In the news today is Chief Darcy Bear of the immensely successful Whitecap Dakota Reserve.
He’s thrown support behind Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar MP Kelly Block’s Bill C-575 An Act respecting the accountability and enhanced financial transparency of elected officials of First Nations communities.
Chief Bear joins the FSIN in endorsing Kelly’s Bill.
Come on Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Rae, let’s all emulate these successful and prosperous leaders of the First Nations and push this though.
Cheers,
lance
If I listened to the Liberals, NDP, Lefties, Commies and the CBC I would have never known that a reserve could have been turned into a success story.
I wonder why the charge for more accountability is being led by (dare I say it?) more Caucasian members of the human race? There are Aboriginals disgusted with their respective leaders, to be sure, but the demand for better and more accountable leadership should come from the communities, not on the outside.
Just my quick thoughts.
The main reason all native run casinos are thriving is that they ignored the politically correct ban on smoking. I do not smoke but have friends that bypass provincial casinos to make a night of it on the reserve. They claim it is far more enjoyable and the staff is very friendly.
Must piss off the nanny states activists.
Ask your favorite Liberal / NDP about this, chances are real good that they’ll have no idea of what you’re talking about.
Sunlight, the best disinfectant:
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2003/1203/nv/nv2.htm
and as for this Whitecap Dakota Reserve in particular, good stuff Chief Darcy Bear.
From the article behind the first link:
“Because of the current minority government situation, Block would need bipartisan support for her private members to become law.
She says, so far, she’s received none.”
Hmmmmmmm.
Well done, Chief Bear. He’s a good man.
Darcy Bear/ Kelly Block:
Holy crap! Do Eldon and Alphonse know about this?
[See SDA Dec 31/10 thread ‘Eldon and I are nice people….’]
Good for Kelly Block, Chief Darcy Bear and Chief Lonechild.
Don’t expect the Liberals or NDP to help with this as they have a vested interest in keeping the First Nations in a welfare state condition. Have to keep the bureaucrats employed and the First Nations people subservient you know.
Rob Huck, great site you have there and keep cluing in the lefties writing the Star Phoenix’s editorials. I quit subscribing to the Star a number of years ago in order to keep my blood pressure under control.
BTW, Saskatoon Homepages.ca is nothing but a farm team for the Grope and Flail.
Chief Bear appears to be in the same league as the Chief of the Osoyoos people.
Osumashi. They have been but who to complain to? I see the stories of mispent money and I do see band members that don’t like the way things are run.
One of the things I learned that surprised me is reserves are made up of about 5 families. One usually controls most of the resources.
I don’t remember the name of the northern Alberta reserve with oil. The chief was a Liberal Senator with his own plane. When someone left the reserve he would tear down the house so they couldn’t come back to share the wealth. They complained.
Indeed, Speedy.
I know there are aboriginals who have complained but either they are alone or this is so under-reported it’s not funny.
Well done Chief Bear, here’s hoping the bill passed through.
“The main reason all native run casinos are thriving is that they ignored the politically correct ban on smoking”
Right on the money. The FSIN simply ignored the anti-smoking zealot bullies and forged ahead … a luxury not afforded non-native businesses.
Somehow the natives were able to accomodate smokers and non-smokers … a feat that was supposedly impossible.
Here, here Lance!
A little known fact is that most of the property in London, England is owned by a very few landlords. People buy their houses based on the tenure of the lease for the land which it sits upon. A house with only 5-10 years on its lease is not worth as much as one which still has 90 years left on its lease. People are able to obtain mortgages for just the house, but the lender does want to know the terms of the land lease.
@Posted by: Johanne at January 15, 2011 6:49 PM
Very interesting. Is this the norm only in London or is this common throughout Britain ???
First Nations people need property rights. Some few reserves are successful without them, but they are the vast minority. Those successful reserves are also only one bad chief & council away from having a lot of what they’ve built looted by corrupt leaders.
One important distinction needs to be made about the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. They are NOT treaty Indians. Their ancestors came from the USA and, consequently, could not claim any right to the land they now live on. (There’s another Dakota (Sioux) tribe on a reserve just north of Prince Albert, too.) This makes a huge difference in the extortionist attitude of “you owe me” “entitlement” that plagues the rest of the First Nations in the province. There’s not much money to be made by blood sucking lawyers, either, so they haven’t been exploited like so many have and there’s not much else they can do but actually stand on their own feet and make the best of the opportunities they have. And as far as opportunities go, they are lucky to be positioned just south of a major city – Saskatoon.