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.”
That – and the Liberal Party contributions would’ve dried up.
Related – Why arrest when you can drum!
h/t Stan
Judicial implementation of the Indian Act and treaties creates billions of dollars in revenue not for Indians, but for the lawyers involved in the Indian “industry”. Think class action lawsuits against the Crown, residential school common experience payments, treaty land entitlements, band contracts, etc. Billions are at stake, and liberals want to see the gluttony and waste continue; funded by the taxpayer.
The article refers to Jean Chretien’s affection for native peoples (“Mr. Chrétien always had a big place in his heart for them.”). How then does pissing money away on corrupt band leaders help the other 99% of natives? The best way of helping them is insisting upon transparency among their so-called leaders. It now appears that many of the bands suffer from the same type of kleptocracy that many third world nations do. That the opposition would oppose such transparency is just pathetic.
Chief Spence has pulled out of Friday’s meeting. Thank you Ezra!
The tide has turned against Mother Theresa.
She heard it wasn’t catered
I didn’t bother to read all the comments at the linked Mope & Wail article, but the first 30 or so were all of a piece: let’s put an end to this paternalism/cronyism, and bring some transparency into First Nations’ financing.
Geez, maybe all those latte sippers are seeing the light!
Appears Queen of Attawapiskat will not attend the meeting with PM. Is it because she knows her case is weak or her fish broth diet has left her too weak? What will be her next move?
“What will be her next move?”
If there is any justice in this world, her next move will be to pack her bags for an extended stay in a federal penitentiary. That is right after arranging for a sale of her assets in order to pay some restitution to the band.|
And why, if Lawrence Martin was told point blank it was a scandal, did he – a reporter – not report it back then? Would he have kept mum if it was the CPC that was in office?
I do believe Mr.Martin has swift-boated himself.
The Feds should seize her passport…she may dash to friendlier lands when things start to heat up.
I google earth shot of Attawapiskat shows the whole place is less than 2 miles wide…why so many vehicles, literally, roads to nowhere.
Too sensitive, he said. “We’d be accused of racism.”
By whom, the Indians?
Liberals were the government the first time a native contingent went down to Durban, South Africa, and accused the Canadian government(which was the LPC mostly throughout history) of genocide against the Canadian Indians.
Lame excuse considering that Indians call non-Indians racist at every touch and turn.
Who would accuse the law enforcers of racism if they treated the Indians as all Canadians would be treated in similar situations? The Indians of course and they’d be backed up by the NDP.
Time to stop passing our money into the hands of ingrates who neither respect us or deserve it.
If this stunt by Spence, her supporters and her Liberal party sympathizers like The Trudeau Boy Justin,Doc Bennett and Doc Fry et al doesn’t highlight the need for some drastic changes to the antiquated treaties and the Indian Act there’s little hope.
This is the most flagrant instance of a reporter trying to shirk responsibility that I have ever seen. But Gorc Tulk is right, he has swift boated himself. Lawrence Martin is just one of many urinalists that are just as complicit as anyone by refusing to report honestly and without preference or bias. Had news organisations not consciously avoided the subject and deliberately engaged in scapegoating the wrong people we would not be having as much trouble as we are now. I would argue that it is the media that is the greatest offender in this whole sorry mess. They provided the political cover for those who commit the most egregious crimes against First Nations people, which is condemning them to the viscous cycle of dependency and corruption in which they are now trapped. Shame on them all!
Sorry ’bout that Gord. My hands were shaking with anger and I hit the wrong key.
Spence has said she won’t show up to Friday’s meeting with Harper unless the Governor-General also attends! Good! She’s a distraction for the rest of the FN’s.
The woman has nerve! I DO hope the kowtowing to this woman and her agenda has ended once and for all.
I notice the good Liberal columnists at the Star and other Toronto-centered media are twisting and turning,and doing everything BUT blaming Chief Ghandi.
