Chief Spence definitely not "idle"

[puckstopshere]

Below is a letter written by a well informed friend of mine.  He is a teacher of 30 years.  He is probably the most knowledgeable individual that I know when it comes to current affairs, politics and the world siutation.  He is meticulous in his research.  The letter is in response to a column in the Londoner:

For several years now I have read your weekly column in the Londoner and found it always to be the voice of reason and logic.

I don't wish to disparage the paper but it is often the only column I find in this publication worth my time to peruse. That is why I was most surprised by the stance you took in your last article: Chief deserves a meeting with the PM.

Columnist Christina Blizzard provided sobering details which suggested otherwise in her Saturday, January 21st, 2012 column in the London Free Press: Help is there, Attawapiskat must step up (E2). Since 2008 De Beers has given the reserve $10 - 11 million in direct payments to the chief. Under the impact-benefit agreement (IBA) the company is not allowed to reveal the full amount it pays into the trust fund. Neither would Chief Theresa Spence reveal those details when Ms Blizzard requested clarification. As Ms Blizzard pointed out in the aforementioned column, what is known is that $325 million in contracts have been awarded to the wholly owned Attawapiskat businesses or joint ventures to date. This for an on reserve population of merely 1,549 (2011 figures: Wikipedia). Last year alone, the reserve got $51 million in contracts. Your article did not reference these sizeable sources of funding, only the $90 million the federal government additionally gave and for which disbursement of funds Spence refuses to give an auditing.

Neither did you point out as Kris Sims did (Spence, kin made $221K+ in a year. London Free Press: 4 January 2013: B2) that she and her partner made some $250,000 last year alone. Nor, did you point out as MACLEAN'S magazine revealed this week (Hungry for change: 14 Jan. 2013: 11) that Theresa Spence is using a Facebook account as a global vehicle for donations to go directly into the account of her partner, Clayton Kennedy, co-manager of Attawapiskat. And how will those undoubtedly sizeable global contributions be dispersed or audited if the Canadian people themselves are not permitted to know how their own enormous outlays for the Attawapiskat reserve were spent?

In your article on Thursday, you allude to the larger problem of some 100 out of the Canadian reserves being in dire poverty but not to the fact that 80 First Nations band chiefs and council members raked in more income in 2008 and 2009 than the Prime Minister himself and that more than 220 paid themselves more than their respective provincial Premiers earn (Chiefs' pay raises taxpayer ire. London Free Press. 23 Nov. 2010: B3). Additionally, more than 704 reserve politicians made more than $100,000 though the average population of First Nations reserves was merely 1,142 as that same article highlighted.

In short, for the first time in my acquaintance I believe you betrayed your journalistic integrity. Possibly, it was because you mention members of your family and friends being First Nations people?

I would agree with Herman Gooden (Attawapiskat chief fronts a movement stuck in neutral. London Free Press. 5 January 2013: E2) that Theresa Spence is practicing "a kind of emotional blackmail." Likewise, you are as well by your careful editing out of salient details necessary for your readers understanding. Your article was is a true example of demagoguery. And in light of your other journalistic efforts, I find that a source of true regret.

[pigdog47]

Puck - I think your life has had some tremendous highs and lows, but I can't even imagine the heartache of enduring the loss of a little baby.

As to the unrelated other matter, I think if an individual is gonna say he supports Free Speech, then uttering threats against people who say things he disagrees with is hypocritical and immature.  And as far as judging who is / isn't a racist goes, I think those who sit as judges, are themselves intolerant and possibly the most small-minded people of all.   

[bb_cool_stuff]

My condolences also Puck.

Heartbreaking.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

JMPO but I think true condolences and concern for puck and his family doesn’t require grasping an additional opportunity for another ‘rant’.

[puckstopshere]

Puck….your friend from 6 Nations Rez…..what does he feel about the Native situation and the government and the racism and bigotry?

First of all, it is not my right to speak on his behalf.

We talked for quite some time and I cannot presume to remember it all.

I do know he was of mixed feelings.  On the one hand, he supports the Idle No More group.  Although, he has no plans to join any protest. 

Yes, he has encountered racism and bigotry - but on both sides of the fence.  He says there are just as many racist natives as their are whites.

