Starvation Strike, my foot!!! Indian Chief Spence’s reserve got $85 MILLION in 2011 for 1500 people, for 300 houses that’s $280,000.00 per house

get your DNA tested to see if u have aboriginal blood and join the tribe!

THIS IS LYING, MISINFORMED CANADIAN OP. DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING IT SAYS! REPORTERS ARE LIERS TOO. NOTHING HAS EVER BEEN FAIR FOR NATIVES.

There is nothing fair about being a member of the tribe either when certain families running the show take as much as they can for as long as they can. THAT part of one of the articles makes it believable.

John Raulston Saul said that Canada was a metis nation. I think that is true, if not genetically, then spiritually/philosophically. Every person who grew up in Canada loves this land. This gorgeous land is what inpires us and defines us.
Harper and his ilk have no natural love of the land. He just wants to sell it all off for pennies so that our grandchilren will live in cancerous cesspools of toxic waste.
The nastives are OF this l

fixed

This should be PINNED because it is absolutely fucking true. I know, cause I live it.

In indian reservatons where much money flows only to the select few who run shit, the others get nothing and live like trash hoping someone throws a bone out for the poor to get a little.

I know this from being one who chases the dream and when I almost have a grasp upon it, it fades away into a dark vortex never to be talked of again.

I can tell you in all honesty what this thread information leaks to you is true in all respect that there are a select few in reservation land who grab all there is and those who worship greed keeps that from others who are as entitled to the money as the greedy.

If one is to make a noise about this, they are outcast and rediculed and shunned by the greedy elite who will spend large sums to shut you the fuck up and run them off.

Yes friends, I tell you now, its true and when you see indians crying about no money, their fucking lieing to you cause the government throws tonns of cash at indians besides casinos that pull in millions upon millions.

Money flows plenty for the insiders who rule the reservation for their own greed and pleasures. This wompum telling tales about hunger striking is full of it and wants a larger sum handed out to those who run the show.

But most natives dont get all that money. The elected chiefs, in a system set up by the feds, are corrupt and take the money for themselves.
Natives have hereditary chiefs who look out for the people more.

The Federal Court ruled Tuesday that Metis and non-status Indians qualify as "Indians" under the Constitution Act of 1867, and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Both groups had been in a sort of jurisdictional limbo for decades.

Metis leader Harry Daniels-- the now-deceased plaintiff in the case-- had sought to have the court clarify whether Ottawa or the provinces were responsible for the more than 600,000 aboriginal peoples across Canada who are either Metis or live off-reserve.

[link to www.ctvnews.ca]

NOW ALL THESE FUCKING MOOCHERS WILL WANT FREE HANDOUTS.

I had a sister who was a supervisor at an indian casino. The tally intake sheet was to be ledgered with pen but the wompums used pencil and the tally sheet was erased all over the fucking place.

She discovered wompums were stealing cash from a drawer the money was placed in by the wompums who also placed their purses in that drawer. At the end of the shift wompums would go for the purse and grab a roll of cash and drop it in the purse as they punched out.

The cash score card was penciled in and they knew ahead a time what amount they each would take at the end of the day. My sister said something and they told her to shut the fuck up or else she could go dead. She quit soon after.

Those filthy theives went on to become upper managers and I know for a fact the hard count vault would show up to 50,000 a day short or unaccounted for.

If you people knew what goes on in these places you would shit yourself and hate indians. Well, the greedy ones for sure. There are many many indians discriminated from their people like I am. I live it.

Finally Someone who understands! I know this all to be true as well. I live on a Reserve. er actually, just outside of one, Bbecause The band didn't want to help my mother brother and I after we left our father and tried ot move back to The rez.
It is definately a complex situation that nobody seems to know how to touch. I have been thinking about it for years.
The Government Knows, It wants us to stay in this positions I think. To keep us dumb and dependant on them so they have more of a reason to assimilate us Into their own Corrupt capitalizing etc blah blah blah system..

I SEE what they spend. Everyday. They are spoiled fucking brats. IF I had 1/10 of what those fuckers spend on "shit"

They have an attitude too... "Entitlement" You owe me.... my "name"

It is unreal. the Gov fucked up.

