The crisis of the northern ontario community Attawapiskat

[Hachimitsu]

I am not sure if too many people have heard of this, but a state of emergency has been called for the community of Attawapiskat, as several residents of the reserve are living in housing worse then conditions in many developing countries.

CBC news story

Info on how the community started.

I just wanted to start this thread so I could get some thoughts and opinions here. I will share my thoughts in another post.

Fixed link

[vison]

It's a mess. But one thing I'd like to know is what happened to the millions and millions of dollars that were supposedly sent there?

[Primula Baggins]

Wilma, both your links go to the Wikipedia article, but that does mention the state of emergency. What an appalling situation of poverty and neglected problems—the new school promised since 2000 and nothing done while the stopgap portables crumble; the "healing centre" that is 5 km from the town and has no phone service and no running water!

[Hachimitsu]

The thing is before the whole thing got to television news, when the cheif declared a state of emergency, the federal and provincial government pointed fingers on who should go there!!

Mind you there is a DeBeers diamond mine in the area.

About where the money goes, the federal government has to approve any spending the reserve makes, so how does the Harper government not know where the money went?

Here is a blog I found addressing a lot of peoples initial questions on where the money went. (Some of these things I knew the answer to already, but I think it's helpful).

I have known that according the the Indian Act, the federal government is responsible for quite a bit of infrastructure that usually provinces or municipalities deal with. I have felt for an incredibly long time that infrastructure on reserves should be the responsibility of provincial governments since the federal government does not seem capable of handling services that provinces normally take care of.

The federal government (no matter what party) has a history of infrastructure failures in First Nations communities (like the Kashechewan water crisis. Somehow that reserve ended up downstream from a sewage treatment plant. They had running water but it was a different colour and undrinkable. Rain water was better. The federal government was responsible for the water testing in that area. Many First Nations Reserves have a permanent boil water advisory.)

Why does no one mention this sort of thing when ever an infrastructure crisis occurs in a reserve?

Not to mention the old Indian Affairs minister said they had known about severe infrastructure problems on reserves for years (the Attawapiskat crisis is no surprise to the is person), but the Harper government seems pretty surprised, why is that?

Ugh, I think I am going to have to contact both my MP and my MPP on this matter.

I have quite a few other thoughts, but I want to leave room for more people to make comments.

Thank you Prim for alerting me about the link problem it should be fixed.

[SirDennis]

It's a mess. But one thing I'd like to know is what happened to the millions and millions of dollars that were supposedly sent there?

According to the brief report I heard last night almost all of it went to education. From what I understand the government gave the band council autonomy over their own finances and a lump sum payment of $90m(?). Before "self determination" took hold money for education was a separate pot and was supposed to be at the same level as everywhere else in the country, but was not. In other words when the band received a lump sum and the right to spend it as they saw fit they chose to try to make up for all the years their education system was underfunded. This left them with very little money for anything else.

I've noticed that Harper is becoming very adept at claiming ignorance whenever evidence of mismanagement is uncovered. Same goes for the fact that his economic policy is actually leading to a deeper recession (largely owing to rising unemployment). I shouldn't be surprised really after he successfully shifted the blame for the last election onto the Liberals.

The situation at Attawapiskat is horrible. But even reserves that are not cut off from the rest of the world are in very rough shape housing and infrastructure wise. Up there with winter upon them it is perfectly understandable that a state of emergency would be called.

[vison]

I have to be honest, I wouldn't know what to do if I was given the power to do anything.

The Indian reserves in Canada are almost all a disgrace to Canada. Vast amounts of money are sunk into the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and yet NOTHING ever seems to change.

[Lalaith]

It doesn't seem to be different here in the US. It really breaks my heart.

[Hachimitsu]

the blog I linked to talks about the 90 million in extreme detail. Also it was 90 mill ever since Harper came to power, not a lump sum payment.

THe real amount per year was in the 17-20 million dollar range.