He feels the Natives need a united front and need to decide amongst themselves what it is they truly need from Canada.  He says that there is too much distance between the bands - both in miles and in attitudes.  It prevents them from presenting a united front. 

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

He feels the Natives need a united front and need to decide amongst themselves what it is they truly need from Canada. He says that there is too much distance between the bands - both in miles and in attitudes. It prevents them from presenting a united front.

In many ways the same feelings I have.

I've been to 6 Nations many times. One of the best totems I ever seen was being carved in a driveway on that Rez. When I use to go there more often (friends in the Paris and Caledonia area) I would always stop in to Six to trade for sweetgrass.

Thanks for passing on his basic outlooks. 

[brandeentertainment]

I agree with you Prior it is crazy expensive I don't live in that Remote of an area but the town i live in Holtyre is one of those off the beaten paths like most reserves .. No Stores.. population about 100 and It cost me alot to have trucks deliver stuff etc. so I could only imagine but you being a Contractor you also no that The big $$$$ Comes with paying Contractors ...

When i built my home I had to get a plumber and electrician and at anywhere from $45-$90 an hr that is a majob major cost associated with Building homes..

To me I see this as a great chance to Employe natives on the reserve .. If they are skilled enough of course but They could save probably after they pay ther own people i would think 15%-20% of what they would pay to get Contractors and well saving that 15% they would also being employee families on the reserve.. To me I would see this as Opportunity if I was spencer. Really make the money go the distance..

I know cost of materials would be Expensive and let's say my esimates are wrong and they only end up saving 1% they can still provide paychecks to Families on the reserve well saving 1% or 0% but still providing work and money for those living on the reserve

I watch those house being delivered not bad nothing special though and i looked at Pre Fab homes when me and my old man and some bodies built my first one and they are not cheap mind you I didn't save too much building it with permitting and all the other costs..

I guess is what i am saying is they could take a little and make it a little bit more..

as far as it being 200 homes for 10 mill out there NO WAY not a chance and I would think to caculate the people living in a home with 4 per house hold  needing 350-400 homes and i seen those home they will not do more then 4 ..

Maybe I missed it but where does it say new houses each year? Also the houses up there have to be much different for the climate than what we live in down here. Then have you ever put in a well on rocky ground?….or a septic system? …..or even a foundation? You can’t compare construction of homes here to homes there. It’s a whole different ballgame.

It is just like my home Now Exactly in pretty much the same climate coldest times -35 -40 . i have Septic ,rocky ground with a well but i am not longer on that the guy who lived before paid about 50k to get hooked up on town water .. again I see this as a chance to having Employment within the reserve.. get goverment funding to train people in these fields...

It may cost alot up front for training and it may not save them on total cost building homes but it can make the community a little richer and self sustained with employement opportunity and i mean let's face it there is not much chance for any jobs out there ...

I was told by a friend of a friend of a friend that the last houses they brought up some of the foundations were poored before plumbing was done now that is a costly mistake ..

it seems from what I gather watching the news i am not alone in thinking the difference is coming from idle no more protest or pow wow or flash dance whatever you call it and not from Spencer who is living of Liquids like broths and soup ... i thought it was affective for maybe the first few days just to inspire the aboriginals but not they are inspired and i think her display of eating fish broth and soup is served it's purpose and now is a waste and she should be joining her people as a leader ..

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Holtyre…..I can’t even find it on Google. Let me get a magnifying glass….it may help.

You’re obviously near Mathison…..somewhere!

I did read up a bit on Holtyre though. Interesting town…interesting history. This is one sad commentary. http://www.highway11.ca/Timiskaming/22Holtyre/index.php

I don’t know what the regulations are when it comes to Natives building their own homes. Many Natives I have worked with are capable but if they had to be inspected to cover building codes…there might be a problem. There are so many rules and regulations that in many ways hinder Natives I wish I knew them all.

I watch those house being delivered not bad nothing special though.

I’ve never seen one up close but I have seen some PreFab homes that in my estimation were garbage. You have heard of the contractor on TV called Mike Holmes. He said the government has got to stop building junk. He said the wood was wrong for the climate and drywall has to be non-mould. He suggested steel girder buildings instead of wood frame. (I agree with him on that). He also said that the First Nations people have to be taught to build better buildings if they are to build them on their own.