You guys are a bunch of fuckin assholes

during 2012-11 fiscal year, Canada recorded 240 billion dollars in revenue. For some reason people think the tax dollars go to the natives.

36 billion goes to elder and pension benefits
53 billion to provincial governments
33 billion to federal organizations and employees
31 billion to canadas in house debt
20 billion to EI benefits
26 billion to health programs
10 billion to research and development
21 billion to national defense
10 billion to public safety and emergency preparedness
7.3 to revenue canada
10 billion to crown corporations
6.7 billion is divided between health research, programs for public health, veterans health care AND first nation and aboriginal people.

555 million goes to parlaiment salaries and honourariums while the capitalize on making more funds by ways of drilling and raping canadian lands.

Now, at least the natives can stand together and fight the fucking government for what they believe is right. You don't see any of you fuckers doing anything about what is forced on you daily as citizens.

Fuckin msm is reporting the facts eh? you guys are a fucking joke. The world is one huge fuckin conspiracy and the news is fake and fucking mass shootings and fucking 911 are fake...but when the mainstream media and governments tell lies about the fucking money on rez land all the sudden it's the fuckin truth?? wake up you fuckin retards.

You will all always be slaves to the elite.

you're fucked.

The natives are the free ones.

The Attawapiskat People need a new Chief that does not rob them blind.

you make me fuckin sick!
I'm a native, raised off rez. We have a sense of fucking entitlement...fuuuuuuuuuuck you.
Put some brown fuckin skin on for a day, go out in the world and be a fucking native, see how you're treated. I'm native and status but I'm blonde and blue eyed...as are my children. I have no clue what it's like to be judged as a drunk, welfare case..TAKER and pathetic...but my cousins do.

lets all fuckin tell jews their holocaust is bullshit and they deserve no respect. Lets tell the blacks fuck you, I never made u my slave.
Fuckin white people...you're all so spoiled, just by being in your white fuckin skin.

You are not a native stop posing

haha it's fucking hilarious though isn't it???

you guys all fuckin crying, ooohhh they're going to take away our rights to bare arms...they're going to take our guns. Omg, they have secret underground bases for the elite to survive the end of the world, omg theirs Rothchilds and blue bloods and fema camps for our mass killings. They're poisoning us with vaccinations, they're bla bla bla fuckin blaaaa!! and wtf do you guys do about it?
SWEET FUCK ALL!! THAT'S WHAT YOU FUCKIN ASSHOLES DO...you sit here on GLP and discuss it all. HAHAH Fuckin bunch of retards!!! Ohhh our government is taking half our money in taxes!! there's going to be no old age pension! the bank is taking my house! I can't find a job!
and still you fuckers sit here on GLP whining like little fucking retarded sheep!

The natives IDLE NO MORE is about the government changing laws behind Canadians backs, it's about the water and the laws and what will become of Canada after the government has let corporations rape and pillage our lands...who stands up THE NATIVES.

You guys and the rest of the sheep want to turn what this is about into natives being theives and takers.

THEY'RE FIGHTING AND PROTESTING FOR ALL OF CANADA FOR FUCK SAKES.

HAHAHA AND THEY STAND UP!
while you sit here on your fucking computer, like an idiot.

haha oh yes I am ! yes I fucking am. My parents moved to Toronto when they were 18 and 22. Made lives for themselves. My mother was taken off the rez and raised in a white foster home when she was 7. My father left home at 11...yup 11. He is half white and is oldest in his family of his siblings. His native step father hated his guts and abused him. My mothers brother was in a residential school. Don't u fuckin tell me I'm not native.

and why the fuck would I pose? idiot. Yeah, cuz that's something to pose as...pffftt
Mmmhmmm yup, I'm just over here pretending to be a fuckin native. Why in gods fuckin name would ANYONE do that.

and why the fuck would I pose? idiot. Yeah, cuz that's something to pose as...pffftt
Mmmhmmm yup, I'm just over here pretending to be a fuckin native. Why in gods fuckin name would ANYONE do that.