I only heard about this 90 million sum about 2 days after the story got to television news. (I was like what the heck, where did that number come from?) A figure of 90 mill without any context looks really big and probably the Harper government was trying to cover their um.. bottom, by stating this figure, and making it look like First Nations people can't handle money.

Also there has been a long standing problem of children begging for a school in the area so I can understand why a lot of it went to education.

Also much of the items for house building cost a lot because transportation costs are high. But that goes for anything up north. Even going to Algonquin park a person can notice a significant price increase.

Ultimately I don't think the government money is the issue, I think it's that the federal government can't admit they aren't able to handle infrastructure. Not to mention racism among other things.

Edit:
Did I mention there is a diamond mine in the area?

Edit again: I highly recommend people read the blog, it details a lot of differences on how the federal government manages infrastructure for the reserves and because most people are familiar with how the provincial governments handle the same infrastructure for the rest of the province.

[SirDennis]

the blog I linked to talks about the 90 million in extreme detail. Also it was 90 mill ever since Harper came to power, not a lump sum payment.

THe real amount per year was in the 17-20 million dollar range.

I only heard about this 90 million sum about 2 days after the story got to television news. (I was like what the heck, where did that number come from?) A figure of 90 mill without any context looks really big and probably the Harper government was trying to cover their um.. bottom, by stating this figure, and making it look like First Nations people can't handle money.

Also there has been a long standing problem of children begging for a school in the area so I can understand why a lot of it went to education.

Also much of the items for house building cost a lot because transportation costs are high. But that goes for anything up north. Even going to Algonquin park a person can notice a significant price increase.

Ultimately I don't think the government money is the issue, I think it's that the federal government can't admit they aren't able to handle infrastructure. Not to mention racism among other things.

Edit:
Did I mention there is a diamond mine in the area?

Edit again: I highly recommend people read the blog, it details a lot of differences on how the federal government manages infrastructure for the reserves and because most people are familiar with how the provincial governments handle the same infrastructure for the rest of the province.

Wilma, I agree with your sentiment here 100% I didn't think $90million was all that much... if it is over a period of say 5 years it is down right appalling that Harper should be asking, "Where did the money go?" Fuel alone would wipe out most of it.

If McKay with his use of military aircraft (at 10x the cost of commercial) and search and rescue helicopters for personal transportation is any indication of what these people are all about they are the last ones who should be pointing fingers at reserves.

The term racist is appropriate here, especially when our reserve system was the model for Apartheid in South Africa; and now a diamond mine is on the radar. (Bets on a dam being built that will flood the entire reserve?)

Do you think we are seeing a smear campaign ahead of an announcement for mine development that the FN would oppose?

[vison]

Ugh. SirDennis, I am sitting here hoping you're wrong but knowing the kind of shenanigans governments can get up to, you could be right.

There is another side to this, though. The First Nations people in the north and elsewhere don't live their traditional lives any more. And almost all of them are unemployed because there is NOTHING for anyone to do there. So what are "we" (meaning the rest of Canada) supposed to do? I have great goodwill for the First Nations people but at some point I think they, and we, have to abandon the reserve system and find some other way. I admit I have no clue what that other way should be.

There is a reserve not far from me and it is not the horror story that many are, but it is also not very "nice". New houses have been built lately and the kids there go to local public schools, but then, we're only an hour or so east of Vancouver. However, if I go into the local stores, etc., I will NEVER see a First Nations person working as a clerk or bank teller, etc.

I've always said that racism against First Nations people in Canada is as horrible or maybe worse than racism anywhere in the world.

