is needed about the fact so many reserves are not economically viable. For the last two centuries, people around the world have moved from rural areas to the cities. Similarly, many people on reserves (mostly in rural areas) need to find their way close to educational, economic and social opportunities closer to major population centres, if not for themselves, then certainly for their kids.
Such opportunities are why the majority of First Nations people, 57 per cent, already choose to live off-reserve.
The challenge for politicians, native and non-native alike, is to remove existing incentives for people to stay on remote reserves, and to provide transitional help those same people move closer to opportunities.
Appeared in Financial Post.
But found at
First Perspective
It's always only ever been about the blame game, imho. As a resident of the most southern part of Canada, I can honestly say I know nothing about what it takes to supply and survive in the northern climate. If I had to, well then I'd go to people who do know. The fact that no one in authority is really asking folks who do know, to me suggests that no one is really all that serious about putting a dent in the problem.
Try not to pull anything.
Well I live about as far south in Alberta without being in Montana as you can get.When I first flew to the Arctic I thought I was going to a camp in northern Alberta as my company never really said where I was going,just gave me an itinerary that changed when I hit Winnipeg.The fact that we had to bring welders,equip.operators,cooks,mechanics,bandaids and other people up from all over Canada shows how much the north has been ignored.Lot's of Innuit sitting around with no skills,schooling or training.Moving anything in the north is easy if you know the right expediters as they live up there they know how to move stuff and get things done.There isnt a whole bunch of them either,maybe a half dozen tops.
Heres one of the best expediters in the north,The "Don" or Arctic mafia.lol! Peter's a smart man
Faces of Nunavut: Peter Tapatai - YouTube