fuckin idiots, that's all I have to say...fuckin idiots.
Why don't you let the millions spent on the fuckin G20 make your blood boil, or the teachers strike and them taking away our kids extra curricular activities for two fucking years...stand up like the natives do. Fight for something!
stupid fucking useless canadians

The true native does not exist anymore

tell that to the brown skinned, brown eyed, full blooded native living on the rez. Hunting and fishing and making maple fucking syrup. Speaking Ojibway, spear fishing...teaching their children to live off the land as their ancestors did before they were forced on to a rez and fed shit for 100 years and given booze to live on. Tell that to the native people trying to raise their children in alcohol and drug free environments, relearning their culture that was beaten out of them and stolen from them.

Jesus fuckin Christ.

Our original elders were all wiped out by the smallpox wars. They died first, and with them, all of our real traditions. What survives today from our old ways? I'll tell you: nothing.

- Siem Maquinna, Earl George of the Ahousahts, to the author, Port Alberni, May 1995

just for a second stop and think...stop looking at the natives as drunks and takers. Stop looking at them as vermin. Look at them for what they are trying to do for Canada. Trying to stop Harper and his insane omnibus bills he keeps pushing through behind Canadians backs. The government cares nothing about ANY OF US, not natives or whites...as a whole, who fucking cares. Think about it...why is our canadian government called the HARPER GOVERNMENT??? does any other country all the sudden rename their government after their Prime Minister of President? IT'S THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT!! not the HARPER GOVERNMENT. IS HE FUCKING HITLER??
Everyone needs to stand up with the natives..for once we could all stand together and fight the god damn fucking government. Stop them from pushing bills through behind our backs.
What is wrong with you guys??
Theresa Spence is fighting for her people, all natives...the movement is about the WATER.

Stop being prejudice and join in. FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT....isn't this a good thing?

nope, you guys want to believe the way the media is going to twist the fuck out of this. First there was no coverage, the fucking ikea monkey had all the media coverage. Why do you think this is??
Now that the world is watching, and believe me they are, the government is going to have the media twist this so the rest of canada doubts the natives and what they stand for...which is really FOR ALL OF US TO FIGHT THE HARPER GOVERNMENT AND SAVE OUR WATER AND LAND FOR OUR FUTURE!! They are turning you against the natives on purpose!! because god forbid all Canadians wake up and smell the mother fucking burnt Harper coffee and join in!

obviously they are even managing to turn natives against natives.

THINK PEOPLE...THINK

$279,999 on fire water, and $1 for tee-pee hides--lol :-)

stupid fuck, teepee hides are obviously free
remember we're allowed to hunt all the fuckin moose

dumb cunt

The biggest mistakes that were ever committed in regards to this issue was to create treaties and reserves in the first place.

What should have happened is that natives were told "You are now Canadian citizens with the same rights and privileges, no more and no less than any other citizen of Canada."

Would have stopped a whole lot of BS before it even began.

oh yes, of course...if they didn't want them all dead!
and out of sight and out of the settlers faces.

LOL too funny.

hahahaha this is actually hilarious!
WE HAVE COME TO YOUR HOMELAND, WE OWN IT NOW. WE CALL IT CANADA! YOU ARE NOW CANADIAN, NOW SMARTEN THE FUCK UP AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON AND SPEAK ENGLISH..NO WAIT...FRENCH!...NO ENGLISH!!

Get a mother fucking grip, apparently you're uneducated about our countries history.

Note: This article was inadvertently credited to Brett Hodnett. Full Comment apologizes for any confusion, which was due to a misunderstanding on our part. The original article, written by Chelsea Vowel, appeared on the site âpihtawikosisân.

Prime Minister Harper is apparently scratching his head about where $90 million in federal funding to Attawapiskat has gone. There is much talk about lack of accountability, and no one knowing what happened to the money.

Let’s start with some simple math.

First, $90 million is a deceptive number. It refers to federal funding received since Harper’s government came into power in 2006. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Attawapiskat received $17.6 million in federal funds (PDF). The document linked to shows the breakdown of federal funds in case you wanted to know how much is allocated to things like medical transportation, education, maternal health care and so on.

