Attawapiskat Nightmare
What if They Declared an Emergency and No One Came?
No aid agencies have stepped forward. No disaster management teams have offered help.
Meanwhile temperatures have dropped 20 degrees and will likely drop another 20 or 25 degrees further in the coming weeks. For families living in uninsulated tents, makeshift cabins and sheds, the worsening weather poses serious risk.
Two weeks ago I travelled to this community on the James Bay coast to see why conditions had become so extreme that local leaders felt compelled to declare a state of emergency. It was like stepping into a fourth world.
I spoke with one family of six who had been living in a tiny tent for two years. I visited elderly people living in sheds without water or electricity. I met children whose idea of a toilet was a plastic bucket that was dumped into the ditch in front of their shack....
Try to imagine this situation happening in anywhere else in this country. We all remember how the army was sent into Toronto when the mayor felt that citizens were being discomforted by a snowstorm. Compare that massive mobilization of resources with the disregard being shown for the families in Attawapiskat.
same thing happened here in manitoba this spring with the massive floods. The province was much quicker to help people save their cottages (built on stolen native land) than to help northern bands deal with the sometimes total destruction of their communities. They were left to fend for themselves for the most part.
But this isn't surprisng at all. This happens for the same reasons they're on reserves in the first place. The people who are taking their land and profiting off it don't want to accept any responsibility for the human costs of what they do. they'd rather just ignore it, and since the larger poplation doesn't care either, there's nothing forcing them to change the way they act.
Pressure grows on governments to help Attawapiskat reserve.
But even as corporate and other organizations rallied to the cause, Ottawa quickly denied a report Thursday that it had committed $2.5-million for housing on the troubled reserve, frustrating NDP MP Charlie Angus, who has led the charge to raise awareness about the James Bay community.
Huge thanks to Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins-James Bay, for writing the original blog at the Huffington Post.
I see the Red Cross is responding - we shouldn't need NGOs to step in, this country is more than capable of changing this. Utterly disgusting.
And the RCMP has unlimited resources to chase anarchists who might protest and a very tight budget for finding the serial killer or killers preying on BC's FN's women. The Highway of Tears is an ongoing disaster that the local detachment is looking into. If a dozen young women had gone missing from Shaughnessy or West Vancouver the resources would be unlimited, until the perpetrator was found.
Thx Maysie for the link in the Happy Thanksgiving for Genocide Day thread.
http://www.highwayoftears.ca/
This situation in Attawapiskat put me in mind of Kasechewan. I remember the eventual recomendation in that situation was to move the band much further south, and much further from the land.
It seems to me the coastal communities of James Bay are sytematically being denied basic infrastructure funding that other towns in Ontario come to expect from Provincial and Federal sources.
We can point to the usual suspect for that-- racism-- and I am sure that is part of it.
But another thing came to mind.
Being, as you know, a bit of a geology nut, I know diamonds are being mined and there is a lot of diamond exploration going on north of Hwy 11 in Ontario.
I think the government may be systemically creating conditions that are impossible for local people to live in, in order to give De Beers a clear playing field to work in.
KAIROS has posted an urgent action in response to Duncan et al. It is nauseating that he manages to promise nothing while throwing gasoline on the racist trope that Aboriginal people are wasting millions in government money, so The Great White Father needs to go scope it all out on your behalf first. Tommy _Paine I wonder if you are right. And note that the chattering classes are already pointing out the mine (and jobs! jobs! Jobs!) as proof that Attawapiskat is ripping off the poor taxpayer.
http://www.kairoscanada.org/dignity-rights/kairos-urgent-action-cree-community-of-attawapiskat-ontario-calls-a-state-of-emergency-as-hundreds-face-winter-in-tents-and-sheds/
Oh, I am just speculating. Bells just went off, remebering back to when Alan Pope, former MNR-- which would expose him to no shortage of mining lobbyists at Queen's Park-- recomended that Kashechewan be relocated to Timmins. I knew there was interest in diamonds in that whole general area, and it made me damned suspicious.
But then Pope wasn't your typical tory, either. So, maybe he just thought it better for everyone involved at the time. If I remember correctly, Kashechewan has some systemic problems with flooding in the first place, neglected infrastructure aside.
Evidence against my 'conspiracy theory' is that the governments had decided to spend $200 million on Kasechewan, so if they are trying to neglect those people or others into leaving the land, I doubt they would have spent the money.
But the diamond facet is something to keep an eye on.
The first report I heard of this story was a few weeks ago on CBC Radio, right after a piece on the City of Regina wanting to shut down the Occupy camp because they couldn't have people living in tents in such cold.
Shortly thereafter they kicked people out of a riverside park here in Saskatoon, presumably so some of them could do exactly the same thing - sleep rough - in some place a little more hidden and out of the public eye.
Interesting that they use it as an excuse when it serves their purposes, or embarrasses them, but when it comes to the homeless generally, and First Nations specifically, it is perfectly acceptable for us to not live up to our treaty committments, and to do nothing about housing, fresh water, and the needs of the community.
@ Timebandit
Yes, it says something when an organization which acts in states of emergency has to step in to a situation which is presumably what the government would consider normal.
Noticed the irony too about all the so called "health" and "safety" issues they used to get rid of the occupies yet they are willing to let the elderly and children live in worse. I would not hold my breath for Duncan to help - and we make not want the kind of help that he is offering - which sounds quite a bit like regime change. Friday:
Mr. Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Attawapiskat is a community that has tried to do things right and yet it has continued to fall behind from chronic underfunding and systemic negligence in terms of infrastructure, education, housing and health. The situation is causing an international outcry and Canadians are rightly wondering how this can happen in a country as rich as Canada.
Will the government commit to take the lead with eight officials and with the community to fix the situation in Attawapiskat so that we can return to the community to the kind of dignity that these people deserve?
Hon. John Duncan (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, we are taking this situation seriously. The community has a number of challenges, one of them being its financial challenge. It is in co-management. It has an indebtedness that is getting in the way of a lot of other progress that could be made.
Part of our overall next steps is to get to a place where proper local administration and governance can ensure there is progress being made in the community.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode...