I was told by a friend of a friend of a friend that the last houses they brought up some of the foundations were poored before plumbing was done now that is a costly mistake

Well if other contractors are doing it….yes it’s a mistake from the point of labour costs. But it can be done with a jack hammer and running the septic pipes and well pipes out later. It also depends if there is a full basement or just a crawl space. They probably poured the foundations to the PreFab measurements for some reason…either time or weather. Overall it doesn’t sound well planned out by whoever the outside contractors were.

it seems from what I gather watching the news i am not alone in thinking the difference is coming from idle no more protest or pow wow or flash dance whatever you call it and not from Spencer

I agree. Spence and Idle No More happened at the same time. What is most important is the people, both Native and other supporters, have to be taught in detail about what the government is trying to do. And as First Nations people have said….Harper may be stealing land, resources and water from the Natives…..but he is stealing it from all other Canadians as well. This government Bill is not just a Native problem…..it’s a Canadian problem.

Now I have to go and read up more about Holtyre.

[brandeentertainment]

There are so many rules and regulations that in many ways hinder Natives I wish I knew them all.

I kinda thought the same too as it kinda seems like if it was possible someone would have looked at it already.

Yeah I moved to Holtyre 2 years ago for work related reasons it truly is hicksville my wife is making me move I have a 2 year deadline LMAO 😉 .. You can not google Map my house if you tried which I find hilarious. 

I also only seen 3 Pre Fab homes on trucks I drove by them on the way to work 1 days and they were nice from the outside but like you said were probably made of junk and they would not fit a family of more then 4 comfortably.

Holtyre thrives off The gold mining Industry and used to be a busier place from what I gather but i have been here for 2 years and we got a corner store 4 months ago and it is closing LOL... Mostly french due to being so close to the border..

Alot of Reserves in my area and the natives actually had a gathering in Timmins Ontario saturday which is about 70 km from me  I didn't get to go but i have been checking out the videos all pretty nice and peaceful looking to me ..

Gotta watch the news it's about the bad paper work going on will interesting to hear either the truth or what there saying to take some heat of harpers butt

[valve37]

First Nations millionaires club

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/1741805410001

[puckstopshere]

Thanks for passing on his basic outlooks.

I should clarify something about Alex.  He considers himself to be Full.  However, he says it is probably more like 75 to 80%.  His parents are both native - father born on the reserve near Hagersville - mother born near Oshweken.

As far as he knows, his grandparents consider themselves Full.  However, he says that beyond that is anyones guess.  He thinks that it is a bit of a status symbol amongst natives to say they are Full - but in reserves lke his, near cities, it is highly unlikely that many are actually Full.

[puckstopshere]

Those who believe that many native band councils are incompetent or worse will seize the Deloitte audit of Attawapiskat First Nation with glee.

Those who believe native leaders struggle to provide housing, health care and education from federal grants that are a fraction of what is needed and owed will dismiss the report as irrelevant. Both sides, and neither side, will be right.

There is not one truth to the condition of first nations living on reserve in Canada. There are many truths – each often in conflict with the other.

Those conflicting truths could keep Stephen Harper and first-nations chiefs from actually hearing each other when they meet Friday. That’s usually what happens when the government – any government – and native leaders meet.

The Deloitte audit is anything but flattering to Chief Theresa Spence, who is on a hunger strike in an effort to get the Harper government to pay greater attention to the desperate conditions on many reserves.

From April, 2005, to November, 2011, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development transferred $104-million to the remote reserve in Northern Ontario to meet housing, education, sanitation, health care and other needs.

Thanks to staff turnover, bookkeeping changes and – presumably – general sloppiness, auditors can only account for 19 per cent of expenditures. For the rest, someone lost the receipt.

It’s important to note that no one is alleging malfeasance. Still, the 1,500 people of Attawapiskat have a right to demand that their community’s leadership do a better job of running things.

But for Jeffrey Rath, a prominent lawyer who advocates for first nations, it’s Ottawa, not Attawapiskat, that should be more accountable.

In an essay submitted to The Globe, Mr. Rath argues that economic-benefit obligations under numbered...

His clients, Mr. Rath said in an interview, see the calls for better first-nations accountability as nothing more than a political distraction from the real issue, which is the refusal by Canada to pay them what they are owed by treaty.