Thus, $90 million refers to the total; the average is about $18 million per year in federal funding since 2006.

[As an aside, you will often see the figure of $34 or $35 million in funding given to Attawapiskat on a yearly basis. This refers to total revenues. As noted, federal funding was $17.6 million, and provincial funding was $4.4 million. The community brings in about $12 million of its own revenue, as shown here. So no, the 'government' is not giving Attawapiskat $34 million a year.]

Okay fine, but where did it go?

Attawapiskat publishes its financial statements going back to 2005. If you want to know where the money was spent, you can look in the audited financial reports. This document (PDF) for example provides a breakdown of all program funding.

Just getting to this stage alone proves the falsehood of the claim that there is no accountability and no one knows where the money goes.

But $90 million could have built the community 360 brand new houses!

Assuming, as Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowyk Council has stated, that a new house costs $250,000 to build in Attawapiskat (with half of that being transportation costs), then yes, 360 new units could have been provided by $90 million.

However, this money was not just earmarked for the construction of new homes.

An important fact that many commentators forget (or are unaware of) is that section 91(24) of the Constitution Act of 1867 gives the Federal Crown exclusive powers over “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians.”

You see, for non-natives, the provinces are in charge of funding things like education, health-care, social services and so on. For example, the Province of Ontario allocated $10,730 in education funding per non-native pupil in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. For most First Nations, particularly those on reserve, the federal government through INAC is responsible for providing funds for native education.

How is this relevant?

It helps explain why the entire $90 million was not allocated to the construction of new houses. That $90 million includes funding for things like:

education per pupil
education infrastructure (maintenan­ce, repair, teacher salaries, etc)
health-care per patient
health-care, infrastruc­ture (clinics, staff, access to services outside the community in the absence of facilities on reserve)
social services (facilitie­s, staff, etc)
infrastruc­ture (maintenan­ce and constructi­on)
a myriad of other services
These costs are often not taken into account when attempting to compare a First Nation reserve to a non-native municipality. In fact, many people forget that their own health-care and education are heavily subsidized by tax dollars as well.

What’s the point here?

How much money was actually allocated to housing in 2010-2011? Page 2 of Schedule A (PDF) shows us that out of the $17.6 million in federal funds, only $2 million was provided for housing. Yes, even $2 million would be enough to 8 brand new homes, if those funds were not also used to maintain and repair existing homes. The specific breakdown of how that money was spent is found in Schedule I.

Now, I admit I am confused about something:

According to figures providing by Aboriginal Affairs, the Attawapiskat Cree band has received just over $3 million in funds specifically for housing and a further $2.8 million in infrastructure money since 2006.
That is actually less than I estimated it would be, going by the 2010-2011 figures. I estimated $10 million for housing, but INAC (now Aboriginal Affairs) is saying it was $5.8 million.

Anyway, that isn’t too important. The point is, if INAC is correct, only $5.8 million has gone towards housing for Attawapiskat. At most that could have built the community 23 new houses, if Attawapiskat had merely let the older houses go without any repairs or maintenance for 5 years. Letting existing homes go to pieces in a remote and harsh environment is not a great strategy, however.

The point here is, $90 million sounds like a huge amount, but the real figures allocated to housing are much, much smaller.

Fine, they got $5.8 million for housing, surely that is enough?

Again, assuming 23 new homes were built, and all older homes were left without maintenance and repairs, and the people in charge of housing worked for free and there were no other costs associated with administering the housing program, Attawapiskat would still be experiencing a housing crisis.

It is estimated that $84 million is needed for housing alone to meet Attawapiskat’s housing needs (you’ll find those figures in a small table on the right, titled “Attawapiskat by the numbers”).

The Feds are just handing that money over and the Band does whatever it wants with it!

Many people seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that First Nations have self-governance and run themselves freely. This is far from the truth, but given that most Canadians are familiar with the municipal model, the confusion is actually understandable. It isn’t as though Canada does a very good job of teaching people about the Indian Act.