The Tories were also trying to pass a bill making it obligatory for Chiefs, band council and other First Nation leadership to disclose their saleries. This also promotes the myth/stereotype that it is neccessary - and it is also to create trouble. Even if band councel make a modest sum - if you are on welfare or minimum wage then it would look like a fortune. It wamells like the same wedge that they were trying to make between unions and minimum wage earners.
Charlie Angus has been raising the issue for a very long time - remember back in 2009 (and earlier) he had been fighting for a new school in Attawapiskat - I think there''s a babble thread on it. There's a Facebook page on it as well. Duncan said on P&P the other night that Attawapiskat will get a new school under construction next spring - they're waiting for the ice road to form to get building supplies in. This new school - after almost a decade of asking for one!
I posted this earlier today on BnR:
The Band says they need 268 homes at an estimated cost of $200,000 each - it costs a hell of a lot of money just to get the supplies for building up there.
268 x $200,000 = $53,600,000.00
The feds have promised $500,000.00.
The feds are sending a fact-finding crew up there next week, a month after the Chief asked for emergency help.
ETA: John Duncan on P&P last night said Attawapiskat will get a new school in the spring; supplies will be going up on the ice road this winter.
ETA: The Red Cross is assessing the needs of the community. I wonder how their findings will differ from those of the federal flunkies going next week.
Earlier babble threads on the topic:
Chuck Strahl refuses new school for Attawapiskat (2008)
Tragedy Unfolding on James Bay Coast (2009)Facebook group:
The Children of Attawapiskat Fight for A new School (no new posts since January)excerpt:
For 8 years the children of Attawapiskat, Ontario have had no grade school. They attend classes in cold portables. They have no library and no playground.
If you search "Attawapiskat" on Facebook, you will see several support groups, including donations, and folks travelling up to help and see for themselves.
I agree, vaudree.
It's always been about money. Discovering diamonds or other money-making resources on reserves brings attention to them. Other reserves can go to hell, as history shows.
I think the government may be systemically creating conditions that are impossible for local people to live in, in order to give De Beers a clear playing field to work in.
I don't see this as conspiracy-minded thinking at all. Just like ignoring deplorable conditions on reserves created by the office of Indian Affairs (and not at least changing the name, for fuck's sake), it's consistent with Canadian government-Aboriginal relations since first contact.
Absolutely appalling.
And yeah, Boom Boom, the numbers are appalling as well.
$1 billion for the G20 remember. For three days. That was important. This is not.
$1 billion for the G20 remember. For three days. That was important. This is not.
That deserves to be shared. Excellent.
There are quite a few in Ontario who repeat the lie that says "Indians get everything". They tend not to say anything at times like this. I've lived and worked in remote regions of Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec. I did not see any evidence that "Indians get everything." And all of the people who've quoted these bigoted quips to me over the years - I never bumped into them in my travels up North, either. Attawapiskat is just one small part of Canada where native people are living in third world conditions and have been for a long time. There are plenty more examples of why Canadians should be ashamed of the past and ongoing federal abuse of native people.
or the situation in our province, where the premier can say on the one hand that he is committed to revenue sharing with municipalities, and on the other hand reject outright the opposition call for resource revenue sharing with First Nations, as if they are not communities, and somehow separate from the rest of the province.
or the situation in our province, where the premier can say on the one hand that he is committed to revenue sharing with municipalities, and on the other hand reject outright the opposition call for resource revenue sharing with First Nations, as if they are not communities, and somehow separate from the rest of the province.
What do the feds say about it? I know that the feds are trying to slither away from their responsibilities and obligations to native people since several amendments to the very racist Indian Act. Native people were Ottawa's "charges" since Confederation, like Chinese citizens and emigres were made charges of the Queen of England after Britain tookover parts of China as her colonies were violating basic human rights on a regular basis then. I believe that the feds believe they should download any and all obligations to native people and reserves to the provinces, like they have with just about every other federal obligation to the provinces since Mulroney and Chretien, and then proceeded to defund federal transfers since the late 1980s and 1990s. Ottawa still decides who has status and who does not. Ottawa can not shift blame for Ottawa's crimes against native people to the provinces, though. Lots of money for G20 and corporate tax breaks for rich people and nothing for their "charges" in places like Attawapiskat.
So what would be wrong with asking the provinces to raise corporate taxes in order to fund causes like Attawapiskat and ensuring basic human rights to everything from clean water to the right to public education? Can the feds neoliberalise their way out from these obligations just as some people suggest that tiny prairie economies should be able to do without inconveniencing the feds for more money? How else might we shift national responsibility for financing basic human rights from Ottawa to the provinces? Are basic human rights and neoliberal ideology compatible in general?
There are quite a few in Ontario who repeat the lie that says "Indians get everything". They tend not to say anything at times like this.
I've been reading the comments on these stories, and the lies are still being repeated.
@ Fidel
You are absolutely right about the federal government, particularly as it relates to treaties. I agree completely.
But neither does that let the provinces off of anything, expecially since many of the significant areas that affect aboriginal communities are under provincial jurisdiction - education, natural resources, conservation (whose officers are more a source of oppression than the RCMP in some areas) and health care. And as well, the fact that the real relationship to Native people does not stop at those who are under treaty, but all Native, mixed blood and Metis people.
And when you extend that to the urban population, and the growth of urban reserves, this is no longer just Ottawa's obligation.
Yet we have situations of terrible neglect in our cities, and in the south generally, and the only reason why it is not as bad as in the north is because it is close to transportation, and centres of power. But it is still a situation that local governments ignore at their peril.
After all, if things continue as they are our province will once again be majority aboriginal within 50 years or so.
@ Fidel
You are absolutely right about the federal government, particularly as it relates to treaties. I agree completely.
But neither does that let the provinces off of anything, expecially since many of the significant areas that affect aboriginal communities are under provincial jurisdiction - education, natural resources, conservation (whose officers are more a source of oppression than the RCMP in some areas) and health care.
Well in that case, why aren't chiefs of reserves levying regular municipal and school taxes on native people? Surely they have the legal authority to that now? Why don't they just go to any friendly big six "Canadian" bank and borrow money against their private property, or the same apartheid-like townships they are living on since being segregated on to long time ago? Surely McGuinty and Selinger have the authority to make it happen without stepping on anyone's big toe in Ottawa?
