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Ah the Sun….and Lorne Gunter…..again. Gunter a born and bred Albertan,….. again. But let’s have a look anyhow at the legitimacy of what he said.
The millions of taxpayer dollars Ottawa ships to each reserve every year are supposed to be accounted for with a proper audit before the next yar's payments begin. On half or more Canada's reserves, this almost never happens.
Well to start with the money given to the First Nations people is their money from the fruits of what Canada takes in. This is the ‘rent’ for the land as prescribed in the treaties with the First Nations people. Where ‘exactly’ the money comes from cannot be traced to ‘taxpayers’. This is a myth started long ago and people have just accepted. The government gets its money from many, many sources.
Next there is the comment that an audit must be done on all Reserves every year but he then goes on to say that almost never happens. Where does the Albertan working for Sun media get this information? Dr Palmater who worked for the Dept of Justice and Indian Affairs says that ‘every’ Reservation is audited by Indian Affairs every year. Hummmmmm…..who to believe…..someone who worked there and who has experience, or some commentator from Sun Media?
Take the northern Ontario Cree reserve of Attawapiskat. Canadians know from a comprehensive audit of the band's books that 81% of the band's transactions lacked adequate documentation for the auditors to determine whether they were legitimate or not.
Attawapiskat seems to have become all that the anti-Natives have to hold on to. To begin with any one’s books are easy to audit especially with a forensic audit. It’s done all the time with Corporations who have massively larger bookkeeping than a small Reserve. I won’t disagree that the bookkeeping on the Reserve may not have been as exact as some would like it….but if there are missing receipts etc they can always be discovered by going back to those people and firms who gave them in the first place.
Under the Indian Act, the federal government must make its annual payments for health, education, welfare and community programs not to individual aboriginals but to chiefs and councils to disperse.
The dispersal is true. However first the Chief and council must also take into consideration the money that is needed for the whole of the community. Then you have to take in the costs of those necessities that either the people or the government say must be done. Then you have to take into consideration where the Rez is located. The costs in Southern Ontario are probably a ¼ of the costs for a northern Reservation but yet they get the same if not possibly less money. I don’t know all the intricacies of how the government disperses money or how much each Reservation gets and neither does Gunter, so before he starts making insinuations and subtle innuendoes……maybe he should learn to be a real reporter and get all the information ….first.
But it is not just the Indian Act - which also prohibits most private property on reserves - that stands in the way.
There is nothing wrong with the concept of no private ownership of land on reserves. This is the way the First Nations have always been and before the white man came along with their concepts of government and ownership that were forced on the First Nations people. The Native people have their own piece of land on a Rez and although they cannot sell it to a non-Native they can do with it as they wish. They can build a long house on it or a 300 thousand dollar home. The holding of the land as Reservation land is a way of keeping the community together. Look at it as a palisade around and encampment in order to not be invaded yet again.
Multiple misguided court decisions have also fed the belief among some aboriginals that treaty rights are unlimited and that their often tiny communities are really sovereign nations that have the right to demand nation-to-nation relations with Ottawa.
Why are they ‘misguided’? Because the court rulings did work for those who want to decimate the First Nations people? You bet.
Treaties are agreements and they are….unlimited…..and if you read the treaties the First Nations people ARE a sovereign Nation. Gunter should read the treaties.
As I have said many times before……there are a lot of hypocrites out there in Canada, especially those who want to destroy the Native people. Those same people would want any agreement or contract made with them…..kept. The Canadian government has agreements with people both citizens in the country and out of the country and they demand they are …….kept. England, the Crown, has agreements with people and they want them…..kept. But for some reason when it comes to the First Nations people…..some people feel they do not deserve the same …….respect.
Undoubtedly, there is room for compromise on both sides, but until aboriginals accept that their communities are villages and towns, not nations, and accept ownership of many of their own problems, progress will be impossible.