“A couple of hundred million per first nation would buy a lot of accountants,” he said.

But no government and no prime minister, and hardly any non-native Canadians, accept that first nations are, in fact, nations, or that they are entitled in full to the lands and revenues they claim. That’s just the truth of it.

It’s also true that, however the Aboriginal Affairs money was spent at Attawapiskat, it breaks down to less than $11,000 a year per resident, which is not a lot for housing and education and healthcare and municipal services.

One truth piles on top of, and sinks, another, as the world watches Ottawa grapple with Idle No More.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/truth-is-more-complex-than-attawapiskat-audit-can-tell-...

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

it truly is Hicksville

Well I kinda like ‘Hicksville’ places. The ‘big’ town near me isn’t even that big and it lost a lot of old buildings after the tornado. You walk down the street and you know 80% of the people. Start a rumour on one end of town and it’s at the other end in 10 min.

But the Hicksville has it’s good points too. People take care of their neighbours. I hop on the ATV and take a ride and don’t return for hours because of all the people to talk to…..the farmers who will talk your ear off….Mrs Madson who sits on her porch in the summer and knits, but loves company…the Oke kids who are always outside either playing with their dog or doing farm chores and I let them take the ATV for a spin in the field….or old Mr Carrothers who will sit on the porch and tell you 83 years worth of stories about the local area because he was born and raised in the same house.

The only drawback about a Hicksville is in some ways the isolation. You always have to be prepared. Grocery stores are not just around the corner and neither is medical help. Protecting your family and neighbours you also have to be equally prepared. Winter, well anything can happen and be prepared for it. But to me, the good far outweighs the bad.

You can not google Map my house if you tried which I find hilarious.

Actually I wasn’t looking for your house. I like old towns and photography is my hobby so I was really looking to see old buildings etc if Holtyre had a ‘main street’ and the Google truck had gone down it at some point. When the wife and I were going out at the beginning we use to dirt road just to find old towns and old deserted farms. It was sad to see so much forgotten about and left to slowly die. We still tour around on back roads (I hate highways) but there are less old farms and the villages of history and old buildings are getting harder to find.

A couple of quick photos…..

-  The last house in a once thriving village that had a mill.

-  The inside of barracks that was once a WW2 military base.

[puckstopshere]

Chiefs across Canada are saying that the real lack of “accountability” lies in the Prime Minister’s Office and not at the level of individual first nation governments.

Indigenous people across Canada are owed well in excess of $100-billion, the immediate payment of which Prime Minister Stephen Harper refuses to make a national priority.

Canada’s first nations people live in crushing poverty because of the great wealth taken from them and their lands – and are sick and tired of it. First nations children have the highest rates of infant mortality, diabetes, malnutrition, alcoholism, drug dependency, abuse and incarceration of any children in Canada. These curable maladies are directly caused by poverty. The failure to immediately and effectively address these issues is a national embarrassment.

Poverty is usually and most effectively cured with money, not “accountability.”

Idle No More protestors are simply saying that they do not want to be poor anymore. This is not a “vague or unspecified demand,” as some are saying. The beneficiaries of treaties are literally owed tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars. The Prime Minister wants to pretend that he does not understand what all the fuss is about.

An example of this is Prime Minister Harper refusing immediately to honor the economic-benefit agreements guaranteed under the eleven numbered treaties signed between the First Nations and the Crown between 1871 and 1921.

Ten years ago, a federal-government expert put the value of this entitlement at $42,000 per person. Mr. Harper and his advisors have stalled the settlement of these claims for no apparent reason other than the knowledge that this same claim exists in every treaty area and that the total cost of settlement will likely exceed $20-billion.

The government, it seems, would rather spend the money owed under treaty on auto bailouts for southern Ontario and on fighter jets instead of alleviating poverty in first nations communities.

Mr. Harper seemingly wants to delay payment of the billions owed to First Nations through what has become the laughable and dysfunctional “Specific Claims” process, where bureaucrats are allowed by statute to delay even responding substantively to a claim for a full three years.

Federal officials must snicker as they prepare the token $5 annuity payments handed out on Treaty Day. Canada received the oil and gas, minerals and timber in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories for an amount now eroded to meaninglessness by inflation.