Why not make native people totally reliant on "free market" forces? Or is that what the feds intend to do over time, just as they are doing with the top-down federally orchestrated neoliberal ideology in general? Surely it is a lack of political will in Queen's Parks across Canada to fund basic human rigths for native people. By this we must infer that it is a lack of one province's political will to compete against larger economies either side of them when they feel somewhat obligated not to raise corporate taxes, which in all likelihood would result in the exodus of investment and jobs to other parts of Canada and abroad. But let's not blame Ottawa for slashing social transfers to provinces, or for downloading to the provinces and ultimately municipalities and and especially not since the 1990s. Not if we have any respect for the fed's neoliberal charade.
Would it make stealing the one percent of total land native people own in Ontario as easy as the ways in which they did it the first time? Give them deeds to their own private property so that corporations and banks can more easily separate them from what little land they have segregated along narrow strips of the Queen's highways and remote paradises, like mineral-rich Attawapaskat?
"The Tories were also trying to pass a bill making it obligatory for Chiefs, band council and other First Nation leadership to disclose their saleries. This also promotes the myth/stereotype that it is neccessary - and it is also to create trouble. Even if band councel make a modest sum - if you are on welfare or minimum wage then it would look like a fortune. It wamells like the same wedge that they were trying to make between unions and minimum wage earners."
I used to see something nefarious in this initiative, but babbler Joey Ramone, who has some authority on the subject, said that making band council salaries and other economic things transparent is a good thing for reserves, come what may.
After a bit of thought, I saw things his way.
I will say, however, that as important as this transparency is for native people it is important for everyone. So it's damn rich for Parliamentarians with their hidden top secret expense accounts to be proferring this with a straight face.
I really do think that native councils are given a rough time from the feds WRT funding. I tried to help an older person (white woman born in England and veteran of WW II) to apply for federal funding for a wheelchair ramp, and money for home renovations to make living in her own home feasible for her in her last years of life. The feds wanted all manner of forms filling out in triplicate and bids tendered for proposed work to be done. We had paperwork sent back to us several times for re-doing. We had to re-apply twice after time limits ran out on our application they'd fucked us around just long enough. Three years later there was still no cheque in the mail, and the woman died of old age. The feds don't give corporations that kind of bureaucratic bullshit when CEOs of profitable businesses come to them with caps in hand looking for handouts from Canadian taxpayers. Our corporate welfare system of socialism for rich people is much more efficient than the biziness they give to native people. Native people have had to put up with similar bullshit from a succession of stoogeuacratic federal governments in Ottawa for too long.
I agree, Fidel.
Will add that even when the government attaches strings to handouts for corporations, like they did with U.S. steel in Hamilton, they just ignore them if it suits them.
Yeah. And then there's my own family's dealings with the fascist bureaucracy in Ontario that began in the 1960s. Long-short, prospector-father discovers gold on public property. Stakes claims does assessment work, expensive diamond drilling etc not so affordable for a steel worker and his two brothers - gains company charter and sells a few hundred thousand shares. And then one day the old man discovers his gold deposit of an estimated several hundred thousand ounces of gold has been expropriated by Stalinist bureaucracy no explanations nor compensation offered. Why? Because fascist bureaucracies do that. And then some company does more exploratory diamond drilling on the property in recent years. Fascist bureaucracy won't reveal who it was or what their intentions are in general. The two old line parties didn't believe in "free enterprise" then or today. And they've been screwing well established native people out of their livelihoods in this region similarly long time.
@ Fidel #18
I didn't suggest any of those things, I said I don't think the Feds should be let off on any of their responsibilities, and I don't really want to fight with you about it.
But it is a fact that there are a lot of issues that have an impact on First Nations, and non-treaty Natives that are under provincial and municipal jurisdiction, including the main one to do with the land - natural resources, both the living things on it, and the minerals under it. I didn't make that one up, sorry.
And although no, provincial governments can't levy taxes on first nations, the fact that they control the entire economy, infrastructure, and everything right up to the borders ( including the land used for fishing, hunting and trapping) means they probably have far more direct contact and control that Ottawa does.
So it may not be part of the treaties, but it is no less of a ripoff that our premier wants to keep mining resources off the table. It is a ripoff just as glaring as that diamond mine - also under provincial jurisdiction - which is next door to Attawapiskat.
Yes, but native people at Attwapaskat are not complaining about a lack of mineral rights or mining opportunities at the moment. At least, it's not an immediate concern for people forced to live in tents this winter and-or forced to abandon their third world conditions in a time of emergency due to a lack of basic necesseties iof life in general.
Ten years ago the feds were building 50 new native schools a year in Canada. This year they built one.
I'm not arguing with you over whether or not the province is to blame for anything, including the responsibility to ensure access to clean drinking water for all Ontarians. That is as much McGuinty's responsibility as it was for Mike Harris during the tainted water scandal at Walkerton. The NDP began spending money on clean water projects here in the North during Rae's government, but all that was quickly reversed under Harris and that government's about face return to neoliberal ideology in Ontario.
But the feds are surely shirking their responsbilities to all Canadians to ensure that provinces and municipalities(and native reserves under federal jurisdiction long time) have funding for basic infrastructure, like native schools and the right to health care. All in all, Smith, how do you like the fed's ideologically-dtriven cutbacks and defunding of transfers to provinces, and downloading and general all around shirking now?
I don't like it at all, Fidel. I don't think I said anything to imply that I approve of it.
Anyway, good to know we aren't having a disagreement over this.
Video by MP Charlie Angus and MPP Gilles Bisson, November 2011
National Chief Shawn Atleo was just on P&P and said 1) blow up the Indian Act 2) start a new relationship with the feds and 3) start over.
Nycole Turmel is in the community and will be phoning in to Evan Solomon on P&P in one minute!
ETA: Well, that was a brief conversation. Yes, she's shocked and says ot's complicated - but she also feels it's a viable community and jobs can be found.
Earlier on P&P with Shawn Atleo as guest, it was pointed out that the DeBeers mine is 90 km away, but apparently few if any folk from Attawapiskat are working there. If Debeers is making megatons of money that money needs to be shared with native communities in the north.
The only way any of this is going to change is when people in the south actually care enough to start raising hell in the south where the decisions are made.