No, there is no room for compromise. An agreement is an agreement……and Gunter has to grow up and deal with it. So do a lot of other people. And the First Nations people ARE a Nation. He has to deal with that as well. Gunter must have a lovely house somewhere. I wonder how he would like it if suddenly the government or the bank said they were changing the agreement and he was now going to lose his home. Suddenly he would have a taste of what it feels like to be Native.
Everyone has to account for their money like landlords every year claim their rent ... i don't understand anyone being against them having to have their act together with finances this is nothing new and is common practise for EVERYONE or atleast should be.
So are you saying that if someone rents a home or an apartment or a store front that they have a right to ask the landlord what they are doing with the rent they are given? Are they spending it wisely?
First Nations don't 'claim' their 'rent'. They are in their own 'Nation' when on the Reserve. It would be like us asking England to claim their rent in Canada. The operative word here is ......treaty.
A treaty..... is an express agreement under international law entered into by representatives of sovereign ''states'' and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an (international) agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms.
the person paying 'rent" on a condominium (much like a tribe) has every right to see that the "common" money (the money given for health and welfare of said tribe) is spent exactly as it should be
YES!!
so ALL money given for roads,housing,health,schooling MUST be accounted for DOLLAR for DOLLAR!
Within the Rez ........yes........I agree. Outside the Rez....it's technically no one's business. The Rez is just like a country of it's own. Take Canada for instance. Your elected leaders (just as leaders are elected on Reserves) have 'your' money. You trust that they will do the best with 'your' money. Some believe they do....some believe they don't. For those who believe they do spend wisely... lets say the people of Nigera started to criticize how your government spent their money, your money, you would probably tell them to mind their own business! The people within the Nation are the ones who must support or disagree with their own leaders. The unique situation with the First Nations is....they have to get their money from people who rent their property.....and then the renters have in place laws that say that they have a right to say where the money goes......and as well the renters aren't forthcoming with the full rent.
much I am sure if you give your employee $100 to put diesel in the equipment he BETTER either A-have a receipt for the full $100
or B- have some change for you
Bad analogy. The 100 dollars is mine and the truck is mine. With regards to the Native people the 100 dollars is theirs and the truck (lets call it the land) is theirs.
I am in full agreement that the members of a Reservation should be able to look at the books and see that all is being handled fairly and justly. Maybe they do, I've never asked, but I will. It might vary from Rez to Rez.
The problem with Spence and her Rez is because she...and the council and the councils before her kept what seems to be poor bookkeeping....those who dislike Native people for many reasons are using this as an encompassing idea against all Natives that 'there is something wrong .....even underhanded and maybe illegal'. However other than bad bookkeeping (excuse me for a moment while I do this)>>>>> NOTHING has been proven that she or the council have done anything wrong, illegal or underhanded! The Rez books are looked at every year by Indian Affairs ....nothing wrong. A previous audit was done on the Rez.....nothing wrong. Harper had another auditor come in and their assessment wasjust bad bookkeeping and they didn't even look at receipts in storage.
So why do people persist on continually bringing it up?............Because they desperately want something to be wrong! It gets realllllll tiring.
Nigeria's taxpayers don't foot the bills here.
And you don't either. If you took the time to understand the relationship and treaties with the Crown and the Canadian government and the Native people........you would understand. Not that you would like it.
You don't even know who you belong to. You can start with the oath of citizenship that although a person born here doesn't have to say it..... it still applies....
"I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen"
I may have used audit in the wrong sentence. If that is what you need then so be it. However the Dept of Indian Affairs do go over the books of every Rez every year. You can pick whatever word you would like.
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lol
Probably you missed the post. When were you going to come up and go fishing? There's a place on the river by Benmiller called the Black Hole. Good spot. I guarantee you will catch something.
2nd the dept. of indian affairs LOOKS at the books but in no way audits them. They do not have the time.
Oh I didn't realize.....how long have you been with Indian Affairs?
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