What Canada refuses to acknowledge is that the value native land in the hands of aboriginal people from the 1870s onward was fixed by statutory instrument under the Dominion Lands Act at the value of one acre of land, inclusive of mineral title. When the numbered treaties were signed, treaty money was either redeemable in gold or for land (including its mineral rights), at what was then $1 an acre. This must be honoured, at current values. Therefore, when treaty chiefs talk about “resource revenue sharing” they have good cause.

The government itself told the Supreme Court, in its factum submitted for the Robinson Treaties case of 1850, that the obligation to pay annuities was a “trust that runs with the land.” This is good evidence as to how Canada saw this obligation in the 19th century.

Poverty among first nations would be eradicated in Canada if we returned to that same formulation.

Instead of immediately alleviating poverty by paying all of the money owed, Mr. Harper wants to shuffle deck chairs by talking about first nation school boards. This is unacceptable.

Another example of Mr. Harper’s lack of accountability is the damage to Peguis First Nation farm land in Manitoba, and the loss of that community’s agricultural economy, when a federal drainage project built largely for the benefit of off-reserve farmers contributed to flooding in 2010 that caused more than 70 Peguis families to lose their farms, and turned their reserve land into a bullrush-infested swamp. The direct economic losses of this alone can be conservatively estimated at $200-million.

Claims of this nature exist at virtually every treaty first nation in Western Canada.

Unless these issues are addressed, every time there is a sun dance, powwow or ceremony, first nations people should reclaim their traditional trails under Canadian highways. They should take all of their children, grandchildren, cars, trucks, horses, and livestock onto these highways. They should move as slowly and deliberately as Mr. Harper has moved in being accountable, in honouring treaties or in living up to the honour of the Crown.

Jeffrey Rath is a treaty and aboriginal-rights barrister representing several of the chiefs who will be meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/natives-dont-need-accountability-show-us-the-money/article...

[puckstopshere]

I am the chief of the Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band. Our reserves are located near Kamloops and Clinton, B.C., and our community strongly supports the proposal for first nation property ownership legislation, a position which some in the Idle No More movement have criticized.

Since Confederation, Canada has faced two principle challenges as a nation – finding a place in the federation for Quebec and finding a place for us, the original inhabitants. Others can speak about the success of Quebec within Canada, but I think I can illustrate the failure to bring us fully into the federation.

When my grandfather met the woman who would become my grandmother and asked her to marry him, she agreed on one condition – he had to build her a home. My grandfather was a hard working rancher, just like his son and just like me.

He built her that home and they got married. They had a large family. My grandfather built two more homes on reserves for his children. He owned three houses outright and ran a farm and orchard on his land near Lillooet.

As it turned out, none of these houses had any value other than to keep the weather off our backs.

My father later inherited one ranch from his father. He owned a house and built another. But when he went into a bank in the 1980s and applied for a credit card (so he could rent a car and reserve a hotel, like any other Canadian), he was turned down, because, he was told, he didn’t have any collateral.

His two houses and his ranch were insufficient collateral because of the provisions in the Indian Act which state an Indian reserve is “a tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty”. We don’t even own our own lands.

Not owning our land has been an economic catastrophe. We have little of the equity in our homes that is needed to build wealth, gain access to credit and start businesses. We don’t have wealth to bequeath to the next generation so it can do better than us. We need the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and our band government to guarantee our mortgages.

We don’t want to be wards of the state. Dependency is not our way. More than 60 per cent of my community’s population is younger than 30. I am proud that many of our young adults are educated and employed. They want to stay, live and prosper in our community.

The proposed property ownership legislation is both first nation-led and optional. It will give us hope that we can own our lands collectively and exercise our jurisdictions forever. We can provide ownership to our members so their lands and homes are as valuable as any other in the region. We can register our title in a modern system instead of the costly and unreliable deeds system we currently have.

Property rights will provide a cost-effective method to provide opportunity and increased wealth for my members, give them access to capital and reduce poverty. At a time of government fiscal restraint – and little prospect of constitutional change – this is an option that should be available to interested first nations.

After 140 years of the Indian Act, we are ready to take on this responsibility. We will work with our first nation institutions to provide government that raises and maintains property values, builds equity in our homes and creates strong self-sufficient communities. I am confident that, with legislation affirming our jurisdiction, our land will forever remain ours, just like Ontario remains Ontario even if I, a resident of British Columbia, buy land there.