There was a lot of proclaimed support for FN rights during the occupy protests and marches, perhaps we should be organizing using that as a base to get a movement going to demand we talk about short and long term solutions to this. We also need to start a dialogue somewhow so that ordinary canadians can get educated about FN history and why we find ourselves in this predicament. Canadians lack of knowledge is a major barrier and i think it's why we can raise tens of millions for crises in other countries but people here still think it's not a problem.
sidenote: does anyone know where a good place to look for info on government funding to rural towns would be? i'd like to know, with all the complaints about funding for reserves being "too much", i'd like to see how much the government provides non reserve communities/corporate subsidies...
I love how Conservatives suddenly become communists when it comes to finances on reserves. They're just fine with a huge disparity of income between rich and poor in their own communities, but when it comes to reserves, they blame "the Chiefs" and leadership for having salaries comparable to other municipal leaders' salaries for the job they're doing. Suddenly, these free market Cons are all for splitting the money equally between everyone, but only on reserves, certainly not in their own communities and cities.
People who live on reserves aren't stupid. If they thought their leadership was running off with all the community's money, then I think they'd find a way to hold those leaders accountable, just as we find ways to hold our leaders accountable. I think that if the leadership was as corrupt as the Cons and the media are hinting they are, the community members, who have been quite vocal about the conditions they're living in, would have said so.
As far as I can tell, that hasn't happened.
I love how Conservatives suddenly become communists when it comes to finances on reserves.
More like fascists. Here's how Harper tried to turn this tragedy into political capital:
Harper defends government treatment of reserve called a "national disgrace"
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is defending his government's treatment of an impoverished First Nation in northern Ontario, and raising questions about how millions of dollars in taxpayers' money earmarked for the community have been spent.
"This government has spent some $90 million since coming to office just on Attawapiskat. That is over $50,000 for every man, woman and child in the community," Harper said Tuesday in the House of Commons as debate heated up over the Attawapiskat reserve.
"Obviously, we are not very happy that the results do not seem to have been achieved for that. We are concerned about that. We have officials looking into it and taking action."
So, Harper's "solution" will be his legislation to require disclosure of finances by First Nations - divide and rule.
My question is, where exactly do the opposition parties stand on the self-government and autonomous rights of First Nations? Or will they be afraid of being tarred with the brush of defending "corruption"?
They haven't spent money on anything. They supposed to be fulfilling a treaty obligation by paying back (and are failing miserably).
And $50,000 per capita over five years works out to $833 a month.
Does that include infrastructure, health and education and social benefits?
Doesn't sound remotely adequate, or impressive to me.
Hate to think about it, Smith, but it'll be six years next month.
And it's not worthwhile analyzing the spending. Once we start that, we're on Harper's agenda.
I don't know about that. I think they have gotten away with things for so long because Canadians have NOT been paying attention to the numbers.
So sorry, taking out a calculator and looking at the facts is not the same thing as taking out a Harper party membership. Lofty ideals aside, it all comes down to numbers, resources, needs and limits.
I think taking it apart makes it clear that the big impressive number he is throwing around is actually the opposite, and what appears to be overwhelming support is calculated starvation,
And speaking of numbers, and starvation, I read on their wikipedia page that people in that community have to pay, in advance, by money order for every high-priced item they buy before it gets flown in by plane. Even if that is only half true, it is a sobering thought.
And they are talking about the cost of shipping building supplies. How much would it cost to set up a small sawmill and used the resources which are right there?
The Federal government has announced the remote James Bay community of Attawapiskat will go under third-party management amid a housing crisis.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan, who announced the measures in question period Wednesday, told the House of Commons that "urgent health and safety issues" in the northern Ontario community needed immediate action.
"The Government of Canada has informed the chief that we are placing the community in third-party management to ensure community needs are addressed," Duncan said.
"Part of the manager's role will be to administer my department's funding which is normally managed by the First Nation directly."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/30/attawapiskat-wednesday.ht...@ Caissa
Wow... nice way for Harper to cast blame. Before anyone has looked at the situation on the ground they turn the story into their funding being mis-managed, and they take everything out of the hands of the elected local government.
Same thing with this very odd story in the globe:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/locals-disagree-on-whos-to-...
Most of it is commentary about the situation there, and on northern First Nations generally. There is one paragraph, buried, which mentions the divided blame that the headline is all about. There is nothing specific at all though, and no sources are quoted.
Attawapiskat Finances
And it's not worthwhile analyzing the spending. Once we start that, we're on Harper's agenda.
Despite my post above, I do agree.
Ok, in light of Harper's fascistic action of re-colonizing the Attawapiskat First Nation - for their own good, no doubt, because after all, well, you know, heh heh - I think I need to repeat my question of this morning (post #39) and get some quick answers:
My question is, where exactly do the opposition parties stand on the self-government and autonomous rights of First Nations? Or will they be afraid of being tarred with the brush of defending "corruption"?
Maybe we could hear from the future leader of the Liberal party - Bob Rae?
How about individual answers from all the NDP leadership candidates - or maybe Mme Turmel, who has been there and not yet done that?
ETA: Here's a working link to the Globe article Smith posted upthread.
Yes, who's been pocketing millions of dollars, and where are the receipts? It sounds like the Harpers knew that money was being misspent and are now covering it up. Could be a scandal in the making.
Heard on CBC tonight that DeBeers has so far made $500million from their mine 80 km from Attawapiskt, while paying royalties of just $10.5 million to the community. The commentator suggested that DeBeers be forced to pay more.
I just read this article and the comment
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/30/attawapiskat-wednesday.ht...
And i wish that i never read thoses comment, they are full of trolling and bigoted.
And what shock me the most is the number of agreement with the most racist of them.
NDP Challenges Harper to Visit Attawapiskat Do political conservatives really care?
Is this Steve Harper's way of saying they are asleep at the switch in Ottawa as usual without full-time NDP critics telling them how to do their jobs?
A FB friend sent this: Dealing with comments about Attawapiskat
For once, Stephen Harper is on the right track. Activists within the community also want a full audit. The chief makes 71 thousand a year tax free. What is her house like? There are 10 or more councillors making 35 thousand on average tax free. THe village manager makes 86 thousand tax free. 80 million was put into the community over the past five years and it still looks like a garbage dump. The Province also put in $$$. What happened to that money? If a third of it was for education, why is there no working school in the community? These are questions that should be answered regardless of ideology. Or else, you can throw more money into a massive black hole, without examination,
Activists within the community also want a full audit.
