Hwy 17 traffic slowdown planned for Serpent River First Nation

happy camper 1/15/2013 4:35:14 PM Report

Fraser Inst says Idle No More protests miss the point

Current Events (C:*CURRENT)
Friday January 04 2013 - Street Wire

by Mark Milke of the Fraser Institute

In the wake of the Idle No More protests that have blocked railway lines and have hinted at more mischief, multiple grievances have been advanced in place of clear-headed analyses. But none of the slogans, cliches and guilt-tripping get to the bottom of why some aboriginals, especially on reserves, are in a sorry state.

First, some misinformation about one supposed reason for the protests, that reserves will be broken up by Bill C-45, should be debunked.

That recent federal legislation allows first nations to lease some of their land to others if they so choose.

In British Columbia, the Westbank and Osoyoos first nations have prospered using such lease arrangements to create housing subdivisions and commercial complexes. The money flows back to the reserve's owners.

All Bill C-45 would do is to allow even more reserves to imitate those successful models. But the bill does not mandate that path nor does it allow for reserve land to be sold (as has been incorrectly claimed).

Another mistaken assertion is that taxpayers have not done enough for Canada's native peoples.

Let's be clear about the benefits some first nations and Inuit peoples receive that other Canadians do not.

To use one example, every Canadian has access to universal and taxpayer-funded health care through their provincial ministry of health. However, Health Canada runs the non-insured health benefits program which gives additional health care benefits to first nations and Inuit peoples.

Health Canada notes that 846,024 first nation and Inuit peoples have access to "medically necessary drugs, dental care, vision care, medical supplies and equipment, short-term crisis intervention mental health counselling and medical transportation." The cost of dental treatment, eyeglasses, ambulatory services and everything else on that list is not cheap: in 2010/2011, the bill to taxpayers was just over $1-billion.

That amounts to a $1,200 health care benefit per eligible enrollee, this while the other 34 million Canadians must buy insurance for such services and goods or pay out of pocket.

In the federal Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, the main ministry for aboriginal spending, $115-billion will have been spent on services and programs for aboriginals between 1994/1995 and this year, according to that department and the public accounts. That figure excludes other federal departments and provincial government spending.

This year, 84 per cent of that department's money will go directly to aboriginals, band governments or programs for aboriginals. (The remaining 16 per cent is chewed up in departmental operating costs.)

One could argue more money should be spent. But that would ignore the broken governance structure on too many reserves. Such structures already allow some chiefs, such as hunger striker/Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and her colleagues, to earn salaries far above that earned by other politicians in similar-sized hamlets.

For example, in the remote Ontario township of Algonquin Highlands (halfway between Toronto and North Bay) with 2,100 people, the entire council was paid just $119,220 in 2011. In Attawapiskat, with 1,500 people, the total bill for political salaries in 2011 was $607,364. Moreover, all of that came tax-free to Spence and her band colleagues.

Ironically, that tax-free status is courtesy of Section 87 of the Indian Act, the act that is routinely (but quite properly) derided for interfering in the lives of Canada's "Indian" and Inuit peoples.

Double-standards aside, Idle protesters miss a critical reason why so many reserves are in poor shape: they are in the middle of nowhere and cannot be sustained by the local economy because there isn't one.

It is impossible to bring the opportunities available in urban Canada to rural Canada. Even in non-reserve villages, educational, health and career options are severely limited. That is why the only people who live in such remote areas are those who already have money, or have the skills to work in nearby mines, mills or in other industries (where they exist). Otherwise, poverty is guaranteed.

Additionally problematic for reserves is the lack of proper governance. In non-native towns and cities, most money flows up from local taxpayers via property taxes. That creates a natural taxpayer-politician link and accountability.

On reserves, taxpayer money mostly flows down from Ottawa into reserve coffers. That creates a demand for more cash from far-away taxpayers, or from the nearby resource company, rather than answers from reserve politicians about existing money flows.

Just as tragic, that structure allows band politicians to spend money on unreasonable political salaries and on housing for friends, family and political allies first, with everyone else put in the queue.

Such fundamental problems with how reserves are run -- and the unsustainable nature of some of those rural collectives -- is what protesters should ponder. That would be more useful than making up grievances about private companies and taxpayers.

© 2013 Canjex Publishing Ltd.

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freedom1 1/15/2013 5:01:14 PM Report

Stephen Harper lives in castle while millions of his people go hungry!!!

moem 1/15/2013 5:15:11 PM Report

Lol certainly looks like it.... Or can't understand how to work her computer

bulletcards 1/15/2013 5:47:50 PM Report

moderator, can you please suspend miss saults account for repeated spamming of the comments section? there is no need to post the same post so many times.

Mim 1/15/2013 7:03:52 PM Report

Harper makes $320000 a year get your facts straight! Far from royalty!
No I'm not miss go getter for the government but you starve because your band is stealing from you!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=GFNYNmUNYdk
Watch and weigh with thought!

Tom_Bom 1/15/2013 7:54:52 PM Report

I'm starting to tire of this Idle No More movement. They can only push this so far before they start doing illegal things such as blockades, etc.

This is starting to become quite the nuisance. Idle No More, you can only push this thing so far before you cross into illegal territory. I've heard some of your chiefs speak. Some of them talk as though they are highly racist, and talk about aggressive actions that are simply unacceptable.

And what's so ridiculous about the Idle movement is that none of them can agree with each other. They're not working towards a solid goal. Their reasons for protesting changes like the weather, and varys from region to region.

I'm in full support of the First Nation people and their right for control over what happens on their land, and their noble, spiritual commitment to the earth. But you won't prove a point by over-reacting and pushing the envelope further than it really needs to go.

Even if the premise behind Idle No More is peaceful, you can't control what the individual facets of your movement decide to do. I hope this "Day of Action" will be peaceful.

miss_sault43 1/15/2013 8:37:12 PM Report

Lobby group wades in on First Nations poverty

The Canadian Pressat 12:19 on January 15, 2013, EST.

OTTAWA - An influential lobby group says Ottawa needs to ditch the Indian Act and give First Nations more control over their land to end aboriginal poverty.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has close ties with the federal Conservatives and its campaign to open up chiefs' books to the public was instrumental in recent legislation to publish salaries and benefits.

Now the group says the key to eliminating the cycle of poverty on reserves is for Ottawa to treat First Nations people like everyone else.

That means Ottawa should get rid of legislation such as the Indian Act, parts of the Criminal Code that allow for reduced sentences, as well as arts grants for aboriginals — while still respecting treaties and the Constitution.

The federation also says band members should be able to own their homes, and develop, lease or sell their reserve land without Ottawa's permission.

mjr 1/15/2013 10:56:27 PM Report

It's all such a slippery slope when you have all these chiefs with their own agendas.It reminds me of the warlords in somalia where it was only the people that suffered.

crashed13 1/16/2013 7:41:25 AM Report

Mimi:quote
"Harper makes $320000 a year get your facts straight! Far from royalty!
No I'm not miss go getter for the government but you starve because your band is stealing from you!
=======================================

Pretty bad when a chief and her financial adviser live in boy friend of a reserve of only 1500 people both make more then the PM and Minister of finance of Canada with 37 million people.