I am not talking about granting us special rights. We want the same property rights that all other Canadians take for granted. We want ownership of our lands and recognition of our governments. After 140 years, we want to be a true partner in the Canadian federation.

Michael LeBourdais is chief of the Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/dear-canada-first-nations-dont-want-to-be-wards-of-the-sta...

[puckstopshere]

Back in the days of Jean Chrétien’s government, I recall talking to a very senior player about the issue of accountability on first nation reserves. The Canadian Alliance was probing the matter, and there were allegations, nothing too specific, about spending abuses. Money disappearing down a black hole, that kind of thing.

Raising it with the Chrétien official, I recall being surprised when he said there was a basis for many of the allegations. It was a potentially a major scandal, he said. So why, I asked, was no one probing it? Too sensitive, he said. “We’d be accused of racism.”

Given the abject conditions faced by native people, it wasn’t an issue the government – or many journalists, for that matter – wished to investigate. It was politically incorrect to go there.

Now with the revelation – did a member of the Harper circle leak the story? – of no documentation for millions spent at Chief Theresa Spence’s Attawapiskat First Nation, the potentially explosive issue is on the table. A broiling controversy on first nations spending, one that could be broadened to include many reserves, would spell disaster. It’s the last thing the first nations need at this time.

It’s a different era. Native people don’t have the ear of the government the way they did before. Mr. Chrétien always had a big place in his heart for them. He was the minister of Indian affairs and northern development in Pierre Trudeau’s government in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He and his wife, Aline, adopted a native son, Michel, at that time. Michel careened from one crisis to another – with the law, with alcohol, with employment. The Chrétiens saw the sorrows first-hand.

In the landmark 1995 budget that broke the back of the huge federal deficit, Mr. Chrétien and his finance minister, Paul Martin, spared one department from the draconian cuts: Indian affairs.

When Mr. Martin became prime minister, first nations were one of his priorities. He negotiated the Kelowna Accord, which provided major new investments for education, housing, health services, clean water and more. Although he was criticized by some as just throwing more money at the problem – the standard Liberal methodology, Conservatives charged – it was Mr. Martin’s pride and joy. To his dismay, one of the first things Stephen Harper’s government did was scrap the accord. But in his post-prime ministerial years, Mr. Martin, who visited the hunger-striking Chief Spence on the weekend, has devoted great amounts of time and energy to aboriginal causes.

The approaches of Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Martin are noted because, if leaders with such sympathies couldn’t make much progress on aboriginal problems, it gives us an idea how intractable those problems are.

Mr. Harper came out of the Reform movement, which was known to take a less compassionate approach. He has been low profile on native issues, a major exception being his emotional 2008 apology for abuses suffered at residential schools. It was the NDP’s Jack Layton who had prodded him on the file, eventually getting his agreement to make the move.

Under the Conservatives, first nations have not been spared budget cuts. They say the cuts have hurt badly. But even if there’s more money and it’s wisely spent, money isn’t the solution to what ails native people. The problems, the controversies – on housing, health care, alcoholism, land claims, resource revenue, resource exploitation – are too many to count.

The Idle No More movement and Chief Spence’s hunger strike have served the purpose of bringing the issues to the forefront with a Conservative government they claim has been hostile to their interests. It’s hoped that a meeting with the Prime Minister on Friday will set a new working agenda for action. If that agenda is compromised or derailed by revelations of a spending scandal on the reserves, another tragic chapter in our aboriginal saga is upon us.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/another-tragic-chapter-in-canadas-aboriginal-saga/article7...

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I am not in favour of the government having control or ownership over Native land….but I also am not in favour of Native land being sold or used as collateral.

These are my reasons:

-         To begin with Reservation land is much more important than the almighty dollar. It is heritage and tradition and the future for the Native people who want to live together as a people. The land is all they have left, after all that was stolen. The ‘land’ is part of the Native heart and soul and even though it may be owned by one person…that person has a responsibility to care for his own people and he is the caretaker of their future….not just his own.