Just curious, but what is your source for that? I saw one CBC interview with one person who thought the federal government's move might help. I haven't seen or read anything else specific - certainly not anything like your statement.
And I take it you read the link in the post just before yours.
I'll ignore post #44 for now, but it's nice to know that Stephen Harper fans think babble represents enough of a challenge to have to pay personal visits.
Attawapiskat action by Ottawa draws fire
Bravo!
Atleo on Wednesday slammed Ottawa’s response to the Attawapiskat crisis.
“Ottawa knows best what is for First Nations and imposes its will? That legacy has not worked and that is the status quo we must smash.”
Yes.
Ad hominem arguments from bullies who assume I am a Stephen Harper fan don't address the substance of the issue. Smith W., The activists are speaking up you'll hear more from them, and it takes courage to do this in these small communities. Ms. Spence is in crisis. She's lost her 71 thousand dollar (tax free) job.
Ad hominem arguments from bullies who assume I am a Stephen Harper fan don't address the substance of the issue. Smith W., The activists are speaking up you'll hear more from them, and it takes courage to do this in these small communities. Ms. Spence is in crisis. She's lost her 71 thousand dollar (tax free) job.
In other words you made it up.
Good to know. It is not good to have baseless claims lingering in the air unchallenged. Some people might assume there is some truth to them.
And I guess you didn't read that post or you would actually know that part of that is her work expenses. But really, why do you have a problem with people earning a fair wage? And why do you think that is the central "substance" of the issue?
If you are looking to pin this on someone, rather than actually talking about substandard housing, perhaps you should ask about how the Minister justifies his salary, since the situation there has already been under co-management for some time, and ultimately he is responsible.
John Duncan was just on CBC saying the co-manager in Attawapiskat is First Nation and has no connection to the government whatsoever.
What are the baseless claims? I haven't made anything up. People are speaking out in the town, I've heard their comments on the radio and TV. Is 71000 a fair wage? It is a town of 1400. The Chief also received another 2000 in travel expenses. The mayors in towns with 1400 people don't make 71000 tax free a year because the tax base won't support it. For example, The mayor of Kelowna BC, a town of 130 thousand, makes 70 thousand a year. I'm not pinning this on anyone in particular. We don't know exactly how the money has been spent yet. But evidence that not much has been done for the people is apparent in the condition of the town. The minister's salary is irrelevant as he is not paid from money contributed under the Indian Act. However, he or she is overseeing more than a town of 1400. Though perhaps he should take a salary cut if he's found negligent in some way.
John Duncan was just on CBC saying the co-manager in Attawapiskat is First Nation and has no connection to the government whatsoever.
That may be so. All it means is that the federal government (which is ultimately responsible) would have had plenty of prior warning about the situation there.
This latest reaction of theirs - seizing power while they leave it to others to provide relief - is clearly just a ploy to cast blame at anyone but themselves.
Yes, absolutely. Harper and Duncan are playing the 'blame game' to the hilt.
A Plains Cree-speaking Métis woman in Montreal explains the issues in her blog.
A Plains Cree-speaking Métis woman in Montreal explains the issues in her blog.
Boom Boom already linked there in post #43 - but it definitely deserves being linked to twice or more.
Kimkimkim, please frequent other sites if you want to post anti-aboriginal slurs. They are not welcome here, and neither are you. We don't waste time with Harper's disgraceful talking points (soundly refuted by the blog posted at #43 and #54) and we don't waste time on diversionary lies. We see a humanitarian crisis like the one in Attawapiskat and we talk about how to solve it. Not about how the people there deserve what they get. Ciao.
or better yet, kim could inform herself about why these issues exist as opposed to simply going somehwere else to spout nonsense claims about this issue revolving around the salaries of band officials.
CBC reporting that 1) the Opposition has called John Duncan"incompetent", and, 2) that Harper has just finished his meeting with Shawn Atleo, and has called a Crown - Frst Nations summit for January 24, 2012 to discuss long term solutions.
CBC reporting that 1) the Opposition has called John Duncan"incompetent", and, 2) that Harper has just finished his meeting with Shawn Atleo, and has called a Crown - Frst Nations summit for January 24, 2012 to discuss long term solutions.
A long-term solution like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna_Accord
More likely a long-term delaying tactic.
..great video
Attawapiskat: When Duncan met Angus on the stairs...
December 1, 2011 2:50 PM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2011/12/attawapiskat-when-duncan-met-angus-on-the-stairs.html
Attawapiskat: When Duncan met Angus on the stairs...
December 1, 2011 2:50 PM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2011/12/attawapiskat-when-duncan-met-angus-on-the-stairs.html
I came to this thread because I just thought I heard on CBC that Duncan was blaming Angus for not telling him sooner. I was sure that had to be a mistake, this video confirms that it wasn't.
Oh, and Charlie's hat is cool.
Charlie is my hero, if he was running for leadership, I think he'd win hands down.
On P&P tonight Manny Jules and Bernd Christmas are calling for 'property rights' for all First Nations in Canada - not sure if they mean the same as is generally the case***. Manny Jules co-wrote Beyond The Indian Act with Tom Flanagan. They're saying that DeBeers (near Attawapiskat) needs to answer to First Nations and not to the provincial and federal governments. They are saying First Nations, with property rights, need to control resources in their territory, to give a firm foundation to contribute to the Canadian and global economies.
***We have had several threads on Property Rights and, correct me if I am wrong, we don't have "property rights" in Canada.
I can't agree about Charlie's hat, but his work on this issue has been impeccable. And Duncan is a fucking disgrace.
By the way, Âpihtawikosisân's blog about Attawapiskat facts is now up on rabble.ca's front page.
I was just over at rabble.ca - good move!
She was also interviewed on As it Happens tonight.
I wonder if this will be the excuse Harper needs to try to bring in 'property rights' in the Charter or Constitution or whatever it's called
?
$18 million a year? Sounds like a lot of money to me!
How many people live there, 1800? Even if that money was handed to everyone equally, which it can not nor should be, that would be $18M divided by 1800 people equals $10,000 plus provincial funding for another $2400 each - that's $12.4k each person a year. Wow! That's poverty level even here in a northern city and cost of living surely less than Attawapiskat. I've worked in the North and have observed how the department stores and grocery chains rip them off for everything from inadequate and lightweight winter clothing to overpriced groceries. The one town near a reserve I was at ran out of milk at least once a week.