Years ago my husband and I visited some friends who were stationed in Fort Churchill (RCMP members). We were shown around, not much to see. We saw a bit of Dene Village, though, a kind of annex to Ft. Churchill. Now, Fort Churchill is not in the Arctic, it's south of 60 as they say, but it's north enough for me. Dene Village was a slum of crappy little "subdivision" style houses slapped down on the tundra, rotten little inadequate bungalows. The Dene people had been forced off the land and made to live there so their kids could go to school. The people who stayed in the bush had their kids taken to residential schools or were actually transported to Dene Village. Well, you had to ask, why? There were no jobs there. The few businesses there would not hire them and there were very few businesses in Forth Churchill anyway - almost everyone there is in the RCMP or the military or working for the government in some way.

Over the years Chris and I met a lot of native trappers, people who still live a traditional life as well as they can, but it's a hard row to hoe. It becomes pathetically easy to sit in front of a TV in one of those awful shacks. Easier than running a trapline at 40 below, anyway. Building ordinary houses on the tundra is difficult - the permafrost quickly starts to melt and the houses start to tip over, it's impossible to have a septic system such as we can have down here. Running waterlines? Think about it. Where is electricity going to come from? Generators - running 24/7 on diesel, out in the middle of the bush.

As I've said before, it's a terrible mess. It took 200 years to get this bad and I daresay it will take 200 years before it gets better.

[Hachimitsu]

With this Ring of Fire thing that I am just learning about I think you are right SirDennis. Excellent observation.

The diamond mine I am talking about, has been around for years and is owned by DeBeers, but Attawapiskat only gets 2 million from them. I wonder what DeBeers is making off of that mine. Check video called "Roots of Attawapiskat crisis". The lady at the beginning is the Chief of Attawapiskat and declared the state of emergency. The way she explains it it seems some of the people involved were misled, which does not surprise me from DeBeers.

[Osgilliation rant]DeBeers seems very well versed at screwing over ethnic groups and then coming out looking like the good guy, although they are a cartel with basically a monopoly on diamonds. Just from the talk of the DeBeers rep, it's seems the FN peoples are just in the way. Not to mention keeping the price of diamonds artificially high. [/Osgiliation]

Also Mike Holmes has suggested that better building materials be used on homes in reserves so they don't fall apart so easily, and can handle the shabby infrastructure that the federal gov't is providing. The houses would last longer and need fewer repairs saving money, but the initial cost would be high. It's like the Federal government does not realize this is a country with winter.

I also noticed when the television news started, there was not much mention of how the federal and provincial governments argued for a month before sending help, after the state of emergency was declared. Also, reporters keep asking where did the money go yet, don't answer the question.

Also, the community of Kasechewan I mentioned earlier, is in the same area of Northern Ontario. There is definitely a pattern, and I don't think anyone wants to admit it. I will note the federal MP for that area Charles Angus, seems just as pissed off as the average person, so at least someone on the federal level wants to do something about it. He wrote the article What if they declared an emergency and no one came?" Which is what alerted me to the situation in the area. They added a video that was not there when I first viewed the article.

I twittered a question to the CBC on the federal vs. provincial thing, since they said they wanted viewer questions. I doubt they will address my question though.

Sorry of I missed posts, I took a while composing to check spelling and links.

[Hachimitsu]

Sorry Vison, I missed you, great observations. I want to adress your post more in depth later, but about building houses, how come these northern housing issues are not considered a giant problem in successful northern communities (I do not know about Alaska, but I am sure Ms. Palins house does not have the issues these homes on reserves are having.

Also you are 100% right on the racism when it comes to hiring FN people. When people ask, how come they don't have jobs, the question should be asked how come no one is hiring them? I remember years ago there was building project up north and the federal government said a quota of FN people had to be hired. Inside the organization each department said they "don't want the natives" and wanted other departments to deal with the quota!!!

This racism in hiring has to be addressed. How come none of the Attawapiskat people are working in the diamond mine? I know in South Africa at least one of the diamond mines there, Black South Africans work there as miners, so it's not a policy across all of DeBeers to hire only white people. (Mind you if anyone is caught on the property they can be shot on sight since diamonds are just randomly on the ground there, but anyway.)

