Canada's First Nations - CF help, protests, solutions, etc. (merged)

[Edward Campbell]

The Globe and Mail is reporting that:

          Mr. Harper will attend a meeting on Jan. 11 with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan and a delegation of first nations leaders co-ordinated by the Assembly of First Nations.

          “This working meeting will focus on two areas flowing from [last year's] gathering: the treaty relationship and aboriginal rights, and economic development,” Mr. Harper said in a statement Friday morning.

My guess is that Chief Spence will not be "selected" by the AFN to attend that meeting and that the communiqué, already written by the PMO Communications (PR) staff I also guess, will not say very much.

 

[Stoker]

Well they're celebrating it as a victory over Harper on the idle no more face book page. If Chief Spence was smart she'll end the "hunger strike" now.

This the typical post over there.

"This is one step on the beginning of our movement. It makes me sick to see Harper taking all this time airing live on TV for Ford Auto Industry and announcing automobile innovation funding....but he can't take time to meet with Chief Spence and wait Til January 11th....this shows his support for big corporations that are ruining and destroying our lands, waters, resources,etc! He is a joke....he best wake up because we have just started!!!"

 

[Bluebulldog]

The Post's article was very good, and uncharacteristic for them, I'm impressed. IMO, it appears as if the swell of information and public outrage over the last few days, has begun to actually permeate the media, and they may be listening. Of course a media portraying a 4 week hunger strike, and a woman who remains rubenesque despite same.....may just call for some pointed questions.

Is it any wonder that when the PMs office announces on 4 Jan that it will meet in 7 days with the AFN, then drama-queen Spence issues a 72 hour ultimatum to the Federal Government?

She can sit quietly in her teepee downriver from where the grown ups are having their conversation. And when complete.....she'll have lost not only her already waning 15 minutes of fame, but public support as well. She can then pack up and go home and deal with the 3rd party management, and the ongoing f_^k ups that she has created.

 

[OldSolduer]

Well they're celebrating it as a victory over Harper on the idle no more face book page. If Chief Spence was smart she'll end the "hunger strike" now.

This the typical post over there.

"This is one step on the beginning of our movement. It makes me sick to see Harper taking all this time airing live on TV for Ford Auto Industry and announcing automobile innovation funding....but he can't take time to meet with Chief Spence and wait Til January 11th....this shows his support for big corporations that are ruining and destroying our lands, waters, resources,etc! He is a joke....he best wake up because we have just started!!!"

Sounds a bit threatening to me.

 

[Jarnhamar]

What was Spence's 72 hour ultimatum? I missed it.

 

[Journeyman]

:dunno:

I think maybe she was demanding that it better be three days from now in 72 hours.....or else...

...or else...she'll wear spandex!!


She's a clown. The Liberals and NDP got their photo op and have moved on. The government is meeting with a First Nations' delegation -- pointedly, not her. If even the mainstream media is starting to dismiss her, you know this latest moment of fame is done -- for now, anyway.

 

[larry Strong]

What was Spence's 72 hour ultimatum? I missed it.

Basically amounted to "72 hours or else"


Larry

 

[Jungle]

Another interesting development:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/01/03/documents-show-plenty-of-money-flowing-through-spences-reserve

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's household made as much as $250,000 in the fiscal year ending March 2011.

As the leader of the remote northern Ontario reserve stages a hunger strike in Ottawa, demanding that Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet with her to discuss the third-world conditions in her community, documents show that plenty of cash is moving through the settlement.

Financial audits show that while Spence was paid $71,377 as current chief, her partner, Clayton Kennedy, was also employed as the reserve's co-manager. Kennedy's consulting company, Moo Shum Enterprises Inc, charges $850 per day - working out to $221,000 per year.

An affidavit posted online states Kennedy's contract runs from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2013. The payment amounts are listed in financial documents on the band's website attawapiskat.org

With other band executives making more than $100,000 per year and a new ice re-surfacing machine bought during a housing crisis, some are wondering why the ongoing Idle No More campaign isn't calling for better financial oversight.

"There are issues such as lack of accountability on reserves, such as lack of governance and giving power into the hands of grassroots aboriginal people and not the chiefs and band councils - we're not hearing any of that," Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau told QMI Agency. Brazeau is an Algonquin Indian and says he has tried to meet with Spence himself. "I feel that a lot of the Idle No More movement is, in effect, a smoke screen because of the accountability legislation in particular that the Conservatives passed that will force band chiefs and councils to disclose salaries and expenses from this day forward."

Documents from 2008 show that while Spence was listed as the deputy chief under the name "Theresa Spence/Linklater" someone named "Theresa Linklater" also billed $25,660 for managing a daycare for three months.