Back in 1990 or so I worked for a US-based mineral exploration company in Northern Ontario and Manitoba. It cost them $25 bucks a day to house each of us in luxurious insulated tents with one oil stove in each, and groceries that we cooked ourselves. For anyone who knows, that's called a skeleton camp with no extras. There was no camp setup beforehand, like unionzed Longyear diamond drillers demand and receive without any haggling over the matter. We had to dig through six feet of snow to find our stuff from the summer before, and then set everything up ourselves. $25 bucks a day ... 20 years ago! And that was not any kind of environment for family living or community. We were only there temporary. Do the job and get the hell out by spring thaw.
And so I became angrier and angrier watching news repeats of Harper's most forgetable do-nothing colonial administrator of the month, whatsisname, who actually said they need to find out where "ALL of the money was spent". And the newz reporter Malewski repeated the same, that the government needs to know or find out "...where all of the money was spent." They might as well say something like, We know that what Canadian Governments spend on Attawapiskat is a pittance, and we've seen that they are living in poverty. But we are still absolutely clueless as to why they are living in poverty! It's like go and live there for a month, you fools! I thought the Harpers were stupid bastards before, and this only confirms it for me.
P&P just showed a document that shows just $4.3million has been allocated to housing in Attawapiskat since 2006. Not a lot of money when it costs $250,000 to build a house there.
..i've been watching APTN news lately. it's got some of the best reporting around. APTN Investigates is especially well done.
Third-party management: “Imposed solutions don’t work”
Attawapiskat isn’t the only First Nation in Canada under third-party management. A total of twelve First Nations are under third-party management, with another 67 under co-management (Attawapiskat’s former status) and 63 under recipient management....
Richard Wagamese was on As It Happens this evening. Very interesting interview. Here's one topic he touched on (my attempt at transcription):
Q: What's wrong with him alluding to 100 other communities?
A: Nothing - as long as he names them! If they exist, and they're part of this country, then Canadians deserve to know that some of our citizens are living in Third Country [sic] conditions, and suffering abuses. They need to know that.
Q: Why do think that when he's public, and he's talking about the situation being endemic, that he's not willing to go out there and name these communities?
A: One of the biggest issues is that the funding for the Assembly comes right from the government, and I think that the cozy nature of the relationship, in order to maintain economic survival, and the future of the Assembly of First Nations, depends on a certain tendency to not ruffle the tail-feathers of the federal government.
I actually kind of wondered about that when Atleo spoke - why we didn't hear names, see a list - what's the downside? Anyway, the rest of what Wagamese says is quite interesting and in no way apologetic for the government - quite the contrary, he pokes holes into the whole "3rd party management" thing by quoting chapter and verse of the Indian Act saying that the minister already controls, by law and Constitution, all funds and all spending.
The interview is here, in Hour 1, about 9 minutes in.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/02/f-first-nations-housing.h...
Mike Holmes on Attawapiskat: "We need to stop building crap. It's as simple as that."
I haven't been watching a lot of T.V. coverage on this, because I can't afford to replace a T.V. I've thrown a shoe through.
But it struck me, exposing myself to a few minutes of Evan Soloman's infomercial on P&P, and a quick peak through my fingers at the CTV equivelant, that for some reason, P.R. company spokesliars suddenly became experts at building construction, Indian Affairs, Northern climate and geology.
I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????
I really wish I had paid close attention to who said what about Attawapiskat on P&P this week. I'd like to lift that Evan Soloman up by his greasy lapels and scream into his face. Anything.
Actually, Solomon has been attacking Duncan and his deputy relentlessly for two weeks now (and, this week, Peter Mackay).
Actually, Solomon has been attacking Duncan and his deputy relentlessly for two weeks now (and, this week, Peter Mackay).
His coverage on The House this morning wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. He missed a good opportunity when the assistant minister he interviewed said he didn't want to talk about funding levels, and in the very next interview former minister Chuck Strahl admitted that First Nations were being forced to allocate scarce resources.
And of course they touched on the issue of private ownership, which seems to be playing into Harper's hands, and the fact that much of this country's mineral resources are on FN land - something which cannot be pointed out enough.
As far as I know FNs own about one percent of the land in the province of Ontario. Most of FN land was stolen from them long time ago. Their current land ownership rates are not even proportional with the percentage of FN population. But I don't doubt that what little land they do have is mineral and resource-rich and even inconveniently situated adjacent to significant diamond and other valuable mineral deposits.
Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
First Nation people do not conceive of ownership of the land in the same way that Western European peoples do. First Nation people believe that the land is the source of life for all living beings, the land should be protected, and preserved because the land is there for the children yet unborn.
Western people see land ownership and the protection of the right to own land and property as paramount, and their laws are designed to uphold those rights.
When treaties were signed between these nations, this fundamental difference was not completely understood by both sides. Nevertheless, our people have held to their promise to share the land with the newcomers. We have also held to the right to continue our livelihoods of hunting and fishing in our traditional territories, which were not limited to the little pieces of land now called reserves. This right to a livelihood on the land means that companies cannot just go in and tear up the land to obtain minerals or trees. Especially considering the modern methods of mining and forestry, there has been an even greater impact on the land by the resource extraction industries. Indian people have begun to uphold our responsibilities as stewards of the land, by using the Canadian judicial system to protect not only our rights, but the land and waters, and the living beings that depend on these also. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld our position that these companies cannot just go in and develop, and that there must be proper consultation with the First Nations.
First Nations take their responsibilities to the land seriously.
In the white sense of it, First Nations may only “own” 1% of the land (as Fidel notes), the other 99% is not owned by the white government either, if we are talking about the First Nation perspective. Land cannot be owned, and should not be owned, just as the air and water should not be owned. The land, air, and waters are there for the benefit of all, and not just including human beings.
