Attawapiskat chief goes on hunger strike

[petros]

Although I agree with the message, I do disagree with a few points in that article...

1, There are national venues she can address her concerns at.
2, It's a form of bullying.
3, Canada didn't have a history of colonialism.
4, She's not offering a bridge for all Canadians to move forward, she making a self serving sensation.
5, She doesn't speak for me, my family or many of our FN friends and family, let alone all Native youth.

Native peoples in this country have endured much worse than the disrespect Prime Minister Harper showed on Dec 21, tweeting about "mmm… bacon" while Attiwapiskat Chief Theresa Spence was on Day 11 of a hunger strike...

Right on Steve!

She wouldn't be pulling a Ghandi if she had of done her job.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Not to be insensitive:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey.

Perhaps when she can explain where all the Federal Money went that was intended for her community I will put down my drumstick.

In the meantime:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey!

 

[captain morgan]

Not to be insensitive:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey.

Perhaps when she can explain where all the Federal Money went that was intended for her community I will put down my drumstick.

In the meantime:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey!

The notion that she had tried to block the auditors from trying to unravel the details speaks volumes.. Generally speaking, those are the actions of someone that has a skeleton in the closet on the issue

 

[Risus]

I'd like to know where all the money disappears to that is given to the Natives every year.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

I'd like to know where all the money disappears to that is given to the Natives every year.

Would you? Would you really? Disappears? Really? Would you?

 

[petros]

Anyone else but her going on a hunger strike would have merit and would garner attention. If anything she needs a swift kick in the *** with a frozen mukluk.

I am sympathetic to the Idle No More movement in most of their complaints but this woman, doesn't deserve any sympathy.

 

[captain morgan]

Anyone else but her going on a hunger strike would have merit and would garner attention. If anything she needs a swift kick in the *** with a frozen mukluk.

I understand that the avg family income is/was approx $11,000, while her salary is around $70,000.... I can't help but think that the residents that she represents haven't been on a forced hunger strike for the last years due to her inaction over such a long time

I am sympathetic to the Idle No More movement in most of their complaints but this woman, doesn't deserve any sympathy.

Demanding an audience with the PM, Gov General and Queen is a non-starter, especially based on the notion that they haven't really articulated their beef with those groups.

Quoting some broad-brush generalizations won't take them any distance at all

 

[taxslave]

I'd like to know where all the money disappears to that is given to the Natives every year.

A goodly portion of it never leaves Ottawa. Much of the rest is pissed away on studies and experts then the band administration gets to dip into the honey jar. If anything is left over it might go tho those it is intended for unless they have fallen into disfavour with the chief.

 

[petros]

She is not much of a community leader if she lead her community to such incredible mire and disarray, refused to open the books and fought third party management.

$70K is in the $40 an hour range. What services does she provide that warrants that rate of pay in a community that small?

Apparently she knows nothing of personal sacrifice during a time of crisis. Half of her salary could have went to improving the situation and lives of her community.

$20K will buy one helluva sawmill and remainder a small tractor to move material but instead they wound up with a crisis that could have been averted (or at least drastically lessened) with available manpower and resources.

As for the movement Idle No More as a whole, each region has it's own areas of concern making it difficult to find common ground on a national scale.

I wish them success in their realistic goals of having the Govt uphold their responsibilities.

 

[earth_as_one]

Anyone else but her going on a hunger strike would have merit and would garner attention. If anything she needs a swift kick in the *** with a frozen mukluk.

I am sympathetic to the Idle No More movement in most of their complaints but this woman, doesn't deserve any sympathy.

Maybe not...

But her community certainly does deserve sympathy and action.

On October 28, 2011 the Attawapiskat First Nations leadership declared a state of emergency in response to dropping temperatures, and the resulting health and safety concerns due to inadequete housing. Many residents were still living in tents, trailers and temporary shelters, and many residences and public buildings lacked running water and electricity. In one case, children, the elderly, and the ill were sleeping in rooms just a few feet away from a 2009 raw sewage spill that had not been adequately cleaned.[31][32]

Attawapiskat residents were evacuated during flood conditions in May 2009. The sole elementary school building, a state of the art construction in 1976, was closed in 2000 because of toxic fumes from a 1978 diesel spill that seeped into the ground underneath the school.

