[BeaverFever]

Not incorrect. The numbers still don't add up - there's never been an adequate supply of housing. There has to be an adequate supply of houses first before we examine how we can improve upkeep.

[Lemmy]

The source of the problem is the apartheid that exists. Until the the Constitution, Indian Act and all the treaties are destroyed/ammended/rewritten it'll be the same old same old. As long as we choose not live in the 21st century, we won't.

[OnTheIce]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Not incorrect. The numbers still don't add up - there's never been an adequate supply of housing. There has to be an adequate supply of houses first before we examine how we can improve upkeep.

It's not a lack of money.

You have high-profile battles, like Attawapiskat, who make the news with their terrible conditions only to have the money unaccounted for and missing.

Since 2005, we spent 90 million on that reserve alone. $50,000 per man, woman and child with 54% of the transactions have no documentation.

Ottawa is looking to get almost 2 million back from them.

[BeaverFever]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Not incorrect. The numbers still don't add up - there's never been an adequate supply of housing. There has to be an adequate supply of houses first before we examine how we can improve upkeep.

It's not a lack of money.

You have high-profile battles, like Attawapiskat, who make the news with their terrible conditions only to have the money unaccounted for and missing.

Since 2005, we spent 90 million on that reserve alone. $50,000 per man, woman and child with 54% of the transactions have no documentation.

Ottawa is looking to get almost 2 million back from them.

$1:

The real math behind Attawapiskat’s $90 million

Special to National Post | December 4, 2011 7:35 AM ET

How Ottawa spent $90 million at Attawapiskat


Prime Minister Harper is apparently scratching his head about where $90 million in federal funding to Attawapiskat has gone. There is much talk about lack of accountability, and no one knowing what happened to the money.

Let’s start with some simple math.

First, $90 million is a deceptive number. It refers to federal funding received since Harper’s government came into power in 2006. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Attawapiskat received $17.6 million in federal funds (PDF). The document linked to shows the breakdown of federal funds in case you wanted to know how much is allocated to things like medical transportation, education, maternal health care and so on.

Thus, $90 million refers to the total; the average is about $18 million per year in federal funding since 2006.

Okay fine, but where did it go?


Attawapiskat publishes its financial statements going back to 2005. If you want to know where the money was spent, you can look in the audited financial reports. This document (PDF) for example provides a breakdown of all program funding.

Just getting to this stage alone proves the falsehood of the claim that there is no accountability and no one knows where the money goes.

But $90 million could have built the community 360 brand new houses!


Assuming, as Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowyk Council has stated, that a new house costs $250,000 to build in Attawapiskat (with half of that being transportation costs), then yes, 360 new units could have been provided by $90 million.

However, this money was not just earmarked for the construction of new homes.

An important fact that many commentators forget (or are unaware of) is that section 91(24) of the Constitution Act of 1867 gives the Federal Crown exclusive powers over “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians.”

You see, for non-natives, the provinces are in charge of funding things like education, health-care, social services and so on. For example, the Province of Ontario allocated $10,730 in education funding per non-native pupil in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. For most First Nations, particularly those on reserve, the federal government through INAC is responsible for providing funds for native education.

How is this relevant?


It helps explain why the entire $90 million was not allocated to the construction of new houses. That $90 million includes funding for things like:

education per pupil
education infrastructure (maintenan­ce, repair, teacher salaries, etc)
health-care per patient
health-care, infrastruc­ture (clinics, staff, access to services outside the community in the absence of facilities on reserve)
social services (facilitie­s, staff, etc)
infrastruc­ture (maintenan­ce and constructi­on)
a myriad of other services
These costs are often not taken into account when attempting to compare a First Nation reserve to a non-native municipality. In fact, many people forget that their own health-care and education are heavily subsidized by tax dollars as well.

What’s the point here?


How much money was actually allocated to housing in 2010-2011? Page 2 of Schedule A (PDF) shows us that out of the $17.6 million in federal funds, only $2 million was provided for housing. Yes, even $2 million would be enough to build 8 brand new homes, if those funds were not also used to maintain and repair existing homes. The specific breakdown of how that money was spent is found in Schedule I.

Now, I admit I am confused about something:

According to figures providing by Aboriginal Affairs, the Attawapiskat Cree band has received just over $3 million in funds specifically for housing and a further $2.8 million in infrastructure money since 2006.

That is actually less than I estimated it would be, going by the 2010-2011 figures. I estimated $10 million for housing, but INAC (now Aboriginal Affairs) is saying it was $5.8 million.

Anyway, that isn’t too important. The point is, if INAC is correct, only $5.8 million has gone towards housing for Attawapiskat. At most that could have built the community 23 new houses, if Attawapiskat had merely let the older houses go without any repairs or maintenance for 5 years. Letting existing homes go to pieces in a remote and harsh environment is not a great strategy, however.