Section 61(1)(a-k) of the Indian Act declares that: “With the consent of the council of a band, the Minister may authorize and direct the expenditure of capital moneys of the band” for various purposes.

What this means is that Ministerial approval is actually a requirement before any capital expenditures can occur on reserve. In practice, a Band will generally pass a Band Council Resolution (BCR) authorising a certain expenditure (say on housing), and that BCR must be forwarded to INAC for approval.

That’s right. Most First Nations have to get permission before they can spend money. That is the opposite of ‘doing whatever they want’ with the money. Bands are micromanaged to an extent unseen in nearly any other context that does not involve a minor or someone who lacks capacity due to mental disability.

Any claims that INAC has no control over what Bands spend their money on is false.

I would hope by now you’d ask the following question:

If INAC has to approve spending, why is Harper so confused?

There is a tendency to believe that our government officials do things in a way that makes sense. This, despite the fact that most of us don’t actually believe this to be true. We want to believe. I know I do.

So upon learning that the federal government is the one in charge of providing services to First Nations that are provided to non-natives by the province, we might assume that the provision of these services are administered in a comparable manner.

Not so. And it actually makes sense why not, when you think about it for a moment. Have you ever seen a federal hospital, for example? No, because hospitals are built, maintained, and staffed by the provinces. Thus, when a First Nations person needs to access health-care, they cannot access federal infrastructure. They must access provincial infrastructure and have the feds rather than the province pick up the tab.

If only it were as easy as federal funding via provincial structures.

The Auditor General of Canada speaks up.

The Auditor General of Canada released a report in June of this year examining Programs for First Nations on Reserve. A similar report was published in 2006. This report identifies deficiencies in program planning and delivery by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Health Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

The reports also provide a number of recommendations to improve these deficiencies. The 2011 report evaluated the progress made since the 2006 report, and in most areas, gave these federal agencies a failing grade.

Don’t worry, there is a point to this, stay with me.

The 2011 report has this to say:

In our view, many of the problems facing First Nations go deeper than the existing programs’ lack of efficiency and effectiveness. We believe that structural impediments severely limit the delivery of public services to First Nations communities and hinder improvements in living conditions on reserves. We have identified four such impediments:

lack of clarity about service levels,
lack of a legislative base,
lack of an appropriate funding mechanism, and
lack of organizations to support local service delivery.
I know this is going to look like mumbo jumbo at first, so let me break it down a little for you. This will help explain why millions of dollars of funding is not enough to actually improve the living conditions of First Nations people, particularly those on reserve.

Lack of clarity about service levels

As explained earlier the federal government is in charge of delivering services that are otherwise provided by the provinces to non-natives. The Auditor General states:

“It is not always evident whether the federal government is committed to providing services on reserves of the same range and quality as those provided to other communities across Canada.”
Shockingly, the federal government does not always have clear program objectives, nor does it necessarily identify specific roles and responsibilities for program delivery, and has not established measures for evaluating performance in order to determine if outcome are actually met.

That’s right. The federal government is not keeping track of what it does, how it does it, or whether what it is doing works. The Auditor General recommends the federal government fix this, pronto. How can a community rely on these services if the federal government itself isn’t even clear on what it is providing and whether the programs are working?

Lack of a legislative base

“Provincial legislation provides a basis of clarity for services delivered by provinces. A legislative base for programs specifies respective roles and responsibilities, eligibility, and other program elements. It constitutes an unambiguous commitment by government to deliver those services. The result is that accountability and funding are better defined.”
The provinces all have some sort of Education Act that clearly lays out the roles and responsibilities of education authorities, as well as mechanisms of evaluation. There is generally no comparable federal legislation for the provision of First Nations education, health-care, housing and so on.

As noted by the AG, legislation provides clarity and accountability. Without it, decision can be made on an ill-defined ‘policy’ basis or on a completely ad hoc basis.

Lack of an appropriate funding mechanism

The AG focuses on a few areas here.

Lack of service standards for one. Were you aware that provincial building codes do not apply on reserve? Some provincial laws of ‘general application’ (like Highway Traffic Acts) can apply on reserve, but building codes do not. There is a federal National Building Code, but enforcement and inspection has been a major problem. This has been listed as one of the factors in why homes built on reserve do not have a similar ‘life’ to those built off reserve.