I read yesterday that while the good Chief “starves”, her two kids and Clayton Kennedy are staying in hotel rooms ,in Kennedy’s case,$157 per night, no word on the cost of the kids room or rooms.
Can anyone here offer an idea as to who is paying for the rooms and food for Spence’s family? Charity? The UN?
TrueNorthist, exactly, and the last sentence of the clip at the header shows the complicity of the Liberals in this what has been a sorry mess for decades.
Biffjr @ 12:45, we can only hope.
“Can anyone here offer an idea as to who is paying for the rooms and food for Spence’s family? Charity? The UN?”
You, me and every Canadian taxpayer, that;s who.
Just when I thought this whole spectacle couldn’t get more bizarre…the HuffPo offers this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/obert-madondo/chief-theresa-spences-her_b_2408049.html?just_reloaded=1
Isn’t it heartwarming to know that both Chretien and Kinsella adopted little aboriginal children? I know this because neither have ever let a chance to slip that little bit of info into an article or interview. That’s all it takes to establish your cred in Liberal-land. I especially like the way “Cat Meat” positioned a picture of his daughter in his apology video, just a little subliminal “I’m not a racist” picture of a Asian-ish child to mollify all those angry Chinese people. Sure, she’s not Chinese but it’s all the same when you’re an anti-racist, right? Of course, us little people can’t adopt aboriginal kids because it destroys their culture. I guess that’s why I adopted Chinese kids. And now you know for sure that I’m not a racist, either.
“In our democracy we do not direct the police,” McGuinty said Tuesday in Ottawa. “That would be inappropriate.”
Any journalist with an ounce of professionalism would have recognized the lack of commitment in the word ‘we’ and would have pounced on it. Quite a bit different from, ‘I did not direct the police.”
But an important side issue is being missed here: police commissioners and police chiefs with any honour would resign their commission if given an order that is illegal or unethical.
“In our democracy we do not direct the police,” McGuinty said Tuesday in Ottawa. “That would be inappropriate.”
Yep. YOU directed them not to do anything while 5 police cruisers were torched and small businesses were attacked during the G20 riots.
How much security does a billion dollars buy these days?
“Time to stop passing our money into the hands of ingrates who neither respect us or deserve it.”
Well, now that PMSH has a majority government he can kill that vote subsidy the NDP and Liberal ingrates need to fight their next election.
They and their minions neither respect Canadians nor do they deserve our tax dollars to run for office.(includes Indian Chiefs) 😎
On topic, the excuse this Liberal MP gave to L. Martin is just lame, lame, lame, and it’s the journalist’s job to say so publically and emphatically.
“In our democracy we do not direct the police,” McGuinty said Tuesday in Ottawa. “That would be inappropriate.”
Isn’t that why we elect politicians? It is certainly the government’s job to build a framework for police to operate within. It is also a politician’s job to see that they are doing their job. A policeman doing selective enforcement is not doing his job and could use correction.
Nope. Politicians cannot direct police chiefs on the day-to-day operations of the PF. This is right in Ontario’s Police Services Act…and I imagine the other provinces have similar provisions as well.
If they were permitted to do so, imagine the mess we’d have in Ontario with this pack of rats in Queen’s Park and all the Chicken Littles that call themselves police chiefs.
Synco, thanks for looking at Huffpo so I don’t have to. When even the commenters at Huffpo think someone is crazy, that sets a new standard for batsh*t crazy.