-         Native people are just like anyone else, they can be weak and even easily manipulated…..and money!…..has always been the tool for the rich and powerful. Because of these there is the high probability that private people and businesses and corporations will take advantage of many Natives. There are many scenarios that could easily happen and I believe they will, where Reservation land will slowly be sold off bit by bit. Land will be sold off to corporations for resources and other land to private owners for private beachfront property and other land sold off to businesses to build condominiums and resorts.

-         The selling off of land will cause many problems. Natives who want to save the land for their people will be angry with Natives who sell land to outsiders. This will pit Native against Native, which is probably what the government is hoping for….the old adage “divide and conquer”. Outsiders who buy Native land will want a say in all that is going on around them just like anyone else in other communities…but they do not know or understand or appreciate the Native heritage. This too will cause problems between the new residents and the old.

-         I believe that many aspects of the Indian Act has to be eliminated, however I also believe that Native land must be treated like a kingdom on its own and has to be protected like a sovereignty not only for the Native people, but for all people. The First Nations people are caretakers of mother earth, turtle island.

Please take a moment to watch this…… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAl3XhaGebo    

You have to listen to his whole thoughts, they jump to different discussions. It’s a conversation/interview at Ryerson.

There is an association between man and the earth, but greed has separated us from it. It is time to return to being as one.

[art-in-the-making]

This concept of  "property rights" on reserves is a very tricky question - one which I am not really familiar with...

At the same time, you can see how changing up the current system could easily be exploited. Any system administered by Harper is 100% sure to open a trickle, if not a floodgate, for corporate and wealthy non-native investors to get into controlling reserve properties somehow or other.

A couple of real "property rights fanatics" out there include Tom Flanagan (Harper's former mentor who called for Julian Assange to be assassinated) and Wild Rose Leader Danielle Smith. They have both published books on the subject. Flanagan has a way of appearing on panels, but I was a little worried to see his face pop up on CBC News' Idle No More panel last night.

It would make sense to me to have first nations banks or credit unions that were able to accommodate the credit needs of their communities in the most useful way possible.

Or, perhaps some new categories of collateral that enable capital to be accessed by first nations people.

But caution is the operative word. Obviously no ad-hoc "guarantee" of security for future First Nations generations can really be trusted - as seen by how easily Harper trashed the Wheat Board legislation that was supposed to guarantee farmers control over their own destiny.  

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

It would make sense to me to have first nations banks or credit unions that were able to accommodate the credit needs of their communities in the most useful way possible.

Good idea. There are regular banks on some reserves but not many. The problem still is however that the banks follow rules from head office and because of stipulations in the Indian Act that can be a problem when it comes to loans and collateral.

I'm not sure of all the rules of the Bank Act in Canada and if it would be possible to for the First Nations to create their own banks. I remember when I was a kid and part of a church (family thing) the church had it's own Credit Union. Also Muslims lend money to their own people and possibly other races do as well eg: Koreans (somewhere in the back of my mind I think someone told me that).

So yeah....it might be totally doable.

[puckstopshere]

I am not in favour of the government having control or ownership over Native land….but I also am not in favour of Native land being sold or used as collateral.

I agree.  My concern with the issue of land and whatever else the natives can negotiate is that in needs to be "in perpetuity".  I fear, as do some natives, that the current generation may squander their children's heritage.  Whatever settlement is achieved must look to the future and provide for future generations. 

Native people are just like anyone else, they can be weak and even easily manipulated

Native chiefs and band leaders are no different from politicians that get in power.  It is human nature and we are all human (even though that sometimes a stretch when talking about politicians).  There are those who will not be corrupted by power.  There are those who will.  I am not sure of Ms. Spence's situation.  Much has been said of band finances and her partner's consulting fees.  At some point we may know - or we may not.  But it is the right of the members of her band to know.  If there is misuse of funds or mismanagement, the band needs to deal with it.   

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

If you watch the interview video I put in the other thread this morning it is explained that band councils were forced on the Native people. Many Natives do not really recognize them. I think in the video he said only 3% vote (which surprised me as well). Traditionally the women run the show in tribes and based on clans. Even in Oka…I have the full video tape from ‘inside’ taken by a reporter who was allowed in and the men may be the ones armed and fighting but ….the women made the final decisions. One in particular (I forget her name at the moment). That is the traditional way.

Personally, I think the world as a whole would be a better place if women were more politically incharge (with a few minor exceptions).