Financial statements also show millions of dollars of stock are held by the reserve in companies such as Apple, Disney and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Calls to the Attawapiskat band office were not answered Thursday.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Financial audits show that while Spence was paid $71,377 as current chief, her partner, Clayton Kennedy, was also employed as the reserve's co-manager. Kennedy's consulting company, Moo Shum Enterprises Inc, charges $850 per day - working out to $221,000 per year.

lol
Donations are required eh
You'd think at 71K tax free a year Spence could afford to buy her helpers some size 12 shoes.

 

[Remius]

Hmn, i don't know too many day care managers that make the equivalent of over 100K a year....

Maybe, just maybe, all this attention grabbing will shed some light on mismanagement etc on reserves and a REAL fix can be made.

 

[Bluebulldog]

I think the outcome of this will be quite more exposure than what Ms. Spence wants.

I have a vision of a burned out Escalade with a lovely snow scene in the background..........

 

[Jed]

Modern tribal warfare in its finest light.  >

 

[dapaterson]

And once we get transparency from first nations, we can see about getting the House of Commons and Senate to reveal their expenses to public scrutiny.

 

[Rethink]

In many ways Spence is like the typical corrupt politician or bureaucrat who preaches one thing, does the opposite and then throws up a sanctimonious smoke screen when the terrible truth starts seeping out.  The thing about Spence’s antics and those of her counterparts in the Native community that puts them in a class of their own is that their position at the trough depends on not only syphoning money that is badly needed in their communities but promoting a particularly harmful brand of segregation that ultimately is keeping people in Third World conditions even though they live in a sophisticated and relatively stable economy where opportunities to improve their situation are all around.  This myth that if they just believe fervently enough in the power of protest and put their faith in the leaders, they will be delivered to some kind of pre-industrial utopia is foolishness that is almost cult-like.  I’ve been a big advocate of integration into the mainstream economy for Canadian Natives.  It’s the only way that you can achieve stability and a decent standard of living.  I don’t think I’ve yet seen a movement that has succeeded in improving the conditions of its people by segregation.  It’s the reason, by the way, that conspiracy theories are running rampant.  I think someone mentioned this a little earlier in this thread – people thinking that Steven Harper is messing with their health cards or orchestrating assaults or similar things.  When you are isolated in your own corner, you lose the ability to objectively assess what’s going on around you and become more and more inclined to believe whatever stories you are fed.  I’m hoping that exposure of Spence’s adventures at the trough may lead to some rethinking on the part of people of who have been following her (and her counterparts’) dictates.  It will be interesting to see where this goes. 

 

[DBA]

And once we get transparency from first nations, we can see about getting the House of Commons and Senate to reveal their expenses to public scrutiny.

What specifically do you think is missing and should be disclosed? There is a fair bit already available.

Parliament of Canada - Board of Internal Economy - Member's Expenditures Reports
Parliament of Canada - Board of Internal Economy - Financial Statements of the House of Commons
Senate of Canada - Financial Reports

 

[PuckChaser]

What specifically do you think is missing and should be disclosed? There is a fair bit already available.

Why a town of 1500 needs a council of 21 members? Why people in that town are pulling in as administrators more than some doctors make in a year? You know, little details like that.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

I think DBA is talking about DAPatterson's comments about Fed Gov spending.

 

[PuckChaser]

I think DBA is talking about DAPatterson's comments about Fed Gov spending.

Misread, gotcha. Thanks.

 

[Rifleman62]

http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/chief-spence-heads-to-hotel-to-shower-and-nap-is-that-where-shes-really-been-staying/

Chief Spence heads to hotel “to shower and nap” – Is that where she’s really been staying?

January 4, 2013 — BC Blue

On CBC’s The National, Adrienne Arsenault tried her best to spin after catching Chief Theresa Spence leaving  for a hotel yesterday:

“She’s sworn off solid foods but she’s far from allowing herself to being trapped on the island” –

Audio asking Spence:

“Just going to have a shower and a little lie down?” (see here 2:20 mark http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/watch/)

No questions about how much time Spence is really spending on the island in the tipi that we have been told many, many times  by the media she is staying (see here) nor does Arsenault follow her to see which hotel she went to and interview the hotel staff to find out how often they see her like a real investigative reporter would do.

The Media Party have their anti-Harper hero and are not going to do anything to ruin it.

h/t Nick Waters

 

[a_majoor]

Another interesting development:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/01/03/documents-show-plenty-of-money-flowing-through-spences-reserve

Perhaps Spense and her partner might change their diet from broth to healthy, nutritious, prison food. While I doubt the well deserved criminal charges will ever be laid it is nice to contemplate....

As for the fact that Spense is staying in a hotel, why is anyone surprised? Many of the OWS leaders did that as well (a hilarious video exists of a crew filming an OWS encampment at night using an IR camera; most of the tents were empty), it is all about show and setting a "narrative", not reporting on the facts.