Poor timing for provision of funds is another key issue. “Most contribution agreements must be renewed yearly. In previous audits, we found that the funds may not be available until several months into the period to be funded.” This is particularly problematic for housing as “money often doesn’t arrive until late summer, past the peak construction period, so projects get delayed and their costs rise.”

Lack of accountability.

“It is often unclear who is accountable to First Nations members for achieving improved outcomes or specific levels of services. First Nations often cite a lack of federal funding as the main reason for inadequate services. For its part, INAC maintains that the federal government funds services to First Nations but is not responsible for the delivery or provision of these services.”
The AG also refers to a heavy reporting burden put on First Nations, and notes that the endless paperwork often is completely ignored anyway by federal agencies.

Lack of organisations to support local service delivery

This refers once again to the fact that there are no federal school or health boards, no federal infrastructure and expertise. Some programs are delivered through provincial structures, while others are provided directly by the federal government, with less than stellar results.

As the Auditor General states, “Change is needed if meaning full progress is to be realised”. There is extreme lack of clarity about what the federal government is doing, why, how, and whether it is at all effective. No wonder Harper is confused.

Tired yet? Just a few more points.

The Chief of Attawapiskat made $71,000 last year while her people live in tents!

Apparently we are supposed to be outraged at the excess involved here. This of course follows on the heels of a report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation about ‘jaw-dropping’ reserve salaries. It’s become fashionable to rant about chiefs making more than premiers (though no one could make that claim here).

Attawapiskat publishes its salaries, travel expenses and honorariums (again, nothing being hidden). Chief Theresa Spence was paid $69,575 in salary and honorariums in 2010-2011, and had $1,798 in travel expenses for a total of about $71K.

If you are like most people, you don’t spend a lot of time looking at what public employees actually make. What number wouldn’t shock you in the absence of such context? $50,000? $32,000? I suspect any amount would be offered as some sort of proof that…something’s not right.

Well okay. Why don’t we take a look at some other salaries? Ontario Premier McGuinty made $209,000 in 2010, and apparently over 100 public service executives made more than he did.

It is difficult to do a really accurate comparison of salaries, because Ontario’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act (doc) of 1996 only requires that salaries over $100,000 be reported. (In addition, if the salaries are reported elsewhere, they are not necessarily included in this report) However, the annual reports are a fantastic resource. Here is the list of various public sector employees making over $100,000 a year. I offer this merely in order to ask…were you aware these people were making this amount of money?

I sure wasn’t. These are salaries paid by tax dollars too. I have no idea if the Director of Quality Services for the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation should be paid $147,437.58 a year (sorry to single you out, sir, I chose randomly). If this corporation were in the news and having financial difficulties, I have no doubt this salary would be brought up as somehow relevant…but is it?

I don’t know. That’s the point. I don’t think the people bringing it up know either. I haven’t been able to find a source listing the salaries of mayors of municipalities in Ontario to compare to Chief Spence’s salary. Then again, I doubt anyone would seriously claim that if she worked for free, the housing crisis in Attawakpiskat would be over.

A good comment was sent to me recently on the issue of salaries that I’d like to share. “Whenever one is talking about the salaries of say a [premier or a] prime minister versus someone else, two things: 1) parliamentarians get very good pensions and for a relatively short time of service; 2) more particularly, a post like the prime ministership or the presidency of the United States opens up all kinds of doors for later life. So even if the salary is $200,000, the person is virtually guaranteed a very comfortably post-office life. Counsel in a big law firm. Paid corporate director. University professor. Etc. etc. I don’t think we imagine that the Barrick Gold Corporations of the world will be banging down the door of a past chief of Attawapiskat in a comparable way.”

I wonder what kind of pension Chief Spence can count on?

The more you know…

I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the common accusations and arguments being made about Attawapiskat on various forums and comment sections of online news articles. I might update if necessary to address them, but I think you now have at least a base to begin with, whether you honestly just want to understand the situation a little better, or want to fight those comment battles.