I have so much more to say on what should be tried, but I have house cleaning to do. (Also I get kind a frustrated talking about this. Gotta plan what say when I call my MP and MPP.)

[narya]

Wilma,

You asked me to comment on this, and I'm trying to do so between calls at work (I'm at the crisis line). So I'm going to throw out a few thoughts, then come back later and say something more coherent, hopefully.

The people are living in sheds without running water or electricity. While that sounds awful to us (and it is awful) it is the standard for most of rural Alaska. That's how my (white) husband grew up with his trapper father. Hauled water from the nearby stream, no electricity, outhouse out back, Coleman lantern for light. That is how many people still live in rural communities in Alaska. Some of the larger villages have a water plant, electrical plant, and sewage treatment lagoon, but they don't work reliably.

When I worked for the Division of Aviation in Alaska, I went to small villages and spoke with elders who were living in houses with some of the trappings of modern white America, but who had been children, literally, in the stone age. It takes more than one generation to graft hundreds of years of foreign "progress" onto a way of life that had worked in harmony with its environment for 10,000 years.

That said, we have the obligation, as fellow citizens, to help all of our citizens to achieve the comforts we enjoy, that we have exposed them to, like flush toilets, electric lights, gas powered vehicles, houses with more than one room, central heat, hot water, machine laundry, cable TV, Internet, long distance phone... not to mention public education, representation, roads, airports, medical care, etc.

I'll write more later. Gotta go.

[SirDennis]

Just popping in with more to say later...

Here is something describing what life in remote areas could be like, especially with a diamond mine right there (presently they are getting ripped off):

HEITUSHAN, CHINA— Lhamotso never learned to read and write, and she has few marketable skills other than the ability to milk a yak.

Yet she can earn up to $1,000 a week these days, an unimaginable fortune for a Tibetan nomad. With the money, she has bought herself a shiny new Honda motorcycle. She and her husband gave up their tent for a house they built themselves with solar panels, a satellite dish and television.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6221.story

ps thanks for setting the record straight on history of the mine Wilma.

I like what Vision says here:

I think they, and we, have to abandon the reserve system and find some other way. I admit I have no clue what that other way should be.

[Hachimitsu]

I used to think getting rid of the reserves, could be a thing, but after reading other opinions and thinking about it more, the reserve is pretty much one of the last things they have. The only refuge where they can practice their culture without feelings like foreigners in their own country. A culture which in the past was deliberately pushed to destruction. Also it's all they have left. That is it. They lose the reserves they got nothing. The FN people are only about 4 percent of the population of Canada. Many that leave even come back since that is one of the last places where they can be FN people.

Also I read in another place it is one of the few refuges since many other places in the area do not want them there. Thinking of the reserve as a refuge from obvious racism, really put things in perspective for me.

(I do think the placement of the reserves bears some examination though.)

The farthest North I have been is around Algonquin park in the winter. The residents have running water and electricity. Again these are responsibilities of provinces, but watching a video on another FN community in Ontario, the federal government has not got around to hooking the reserve up to the already existing Ontario power grid. *shock*

After reading comments people don't seem to understand, that the residents of Attawapiskat are not responsible for setting up pipes and electricity, that is the federal governments responsibility and they are not fulfilling it. Some people think this whole entire situation is all their fault, don't pay taxes and they are just lazy and do not want to learn. (the "don't pay taxes" thing while it didn't really matter to me, it is a big misconception.

Major EDIT:

I meant reading comments on other sites like CBC. I have heard comment areas on sites for The National Post are pretty bad too. You guys here are awesome.

[vison]

Here is an informative website: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100016202

It answers some of the questions people ask about "Indians".

[SirDennis]

(I do think the placement of the reserves bears some examination though.)

There are ways around issues arising from the placement of reserves but all of them seem to involve some sort of capital investment. Some of the "improvements" (ie solar energy, water recycling, satellite, innovative sewage treatment) might be taken as encroachment. A real problem is reserves are so small that they do not permit migration or support a lifestyle of living off the land year round.