The point here is, $90 million sounds like a huge amount, but the real figures allocated to housing are much, much smaller.

Fine, they got $5.8 million for housing, surely that is enough?


Again, assuming 23 new homes were built, and all older homes were left without maintenance and repairs, and the people in charge of housing worked for free and there were no other costs associated with administering the housing program, Attawapiskat would still be experiencing a housing crisis.

It is estimated that $84 million is needed for housing alone to meet Attawapiskat’s housing needs (you’ll find those figures in a small table on the right, titled “Attawapiskat by the numbers”).

The Feds are just handing that money over and the Band does whatever it wants with it!


Many people seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that First Nations have self-governance and run themselves freely. This is far from the truth, but given that most Canadians are familiar with the municipal model, the confusion is actually understandable. It isn’t as though Canada does a very good job of teaching people about the Indian Act.

Section 61(1)(a-k) of the Indian Act declares that: “With the consent of the council of a band, the Minister may authorize and direct the expenditure of capital moneys of the band” for various purposes.

What this means is that Ministerial approval is actually a requirement before any capital expenditures can occur on reserve. In practice, a Band will generally pass a Band Council Resolution (BCR) authorising a certain expenditure (say on housing), and that BCR must be forwarded to INAC for approval.

That’s right. Most First Nations have to get permission before they can spend money. That is the opposite of ‘doing whatever they want’ with the money. Bands are micromanaged to an extent unseen in nearly any other context that does not involve a minor or someone who lacks capacity due to mental disability.

Any claims that INAC has no control over what Bands spend their money on is false.

I would hope by now you’d ask the following question:

If INAC has to approve spending, why is Harper so confused?


There is a tendency to believe that our government officials do things in a way that makes sense. This, despite the fact that most of us don’t actually believe this to be true. We want to believe. I know I do.

So upon learning that the federal government is the one in charge of providing services to First Nations that are provided to non-natives by the province, we might assume that the provision of these services are administered in a comparable manner.

Not so. And it actually makes sense why not, when you think about it for a moment. Have you ever seen a federal hospital, for example? No, because hospitals are built, maintained, and staffed by the provinces. Thus, when a First Nations person needs to access health-care, they cannot access federal infrastructure. They must access provincial infrastructure and have the feds rather than the province pick up the tab.

If only it were as easy as federal funding via provincial structures.

The Auditor General of Canada speaks up.


The Auditor General of Canada released a report in June of this year examining Programs for First Nations on Reserve. A similar report was published in 2006. This report identifies deficiencies in program planning and delivery by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Health Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

The reports also provide a number of recommendations to improve these deficiencies. The 2011 report evaluated the progress made since the 2006 report, and in most areas, gave these federal agencies a failing grade.

Don’t worry, there is a point to this, stay with me.

The 2011 report has this to say:

In our view, many of the problems facing First Nations go deeper than the existing programs’ lack of efficiency and effectiveness. We believe that structural impediments severely limit the delivery of public services to First Nations communities and hinder improvements in living conditions on reserves. We have identified four such impediments:

lack of clarity about service levels,
lack of a legislative base,
lack of an appropriate funding mechanism, and
lack of organizations to support local service delivery.

I know this is going to look like mumbo jumbo at first, so let me break it down a little for you. This will help explain why millions of dollars of funding is not enough to actually improve the living conditions of First Nations people, particularly those on reserve.

Lack of clarity about service levels


As explained earlier the federal government is in charge of delivering services that are otherwise provided by the provinces to non-natives. The Auditor General states:

“It is not always evident whether the federal government is committed to providing services on reserves of the same range and quality as those provided to other communities across Canada.”

Shockingly, the federal government does not always have clear program objectives, nor does it necessarily identify specific roles and responsibilities for program delivery, and has not established measures for evaluating performance in order to determine if outcome are actually met.

That’s right. The federal government is not keeping track of what it does, how it does it, or whether what it is doing works. The Auditor General recommends the federal government fix this, pronto. How can a community rely on these services if the federal government itself isn’t even clear on what it is providing and whether the programs are working?

Lack of a legislative base


“Provincial legislation provides a basis of clarity for services delivered by provinces. A legislative base for programs specifies respective roles and responsibilities, eligibility, and other program elements. It constitutes an unambiguous commitment by government to deliver those services. The result is that accountability and funding are better defined.”

The provinces all have some sort of Education Act that clearly lays out the roles and responsibilities of education authorities, as well as mechanisms of evaluation. There is generally no comparable federal legislation for the provision of First Nations education, health-care, housing and so on.