Now I know that some of you are going to say, well what about the poverty that is so evident in First Nations, Attawapiskat being the current example. If we were allowed even a small percentage of the resources that have been extracted on our lands, we would not be poor, we would have managed them properly for the benefit of all. We had been doing that for thousands of years before the arrival of the white man. We are not against development as some would say, only we are concerned about how that development proceeds. And the events now happening around the world only serve to support the rightness and sensibleness, if I can use the term, of how we used the land as indigenous peoples. So if we were given the opportunity to say how development proceeds, I am sure we would have come up with solutions/decisions/ opportunities that would have benefitted all, and not just those companies who are now exceedingly rich because they do not care about community.
But that was not allowed, and under the Indian Act, we were not even allowed to make those decisions that other communities take for granted. So now here we are, in the process of regaining those lost skills of self-governance, and our belief in ourselves as nations.
And I would hope that the white, western, European peoples, who have been in charge to this point, to take a good look around at all that you have accomplished, and see if it has resulted in the betterment of the lives of the people and the protection of lands and waters that we depend on and that are held in trust for generations not yet born.
Excellent post, zazzo. I agree.
And we will hear all kinds of arguments for property ownership for FNs in the near future. I think much of it will sound a lot like Peruvian neoliberal economist Hernando de Soto's argument for private property rights for native people in that country. It's all lies - a ruse for separating aboriginal people from the land by legal maneuvering in the end. Much will always have more as a rule.
Thank you thank you thank you for your post zazzo!
Actually, Solomon has been attacking Duncan and his deputy relentlessly for two weeks now (and, this week, Peter Mackay).
It's who Soloman is giving a podium to. The bit I caught had some P.R. company hack saying how her brother built housing for natives, and how it was "trashed" a year or two later. (God, I wish I could remember her name)
I doubt he'll have her back on to face questions about the kind of shoddy work her brother did, and how here stupid comments conducts the racist choir.
Excellent post, zazzo. I agree.
And we will hear all kinds of arguments for property ownership for FNs in the near future. I think much of it will sound a lot like Peruvian neoliberal economist Hernando de Soto's argument for private property rights for native people in that country. It's all lies - a ruse for separating aboriginal people from the land by legal maneuvering in the end. Much will always have more as a rule.
I posted this in the new property rights thread: Harper pushes property rights - September 29, 2011
Note John Duncan's name in the article.
Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
First Nation people do not conceive of ownership of the land in the same way that Western European peoples do. First Nation people believe that the land is the source of life for all living beings, the land should be protected, and preserved because the land is there for the children yet unborn.
Western people see land ownership and the protection of the right to own land and property as paramount, and their laws are designed to uphold those rights.
When treaties were signed between these nations, this fundamental difference was not completely understood by both sides. Nevertheless, our people have held to their promise to share the land with the newcomers. We have also held to the right to continue our livelihoods of hunting and fishing in our traditional territories, which were not limited to the little pieces of land now called reserves. This right to a livelihood on the land means that companies cannot just go in and tear up the land to obtain minerals or trees. Especially considering the modern methods of mining and forestry, there has been an even greater impact on the land by the resource extraction industries. Indian people have begun to uphold our responsibilities as stewards of the land, by using the Canadian judicial system to protect not only our rights, but the land and waters, and the living beings that depend on these also. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld our position that these companies cannot just go in and develop, and that there must be proper consultation with the First Nations.
First Nations take their responsibilities to the land seriously.
In the white sense of it, First Nations may only “own” 1% of the land (as Fidel notes), the other 99% is not owned by the white government either, if we are talking about the First Nation perspective. Land cannot be owned, and should not be owned, just as the air and water should not be owned. The land, air, and waters are there for the benefit of all, and not just including human beings.
Now I know that some of you are going to say, well what about the poverty that is so evident in First Nations, Attawapiskat being the current example. If we were allowed even a small percentage of the resources that have been extracted on our lands, we would not be poor, we would have managed them properly for the benefit of all. We had been doing that for thousands of years before the arrival of the white man. We are not against development as some would say, only we are concerned about how that development proceeds. And the events now happening around the world only serve to support the rightness and sensibleness, if I can use the term, of how we used the land as indigenous peoples. So if we were given the opportunity to say how development proceeds, I am sure we would have come up with solutions/decisions/ opportunities that would have benefitted all, and not just those companies who are now exceedingly rich because they do not care about community.
But that was not allowed, and under the Indian Act, we were not even allowed to make those decisions that other communities take for granted. So now here we are, in the process of regaining those lost skills of self-governance, and our belief in ourselves as nations.
And I would hope that the white, western, European peoples, who have been in charge to this point, to take a good look around at all that you have accomplished, and see if it has resulted in the betterment of the lives of the people and the protection of lands and waters that we depend on and that are held in trust for generations not yet born.
Beautifully put, zazzo and worthy of reapeating over and over again.
Harper has aligned himself with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) and rewarded their last treacherous leader with a seat in the Senate. Brazeau did not hold dear the goals of the organization's predecessors under the Native Council of Canada. He seems adept at creating division, making him a useful tool for Harper.
Oh, so perfectly put zazzo. Thank you.
It's also worth pointing out that the liberalist, capitalist strategy of dealing with land claims as property--with economic rather than ontological value; with resources that can be rented, purchased or hired rather than shared, honoured and sustained; as divisible, circumscribable, partitionable--has sought, somewhat successfully, to undermine this understanding of land as inextricable from culture, from language, from a way of life.
None of this will change until the land is returned not to the people who own it, but to the people to whom it belongs.
I caught a bit of Mansbridge this evening. Shawn Atleo says that out of about 625 aboriginal communities, about a hundred are in similar circumstances as Attawapiskat.
Mike Holmes: 'Stop Building Crap' On Reserves
Actually, Solomon has been attacking Duncan and his deputy relentlessly for two weeks now (and, this week, Peter Mackay).
It's who Soloman is giving a podium to. The bit I caught had some P.R. company hack saying how her brother built housing for natives, and how it was "trashed" a year or two later. (God, I wish I could remember her name)
I doubt he'll have her back on to face questions about the kind of shoddy work her brother did, and how here stupid comments conducts the racist choir.
Her name is Joan Crockett (not Crawford) and she's a regular, Tommy, on every week. As I recall she was sort of dancing around the issue and Evan then pressed her to speak plainly. And, as I recall, John Ivison of all people then said "Sure - houses tend to get damaged when lived in by non-owners. That's pretty common with everyone - not just native persons."
ETA: Mixed up the name.
I don't remember a Joan Crawford on P&P, and I watch the show almost every day.