Then there are regulations (or lack of regulations in some cases) that completely ignore the needs of reserves. When you look at the Anishnawbe of Saugeen First Nations, they have fishing rights in the waters around the entire Bruce Peninsula. BUT their quotas are a fraction of what the sport fishing industry is allowed each year. By rights they should be able to take what they need to be viable and sports fishermen should have to compete for the rest. But sports fishing brings in tourist dollars that the entire region surrounding the reserve depends on to make it through the lean winter months.

Everything that lives in such places, living populations I mean, ebb and flow with the abundance or lack of each year; migration or just the freedom to range is the only way around this. Being fixed in one place, and being dependent on an economic system that historically is bad at providing for people who live in higher maintenance or remote areas is a bad combination.

When I was a child (30plus years ago) I marveled at the very Canadian idea of sharing the cost of essential services. No matter where you lived services cost pretty much the same (for instance telephone, hydro, infrastructure). It was understood that it was right that people in lower-cost-to-service areas should share the burden for providing services to people in higher-cost-to-service areas. Such an arrangement meant no one was unduly put upon in trying to maintain a decent standard of living.

This benefited our entire country and the system worked well. That is until deregulation, privatization, and so-called competition (a euphemism for price fixing) came along. Since then everything has gone to stink. For people such as First Nations on reserves who where already marginalized economically it was more like to stench. This is where it becomes acceptable to not hook up a community to the power grid for instance. What's a little racism when profits hang in the balance?

With the "user pay" mentality taking hold, the cost of development in remote areas has become prohibitive as well -- without government subsidies that is. That's where the money went. Sometimes subsidies are made for a promise on the part of a recipient company to share with the remote areas they will operate in. But when in the last decade has the profit motive not won the day in such arrangements?

So you are right Wilma, reserves have their positive points. But as islands surrounded by an economic system that is fundamentally at odds with living in common, iow the Aboriginal way of life, the reserve system seems more of a prison than a haven.

Edited for clarity

[Hachimitsu]

OK I read half of what you said so far, but since it's so good, I have to reply to some of it. In the wiki for Attawapiskat, it explains it was traditionally a temporary place for fishing and hunting. During the winter there was nothing. Which is sort of why I was wondering why the location for the reserve was chosen. Also why are these pieces of land so small?

I watched a documentary on the Algonquin First Nations and they chose not to have a reserve and they detailed the pros and cons of it. It was very helpful and informative. I did not know the trade offs involved and considering the federal government fails in the delivery of services they are supposed to provide, they probably made the right decision. But at the same time they can't get a their own turbine at the dam that goes through Algonquin land since Quebec Hydro's monopoly trumps that. *shock* So they don't have a power grid, they have to use generators. I will say though that overall with localizing education at least they think things are very slowly improving. (At least they have that.)

I still believe that First Nations people need their own land and land rights, that supports their culture, language and lifestyle, and has a viable economic resources. Not to mention bigger pieces of land. But something that does not result in epic segregation. When the Indian Act was written it was obviously set up to segregate FN out of the way of just about everything and has many racist intentions. (It was even illegal for them to hire a lawyer to defend their land claims, wtf?) Some people say just get rid of the reserves and make them move to the city, which would just assimilate them and destroy their culture even more (as if their culture was worthless, not to mention totally kill any FN languages that are currently getting passed on to fewer and fewer people already). That is what I am concerned about if they don't have land.

So I think the Indian Act has to be rewritten, and has to expand right to larger parts of their traditional land and rights to participate in the economies that are on their own land. (Not to mention rights to the profits.) If big business does not like it, they will have to learn to work with FN people on a more equal footing, and realize they can't rip these people off. The way the reserves are done now has just seemed to me a method to banish the FN from the economic resources they should have a right to. I firmly believe FN people should have particular rights just for them, and there should be legal protections for it. If in Ontario we can have a publicly funded Catholic school board and many many Catholic schools, we can have real rights and protections for FN people. (Yes Ontario has 2 tax funded school boards, one public and one Catholic. No one dares speak of getting rid of the Catholic board. It would be political suicide.)