As noted by the AG, legislation provides clarity and accountability. Without it, decision can be made on an ill-defined ‘policy’ basis or on a completely ad hoc basis.

Lack of an appropriate funding mechanism


The AG focuses on a few areas here.

Lack of service standards for one. Were you aware that provincial building codes do not apply on reserve? Some provincial laws of ‘general application’ (like Highway Traffic Acts) can apply on reserve, but building codes do not. There is a federal National Building Code, but enforcement and inspection has been a major problem. This has been listed as one of the factors in why homes built on reserve do not have a similar ‘life’ to those built off reserve.

Poor timing for provision of funds is another key issue. “Most contribution agreements must be renewed yearly. In previous audits, we found that the funds may not be available until several months into the period to be funded.” This is particularly problematic for housing as “money often doesn’t arrive until late summer, past the peak construction period, so projects get delayed and their costs rise.”

Lack of accountability.


“It is often unclear who is accountable to First Nations members for achieving improved outcomes or specific levels of services. First Nations often cite a lack of federal funding as the main reason for inadequate services. For its part, INAC maintains that the federal government funds services to First Nations but is not responsible for the delivery or provision of these services.”

The AG also refers to a heavy reporting burden put on First Nations, and notes that the endless paperwork often is completely ignored anyway by federal agencies.

Lack of organisations to support local service delivery


This refers once again to the fact that there are no federal school or health boards, no federal infrastructure and expertise. Some programs are delivered through provincial structures, while others are provided directly by the federal government, with less than stellar results.

As the Auditor General states, “Change is needed if meaning full progress is to be realised”. There is extreme lack of clarity about what the federal government is doing, why, how, and whether it is at all effective. No wonder Harper is confused.

Tired yet? Just a few more points.

The Chief of Attawapiskat made $71,000 last year while her people live in tents!


Apparently we are supposed to be outraged at the excess involved here. This of course follows on the heels of a report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation about ‘jaw-dropping’ reserve salaries. It’s become fashionable to rant about chiefs making more than premiers (though no one could make that claim here).

Attawapiskat publishes its salaries, travel expenses and honorariums (again, nothing being hidden). Chief Theresa Spence was paid $69,575 in salary and honorariums in 2010-2011, and had $1,798 in travel expenses for a total of about $71K.

If you are like most people, you don’t spend a lot of time looking at what public employees actually make. What number wouldn’t shock you in the absence of such context? $50,000? $32,000? I suspect any amount would be offered as some sort of proof that…something’s not right.

Well okay. Why don’t we take a look at some other salaries? Ontario Premier McGuinty made $209,000 in 2010, and apparently over 100 public service executives made more than he did.

It is difficult to do a really accurate comparison of salaries, because Ontario’s Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act (doc) of 1996 only requires that salaries over $100,000 be reported. (In addition, if the salaries are reported elsewhere, they are not necessarily included in this report) However, the annual reports are a fantastic resource. Here is the list of various public sector employees making over $100,000 a year. I offer this merely in order to ask…were you aware these people were making this amount of money?

I sure wasn’t. These are salaries paid by tax dollars too. I have no idea if the Director of Quality Services for the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation should be paid $147,437.58 a year (sorry to single you out, sir, I chose randomly). If this corporation were in the news and having financial difficulties, I have no doubt this salary would be brought up as somehow relevant…but is it?

I don’t know. That’s the point. I don’t think the people bringing it up know either. I haven’t been able to find a source listing the salaries of mayors of municipalities in Ontario to compare to Chief Spence’s salary. Then again, I doubt anyone would seriously claim that if she worked for free, the housing crisis in Attawakpiskat would be over.

A good comment was sent to me recently on the issue of salaries that I’d like to share. “Whenever one is talking about the salaries of say a [premier or a] prime minister versus someone else, two things: 1) parliamentarians get very good pensions and for a relatively short time of service; 2) more particularly, a post like the prime ministership or the presidency of the United States opens up all kinds of doors for later life. So even if the salary is $200,000, the person is virtually guaranteed a very comfortably post-office life. Counsel in a big law firm. Paid corporate director. University professor. Etc. etc. I don’t think we imagine that the Barrick Gold Corporations of the world will be banging down the door of a past chief of Attawapiskat in a comparable way.”

I wonder what kind of pension Chief Spence can count on?

The more you know…


I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the common accusations and arguments being made about Attawapiskat on various forums and comment sections of online news articles. I might update if necessary to address them, but I think you now have at least a base to begin with, whether you honestly just want to understand the situation a little better, or want to fight those comment battles.