Along with 300 houses, there are 5 tents and 17 sheds used for housing. Trailers that house 90 people cost $100,000 a year to maintain.[33]

Attawapiskat First Nation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[petros]

Who let it slide into such conditions? The Feds?

$30M later, (90 cents out of my and your pocket) how are things? Any follow ups post cash injection?

On October 28, 2011 the Attawapiskat First Nations leadership declared a state of emergency in response to dropping temperatures, and the resulting health and safety concerns due to inadequete housing. Many residents were still living in tents, trailers and temporary shelters, and many residences and public buildings lacked running water and electricity. In one case, children, the elderly, and the ill were sleeping in rooms just a few feet away from a 2009 raw sewage spill that had not been adequately cleaned.[31][32]

Apparently she knows nothing of personal sacrifice during a time of crisis. Half of her salary could have went to improving the situation and lives of her community.

$20K will buy one helluva sawmill and remainder a small tractor to move material but instead they wound up with a crisis that could have been averted (or at least drastically lessened) with available manpower and resources.

Why did she let things get so bad while still pulling in $40 an hour?

Was she sleeping in a tent with no water, heat, toilet or cooking?

 

[taxslave]

Does she still get paid while on a hunger strike? Doesn't look much like she is taking care of business on the rez.

 

[captain morgan]

Who let it slide into such conditions? The Feds?

$30M later, (90 cents out of my and your pocket) how are things? Any follow ups post cash injection?

On October 28, 2011 the Attawapiskat First Nations leadership declared a state of emergency in response to dropping temperatures, and the resulting health and safety concerns due to inadequete housing. Many residents were still living in tents, trailers and temporary shelters, and many residences and public buildings lacked running water and electricity. In one case, children, the elderly, and the ill were sleeping in rooms just a few feet away from a 2009 raw sewage spill that had not been adequately cleaned.[31][32]

Why did she let things get so bad while still pulling in $40 an hour?

Was she sleeping in a tent with no water, heat, toilet or cooking?

... And herein lies much of the problem... Closing the barn doors after the cows have left says more about the management than it does anything else.

I have deep sympathy for those that are actually paying the price for this situation - but I have only anger for the leadership that has made the decision to not come clean on the financial issues, and in my eyes, are only attempting to deflect attention from themselves by pursuing this form of action

 

[petros]

Does she still get paid while on a hunger strike? Doesn't look much like she is taking care of business on the rez.

Of course. She has to put food on the table some how doesn't she?

 

[captain morgan]

Doesn't look much like she is taking care of business on the rez.

She didn't do much to take care of biz before the sit-in, so why change things now because of a hunger-strike.

 

[taxslave]

She didn't do much to take care of biz before the sit-in, so why change things now because of a hunger-strike.

Rhetorical question.

 

[captain morgan]

Yeah - I know, but I needed to get my digs in I guess

 

[CDNBear]

What I've found very telling in this whole saga is, if the issue was as has been forwarded by Specner and her supporters, been the Indian Act.

Then why not let the third party management audit take place.

It would have publicly vindicated the Band.

 

[SLM]

What I've found very telling in this whole saga is, if the issue was as has been forwarded by Specner and her supporters, been the Indian Act.

Then why not let the third party management audit take place.

It would have publicly vindicated the Band.

Because she wants to have her cake and eat it too? Keep feeding the misinformation, stereotypical bias that exists in general between FN and the general Canadian population (by being closed and secretive) while attempting to hold the governments feet to the fire in some apparent attempt to demonstrate solidarity with a group of people with which she really holds little in common (in her specific community, in terms of lifestyle).

Honestly I haven't followed the whole thing too closely, but she seems like a very typical politician to me.

 

[captain morgan]

What I've found very telling in this whole saga is, if the issue was as has been forwarded by Specner and her supporters, been the Indian Act.

Then why not let the third party management audit take place.

It would have publicly vindicated the Band.

It believe that it would have had twice the effect... Vindicate the Band as well as illustrate the real need to review the financial support.

Spencer et al really dropped the ball on this one