Attawapiskat First Nation chief re-elected

[twobits]

Absolutely unbelievable! 214 votes from a registered population of 3472 makes her chief again. No, they are all not of voting age but still!!! It seems clear they are unwilling to even help themselves given the knowledge of millions in undocumented spending. Willing to bet that 214 people on the reserve have some idea where those millions went.
As a side note, I wonder if Federal funding is based on the total registered population of 3472 or if the 1489 that live off reserve are removed from the equation.





Chief Theresa Spence has been re-elected to a second three-year team as chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.

Electoral officer Louie Noah told The Canadian Press that Spence received 214 of the 507 votes cast.

Spence gained notoriety last winter for subsisting on fish broth and tea for six weeks as a form of protest during the rise of the Idle No More movement.

The Idle No More cause was a protest against the Conservative government’s omnibus Bill C-45 which First Nations groups claimed threatened their treaty rights.

The election went ahead Tuesday despite a call from The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples to postpone it until all members living off-reserve had a chance to vote.

The group, which represents aboriginal people living off-reserve, said it’s unfair to people who live outside the remote community to have to vote in person.

Despite the complaint, voting went ahead.

According to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the Attawapiskat First Nation has a total registered population of 3,472. Of that, 1,489 people — or about 43 per cent — live off-reserve.

The reserve is widely known for a housing crisis that prompted a state of emergency in the winter of 2011 and set off lingering tensions with the federal government.

Flooding and sewer backups this spring again forced Attawapiskat into a state of emergency and forced the First Nation to evacuate its only hospital.

Spence’s protest in Ottawa last winter drew unfavourable attention to Attawapiskat with the release of a scathing audit of the band’s books that found a missing paper trail for millions of dollars between 2005 and 2011.

[kgcayenne]

Unbelievable. Things like this is why there are eligible people who refuse to seek status and prefer, instead to live, work, and contribute to the rest of the population instead.

[Glacier]

Absolutely unbelievable! 214 votes from a registered population of 3472 makes her chief again. No, they are all not of voting age but still!!! It seems clear they are unwilling to even help themselves given the knowledge of millions in undocumented spending. Willing to bet that 214 people on the reserve have some idea where those millions went.

You have to remember that the median age on reservations is very young due to high fertility rates. Barely 20 years of age in a lot of places (I don't have the exact figure for Attawapiskat), so right there we can eliminate 1600 people from voting. Secondly, the population that is eligible to vote is quite young, and as we know young people don't exactly vote in high numbers. Third, voting for Chief is akin to voting for mayor in a municipal election, which as we know is lucky to draw 30% voter turnout. 30% of the remaining 1872 population is 562, and is in line with the number that did vote.

[Symbonite]

well i guess they like living poor while she is feeding her face and all the rest of her family that is part of payroll....

interesting thought taht the people that are off reserve could not vote....possibly because they see whats actually happning that from the people inside...

[the truth]

but,but,but somehow this wil turn out to be ottawa's fault???????????
what a joke

[zzontar]

What a farce. I guess some people like being abused.

[grammafreddy]

Some people don't know they are being abused.

[dogspoiler]

but,but,but somehow this wil turn out to be ottawa's fault???????????
what a joke

I think it is largely Ottawa's fault for letting the funds be mishandled. I hope they have learned a little and take steps to see that the money goes where it is supposed too.

[grammafreddy]

I think it is largely Ottawa's fault for letting the funds be mishandled. I hope they have learned a little and take steps to see that the money goes where it is supposed too.

I don't think "letting" is the right term to use when it comes to the money the natives were allocated.

[dogspoiler]

I think it's exactly the right term, there could easly be a system in place to see that money went to much needed infrastuture, housing and supplies for those that need it rather than fat paychecks and perks for a few chosen ones.

[grammafreddy]

I think it's exactly the right term, there could easly be a system in place to see that money went to much needed infrastuture, housing and supplies for those that need it rather than fat paychecks and perks for a few chosen ones.

That's one way that it used to be - until the chiefs started yelling about trust and racism and bias against them. So the government allowed them more control of their band money and allowed them to pay their "bills" themselves. We see how that has worked - right? When some bands started defaulting, the government imposed overseers (companies like Deloite, etc) to "help" them, but they were insulted by that and said a company in Toronto or some other far away city did not understand their issues and they balked at sending their financial info to the overseers. It helps to have some historical understanding of how the whole mess has gotten to where it is now. There is a lot of fault on both sides of this fence.

[dogspoiler]

Thanks Granny, you have brought to light one of the biggest problems in our society and on these forums. It seems to be far more important to most people to establish "blame", rather than look at a problem objectivley and determine solutions.

cheers

[Glacier]

It's hard to look objectively for solutions when you are still crippled by your own guilt over what your country has done in the past.
_________________________________________________________________________
"As I have traveled the world I have noticed that eastern cultures are obsessed with shame, tribal cultures with fear, and western cultures with guilt." ~ John Cross

[dogspoiler]

I do not feel crippled or guilty about things over which I had no control.
I feel a great sense of dissapointment about the inability of people to come come up with comprehensive plans to get help to those who need it.
All the finger pointing and blaming and accusations are not going to help the people that will be freezing again this winter.

[grammafreddy]

This ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna_Accord ... was supposed to be the answer. However, it was done when Paul Martin was Prime Minister, then Harper won the election before the KA could be implemented, and Harper squashed the whole thing. A lot of work, a lot of hours and a lot of money went into that document - and it just got dumped by Harper.