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comme ... 90-million

[OnTheIce]

How about an article that's a little more current?

http://globalnews.ca/news/1698524/attaw ... ment-says/

[BeaverFever]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

How about an article that's a little more current?

http://globalnews.ca/news/1698524/attaw ... ment-says/

That's just an article about Harper government wanting the $1.8 million back, and the band saying nuh-uh it was valid expense.

None of that isa rebuttal to what I posted. And I note that since Nov 28 2014 when that story was released, nothing more has been reported on it.

[OnTheIce]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

That's just an article about Harper government wanting the $1.8 million back, and the band saying nuh-uh it was valid expense.

None of that isa rebuttal to what I posted. And I note that since Nov 28 2014 when that story was released, nothing more has been reported on it.

Incorrect. That's our government asking for OUR money back. Money not accounted for that was supposed to go to people in need.

The band has a history of wasting money, hence the need for a co-manager and multiple audits. What the reserve says lacks credibility big-time.

You're trying to justify that perhaps they didn't get enough money for housing.

90 million is a lot of money for 1500 people regardless how it's split.

For just 2.5 million, we put 22 homes there that should last "indefinitely" if maintained properly. If they got ~6 million, there should have been enough money for 50 new homes.

Your article states they put the figure at 80+ million to fix the housing crisis. For 80 million, you could build and deliver ~700 homes.

700 homes for 1500 people?

[BeaverFever]

$1:

Section 61(1)(a-k) of the Indian Act declares that: “With the consent of the council of a band, the Minister may authorize and direct the expenditure of capital moneys of the band” for various purposes.

What this means is that Ministerial approval is actually a requirement before any capital expenditures can occur on reserve. In practice, a Band will generally pass a Band Council Resolution (BCR) authorising a certain expenditure (say on housing), and that BCR must be forwarded to INAC for approval.

That’s right. Most First Nations have to get permission before they can spend money. That is the opposite of ‘doing whatever they want’ with the money. Bands are micromanaged to an extent unseen in nearly any other context that does not involve a minor or someone who lacks capacity due to mental disability.

Any claims that INAC has no control over what Bands spend their money on is false.

Check your math: $84 Million /250,000 = 336. And you're forgetting about the existing 300 houses that have repair backlogs of up to $100k each. So approximately 636 houses for 1800 people, which is 2.83 people per home.

[BartSimpson]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Chronic under-funding makes it more costly. The whole system is like an old poorly maintained clunker that needs a few hundred dollars worth of repairs every month two just to keep running. Even with the constant repairs it steadily gets worse and it costs more to maintain it than to just buy a new car. Yes, the mechanic undoubtedly sometimes overcharges as well but that's not really the source of the problem.

Reserves aren't under-funded. Far from it.

Money doesn't fix the lack of ownership and pride these people take in their homes and communities.

Careful or you're going to upset the progholes who think that every human ill is caused by a lack of funding.

[OnTheIce]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Check your math: $84 Million /250,000 = 336. And you're forgetting about the existing 300 houses that have repair backlogs of up to $100k each. So approximately 636 houses for 1800 people, which is 2.83 people per home.

The houses weren't $250k each.

2.5 million for 22 homes. Delivered. Furnished (Charity). $113636 each.

My math is dead-on.

Repairs aren't 100k each when a new home is just over 100k. Your numbers are way off.

$1:

In December 2011, Duncan announced funding for the purchase of 22 modular homes, which cost $2.5 million to manufacture and transport to the community on the shores of James Bay.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canad ... nment-says

You can stop making excuses for people who've made a career of pissing away our money.

[BRAH]

$2 Billion that's a lot of money for beer and strippers.

[garryb]

This is all fine and dandy. I have a question. Is housing a native right? or is this a scenario of the Government and Civil Service trying to expand their "obligations" to the point of taking over the entire economy of the country? Canada cannot survive economically if we continue to fund every so called need. The "needs" become endless. One of the rules of economics is that a commodity with out cost has unlimited demand.

[Lemmy]

garryb garryb:

One of the rules of economics is that a commodity with out cost has unlimited demand.

Actually, no. Cost has nothing to do with demand. You mean price, which is a different economic concept altogether from cost.

[martin14]

garryb garryb:

This is all fine and dandy. I have a question. Is housing a native right?

It sort of is.

http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/08/the- ... ives-myth/

The whole system is an incredibly fucked up mess, and since the ones who profit
from it have no interest in changing it, nothing changes and we continue to dump
tons of money into a very black hole.

The White Paper would have solved a lot of these types of problems,
but too many bands like stealing truckloads of money.

[BRAH]

It's time to cut Natives off from the Government tit and let them run things without interference. If a company wants to run a pipeline through let the Natives and the company negotiate without interference while environmental guidelines will be followed. Natives are more than capable to stand on their own and when it happens they will also hold their leaders accountable who have been able to hide corruption and incompetence far to long.