Yes I know that much of the Indian Act in the beginning was legalized racism but I had thought much more change had occurred.

*Goes back to reading Sir Dennis' post*
EDIT: I don't hate Catholics or anything, but I just wanted to give an example of another somewhat protected group, through using tax payer money.

EDIT again: I should add, a few years ago, there was a reserve in Northern Ontario, that was in a pretty sad state. They were fed up and decided to build their own economy through the manufacture and sale of illegal cigarettes. Turned the reserve around. I don't remember the name of the community, so I have not been able to keep up with it.

I think that some need to admit that FN people need to be included in the economy rather then being viewed as in the way of economic opportunities. That could address a lot of the poverty issues, and then could afford the electricity bill. I truly feel that much of the poverty on some FN reserves are due to institutionalized racism.

[Hachimitsu]

I read your whole post and I think you are right. I hope what I said as potential alternatives sound at least reasonable.

EDIT again: I was listening to CBC radio the other day and a caller detailed a building project on a Manitoba reserve and how just even in the first level of the project there was corruption. The supplier sent subpar materials since they know the reserve can't return them, and how to contractors do subpar work and get away with it. (I have heard of sub par work by contractors in poor areas, not to mention screwing over homeowners, there really needs to be real legislation against shady contractors)

It was a very interesting call in show, and many of the callers truly do care about FN peoples and their rights. It's downloadable so I can link it if anyone is interested.

EDIT again: Thank you guys so much for your well thought out intelligent responses. It's helping me prepare for when I get up the courage to bring this up with my MP, and MPP.

[vison]

I am always shocked and amazed (not in a good way) by the fact that several Canadian provinces have Catholic schoolboards. It's bizarre, but would derail this thread to discuss.

The situation with the First Nations people is bad. I don't know how to make it better. But at this point, the First Nations people are like the pets of the rest of Canada. We "allow" them this, we "allow" them that, we make them live here or there.

Once upon a time the reserve system was really meant to be for the FN's good: they were obviously incapable of living with the rest of us, so we'll put them over here and we'll "take care of them". We stole most of their land but we'll let them have this bit here. We'll let them fish and hunt, but certainly not fish and hunt enough to survive or make money. The idea was to KEEP them dependent on the larger society.

FN people in BC mostly have fishing rights. They can fish for their own use, but for years were prosecuted if they sold that fish. That has changed. But the fisheries are in such tough shape that nobody is sure what's going to happen and now a lot of people believe that allowing the FN people to sell their fish is the direct cause of the fishery failures!!!

During the post-war years, a policy of assimilation saw the horrors of the residential schools. The damage done by that system will take generations to repair.

We are all so accustomed to thinking that FN people are incapable - and one of the results is that many of them are. The money that goes to reserves has largely been misspent - this is not a racist remark, this is the absolute truth. FN people can be crooks and liars, too, just like the rest of us. They are not innocent noble savages - that idea IS racist.

It is true that their cultures and languages may disappear. I guess that's sad, but isn't it the way of the world? My ancestors once went about in longboats bashing the heads of Scottish villagers, then gave offerings to Odin or Thor. The other side of the family was the Scottish villagers. They went about in blankets and ate cold porridge.

I truly believe that this romantic notion of maintaining FN cultures in the modern world has to change - just as my family's culture has changed. We treasure the history and stories, but we speak English and wear trousers.

Sorry to seem like I'm making fun. But the idea of FN people as being "special" seems awfully like the idea that mentally handicapped kids are "special". Time for the FNs to get off the short bus, to be frank.

And, yes, I admit freely that I have no clue how that can be done.