Thank you, Pookie.
I will say more on P&P, now, and have done with it as there are bigger fish to fry on this thread.
But think about it, for a minute, like this. We go on about the "1%" and power and all that, but have you ever wondered what those avenues of power-- conduits of power are? Whether we are talking about an orchestrated removal of the Occupy protestors, or manufacturing consent for a war with brown people, or, well, anything where the public is tricked into serving the interests of the 1% over the 99%-- one of the principle conduits of power are P.R. companies. People don't hire P.R. companies to tell the truth. People can do that for themselves for free. They are hired liars, and they are the scum of the earth. And Solomon is an eager fasciliator of that conduit. That's why this poster gets upset.
On to the subject at hand; Romeo Saganash on the crisis:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/romeo-saganash/attawapiskat-emergency_b_112...
"The plan is that the reserves will fail and people will have to move away. Those who don't die first.
That plan is what John Duncan is hinting at when he talks about "unviable reserves." They're pressing to close them down and send people into the cities as they tried with Kashechewan. They are introducing legislation to privatize reserve lands so that they can be sold or taken in default of loans. The fact that this will make resources, like the diamonds around Attawapiskat, more readily and cheaply available to developers is pure coincidence, I'm sure." Italics mine.
So, it seems I was on to something after all.
It struck me that Canadian diamonds enjoy a marketing advantage because they are not "Blood Diamonds". This plan obviously puts that marketing advantage at risk.
Particularly if we write to Canadian jewelry companies and point that out, how a negative rebranding of our diamonds would have an unfortunate consequence with their business.
I trust thier lobbying abilities more than ours.
What think ye?
I think we have to start protecting First Nations from the Harper Government that, according to Saganash, is going to try to drive them off their lands. That's pretty fucking scary.
Well, maybe we shouldn't think about it in partizan terms so much... I do believe these problems stretch back to Liberal administrations and the Liberal government in Ontario is similarly 'asleep at the switch'.
I think we have to remove the incentive for such a plan, and create incentives for the government to do things right.
And if diamonds are at the bottom of this, then that's where pressure has to be brought.
The diamonds may be a part of it, but also First Nations in BC trying to prevent the Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline from going through may be another. I do believe the Harper Government sees First Nations as an obstacle to selling out the country entirely to private business interests.
Oh boy, this is the topic of discussion on "Cross Country Check-up".
Did anybody see this? I'm embarassed that this type of "News" is alive in Canada. It's disgusting. It's actually made me very angry.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/1305119208001#.Ttvnxej-4RQ.facebook
That clip took me fifteen seconds to turn off.
Oh boy, this is the topic of discussion on "Cross Country Check-up".
I am listening to it right now.
If you can resist the urge to throw your radio against the wall during some parts, there are other opinions which are very insightful, and absolutely true.
And I am getting a message that the Ezra clip is unavailable. I'll try again.
Did anybody see this? I'm embarassed that this type of "News" is alive in Canada. It's disgusting. It's actually made me very angry.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/1305119208001#.Ttvnxej-4RQ.facebook
Levant is a moron. Ottawa and Ontario combined do not give anything close to $34 million a year to Attawapiskat.
And besides attacking the feds for being derelict of their funding obligations to native people in general over the years, Angus' riding of James Bay-Timmins is huge and somewhere close to as large as all of the conservative ridings in the Southern half of that corrupt petro state of Alberta combined.
Levant is a good candidate for a Soviet style re-education program to learn basic arithmetic and how not to be so offensive to the public and living things in general.
Catherine from Mining Watch just gave the CBC a smackdown for not researching the DeBeers angle enough.
Good, another smack down from a Member of the Mohawk Nation, accusing some Canadians of still operating in that paternalistic POV. He telling Rex how the FNs should be the ones directing the exploitation of their lands and that Canada needs to recognize that it doesn't have the right to keep taking and taking from the indigenous peoples' lands. He reminded Rex that the structure already exists for how the feds should relate to the sovereign indigenous peoples. "We are not Canada's people".
ETA: Bravo Seth Laforet.
Did anybody see this? I'm embarassed that this type of "News" is alive in Canada. It's disgusting. It's actually made me very angry.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/1305119208001#.Ttvnxej-4RQ.facebook
Just wait until the crtitics of CBC see what else Pierre Karl Peladeau has in "mind" for the Canadian public...after he and Steve have eliminated public broadcasting. Matter of fact, who will be going into the north to bring out the stories when the CBC is gone? Not Ezra.
Âpihtawikosisân used to post on babble under the handle Yiwah. It's a shame she no longer does!
CBC reporting that the 'thrid party manager' has been kicked out of the community by Chief and Council. John Duncan says the situation is "volatile".
APTN National News
OTTAWA–Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says the outside consultant appointed by Aboriginal Affairs to take over the band’s finances has been kicked out of the community and won’t be allowed back in.
Spence, who is currently in Ottawa, met with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan in his Parliament Hill precinct office for about an hour late Monday afternoon.
Spence said she told Duncan the community planned to fight his decision to put a third-party manager in charge of the band’s finances.
“I told him I don’t want to see a third-party on my reserve,” said Spence. “He is not coming to the community. He did this morning, we sent him out of there.”....
http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/12/05/attawapiskat-chief-spence-says-depa...
Âpihtawikosisân used to post on babble under the handle Yiwah. It's a shame she no longer does!
Oh really? I used to really enjoy Yiwah's posts - and her posts on her blog are excellent. Not sure if anyone noticed, but it was published in the National Post yesterday as well.
Shawn Atleo is calling for an end to the Indian Act, and is also pointing out how many reserves are in similar situations as Attawapiskat. I think major reform has to happen, with the end result being more self-governance for First Nations. The Nisg'aa Treaty should serve as an example. Even if Harper announced that enough building supplies were being sent up to Attawapiskat this winter to meet the housing need and build the school - that does not address the long-term issues, or the other reserves.
Reserves are also tiny, especially considering the remote location of many of them. Large swaths of "crown" land need to be returned to First Nations control.
What's next? Will Harper send in the Army to enforce third-party rule?
The media's been braying for it.
Headline on CBC Newsworld just now:
NDP MP: Government trying to provoke confrontation in Attawapiskat
I think First Nations should occupy Parliament Hill in protest!
Continued here.