I’ve been following this for the last few weeks and I cannot understand why ET, Gord Tulk, batb, and the rest of the regular commentators here have not mentioned the fact that this has been a con foisted on the FN as well as the rest of us. This has been orchestrated much like the Arab Spring. The planners behind the Idle No More movement will prove to be Arabian Oil, not BIG Oil, but the real power, Arabian oil, behind the oil industry. The Idle No More movement has been spawned to delay as long as possible the oil industry in North America. The Arab sheiks that control the natural resources in Arabia realize that their only source of wealth is oil and as such they need to keep control of it. They sure as hell don’t want FN’s encroaching on their playpen. The West has used oil to advance civilization across the globe. In the process countries that couldn’t support their populations less than one hundred years ago have now taken the fore. To maintain this they have to block North American energy independence. What better way than to use FIrst Nations people to start a grass roots movement to impede oil development here in North America. The second and third generation of Arab rulers do not want to lose the lifestyle they have become accustom to. The FN’s should look at the lifestyle that they are advocating and compare that with the lifestyles of the sons of the Arab rulers that control the oil industry.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4723049/Arab-playboys-supercars-flooding-London.html
No kidding Jethro, the HuffPo has set a new bar for batsh!t crazy…it’s like this IdleNoMore thing has the moonbats in a frenzy…
Chretien admired the ability to suck the trough dry and keep coming back.
Antenor, you may well be right. I’m afraid I’m not up on scandalous international Big Oil policies and subterfuges.
I have to laugh at the unintended consequences of Chief Spends’ “hunger strike” (sic): In trying to head the posse off and send them on a wild goose chase (thus the teepee diversion), all she did was shine the Klieg lights directly on the crap and corruption at the heart of Attawapiskat. (Not only can I spell that word, it now comes trippingly off the tongue …)
Now every Canadian knows about the untold million$ of dollar$ spent — and unaccounted for — by this corrupt and profligate Indian “Chief,” while her people live in substandard, Third-world conditions. The scandal, at whose heart is Theresa Spence and the Attawapiskat Reservation, is of epic proportions and stinks to high heaven. It’s not Whitey’s fault — let’s get that straight — and the sooner the FN and the government take that myth off the table, the better. Native Chiefs need to be responsible and accountable for taxpayer dollars given to them, like every other Canadian. There can’t be two different laws in Canada — one for Natives and one for the rest of us.
ONE LAW FOR ALL.
I dunno? I seem to remember cretien when he was PM directing the rcmp. The rcmp has always been a political police force.
The huffpo piece can’t be serious.
And listen to this total rubbish from Dr. Michael Dan, paying court to Chief Spence (in the service, apparently, of “renewable energy”):
The atmosphere is a little tense … towards journalists (but) politicians and well-wishers are welcome and really it’s about continuing the momentum that’s been building. I think it’s a spiritual place and that’s what really is going on [emphasis mine]. They’re trying to maintain that level of spirituality so that energy doesn’t weaken and they can have the strength through Theresa …
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1312315–attawapiskat-chief-theresa-spence-s-victoria-island-enclave-a-little-tense
Please pass the barf bucket.
And, then there’s Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who trashes residential schools but would never have learned to read or write or become a lawyer and a grand, high, jet-setting poobah without them:
“It’s [Chief Spends’ encampment] actually a pretty reassuring place and you get a real sense of comfort when you go in there.”
Uh huh. Sure, Phil. Anything you say, Phil.
My question to Phil Fontaine is, “How comforting and reassuring are the living conditions of the majority of the people living on the Attawapiskat Reservation today, where the temperature is -11 and expected to dip to -28 by the weekend?”
It’s actually utterly irrelevant how “reassuring” and “comforting” Theresa’s Teepee is. What is relevant is the question, “Where’s the money, honey?”
Antenor, you may be correst, but what is certain is that big American dollars have been given to various Native groups to demonstrate against the oil sands and pipelines. Ezra has covered this more than once showing the evidence. Saudi Arabia may also be guilty but at present there is no proof, while we do have proof of the American Left being behind it.
“I do believe Mr.Martin has swift-boated himself.”
He’s got to be at least 64 or 65 years old, and he’s saying he didn’t know there were a lot of corrupt native bands until a minister in the Chretien government told him? That is some kind of clueless. Even in the linked article he’s still saying nobody should be talking about it. It cheers me up to know that Harper seems to be driving him even crazier.