All Things First Nations - CF help, protests, solutions, residential schools, etc. (merged)

[The_Falcon]

More from the National Post

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/08/clayton-kennedy-former-attawapiskat-co-manager-and-partner-of-chief-theresa-spence-charged-with-fraud/

Clayton Kennedy, former Attawapiskat co-manager and partner of Chief Theresa Spence, charged with fraud
Republish ReprintRepublish OnlineRepublish OfflineReprintJosh Visser | April 8, 2014 | Last Updated: Apr 8 11:47 AM ET
More from Josh Visser | @joshvisser

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Adrian Wyld/The Canadian PressBuildings on the Attawapiskat reserve in November 2011. The federal government had appointed a third-party manager for the financially troubled First Nations community thast year, following a housing crisis..
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.The former co-manager of Attawapiskat First Nation and romantic partner of Chief Theresa Spence, who gained national attention for her role in the Idle No More movement, has been charged with fraud and theft.

Clayton Kennedy, 62, was the band’s co-manager and director of finance in July 2010 until summer 2012. He was paid about $850 a day in the position.

He was charged on March 26 with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000 by the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service.

Sgt. Jackie George said the allegation of fraud was put forward in August 2012 and the investigation began in February 2013.


ScreenshotClayton Kennedy, seen in a 2013 interview with APTN..An official with the Attawapiskat First Nation said the band brought the complaint forward to police.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Post, said the band would have an official statement later Tuesday.

Kennedy was released on conditions and will next appear in court on May 28 in Attawapiskat.

Co-management is the second of three levels of intervention used by the federal government in dealing with a First Nations finances. A co-manager is agreed on by the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and the band. The co-manager is paid by the band.

In 2011, the Attawapiskat band said that Chief Spence was not in any of the meeting where they discussed bringing Kennedy in as a co-manager.

The office of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said they could not comment directly on the case as it is before the courts.

“We’re committed to protecting all Canadians from those who engage in abuses of trust. Those who break the rules must suffer the consequences,” the minister’s office said in an email to the Post.

Kennedy is currently the co-manager of the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in Cochrane, Ontario. A woman answering the phone for the band issued a brief “no comment” and hung up when asked if Kennedy was available to speak to the Post.


Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian PressControversial Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence celebrates the end of her liquid diet protest in Ottawa on Jan. 24, 2013..Between 2001 and 2004, Kennedy was Attawapiskat’s director of finance, co-manager and band manager. Five years prior, he had declared bankruptcy, citing debts of $24,380 and assets of just $2,403.

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Theresa Spence’s partner declared bankrupt before taking charge of Attawapiskat’s books, documents revea
Kelly McParland: Theresa Spence’s carefully woven cause starts to unravel
Christie Blatchford: Attawapiskat management worthy of a Seinfeld episode
.Attawapiskat became the flashpoint for strained relations between the Conservative government and First Nations after a housing crisis there triggered a state of emergency in 2011 and Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused the band of mismanaging its finances.

A Deloitte and Touche audit found millions in missing financial records between 2005 and 2011 from the $104 million in federal government funding.

Spence staged a six-week hunger protest (via liquid diet) near the end of 2012, at the height of the Idle No More demonstrations across the country. She set up her protest near Parliament Hill and met with former Prime Minister Paul Martin but by the end of her hunger protest, she was largely discredited due to her changing and conflicting demands.

Chief Spence won re-election last August amid controversy, taking 214 out of 507 cast votes.

With files from The Canadian Press

 

[Rifleman62]

Kennedy is the partner of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

Possibly he is the former partner and that's why he is being charged.

 

[Remius]

Come come now.  This is obviously a witch hunt.   

 

[Bluebulldog]

Let's not ignore that in the face of obvious financial mis-management, and possibly inappropriate accounting practices...another band gave the boob a job doing the exact same thing.  :facepalm:

 

[Old Sweat]

Let's also remember that while he has been charged, he has not been convicted of anything and is considered innocent until proven guilty in court.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Come come now.  This is obviously a witch hunt.   

Funny thing about witch hunts... sometimes they actually bag a witch.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Funny thing about witch hunts... sometimes they actually bag a witch.

She'll turn you into a newt!

 

[Kat Stevens]

I'll get better.

 

[OldSolduer]

I'll get better.

But cannot bridges be also made out of stone?

 

[Remius]

Funny thing about witch hunts... sometimes they actually bag a witch.

Only if the witch floats.  Then you burn it.  ;D

 

[my72jeep]

Only if the witch floats.  Then you burn it.  ;D

Oh my she will burn for days.......

 

[George Wallace]

Oh my she will burn for days.......

Yup....Only need a good wick.

 

[Bluebulldog]

Someone I was speaking with asked where he could apply for a job like that.

I asked him if he saw who he had to sleep with the get the job........

......There just isn't enough alcohol or therapy to reconcile that image in a damaged brain.

 

[The_Falcon]

Someone I was speaking with asked where he could apply for a job like that.

I asked him if he saw who he had to sleep with the get the job........

......There just isn't enough alcohol or therapy to reconcile that image in a damaged brain.

Roofies and GHB

 

[George Wallace]

Roofies and GHB

Where is the 'shudder' epicon?   

 

[Bluebulldog]

Roofies and GHB

That might explain why the guy was lousy at accounting.

 

[Remius]

That might explain why the guy was lousy at accounting.

Bah, he was probably very good at accounting.  Just not good at covering it up.

 

[Edward Campbell]

It is a crying shame that what is probably the best hope for First Nations - a good education for young people - has fallen by the wayside because some (most?) First Nations are playing politics with the issue.

This infographic compares black and white Americans, but it probably holds true (with more extreme numbers) for First Nations and whites in Canada:

The one thing that 70+ years of living and working on five continents has taught me is that race is totally meaningless, but: culture matters.

Some (man? most?) First Nations leaders are trying to create a cultural narrative that excuses them and their predecessors for generations, even centuries of inadequate leadership. Part of that creative process involves teaching First Nations youth that they are victims and that the big, bad Western/settler society owes them something and must be made to pay. There's some truth in all that - our society did lie, cheat and steal and First Nations do have many, many legitimate grievances for which some redress is due. But redress in the form of a land base and cash will, in many cases, be wasted, frittered away by leaders who are not held to account because the people are too ill-informed to hold them to account. Education - a good solid, Three Rs type education, is the best way out of the enduring trap of ignorance and poverty for First Nations.

It is a crying shame that they don't have enough good leaders ...

 

[Good2Golf]

*clink*  Mr. Campbell, that was the sound of you hitting the proverbial nail on the head.  :nod:

A close family member worked for decades with First Nations people and he lamented that the leadership was most often self-interested and that this reinforced the belief by many (the majority of First Nations members who receive a disproportionately small amount of the money provided as well as many non-First Nations Canadians who don't know the detail behind the front-page stories) that the First Nations on the whole are deliberately underfunded and neglected.  He noted that most Canadians don't appreciate the power and wealth that may band seniors accumulate at the cost of the general band membership.

As you noted, a crying shame that standout communities, with equitable sharing of wealth and true prosperity are in the minority.

Regards
G2G

 

[The_Falcon]

As you noted, a crying shame that standout communities, with equitable sharing of wealth and true prosperity are in the minority.

Regards
G2G

And these communities also don't receive as much attention in the media (mainstream or otherwise) or are summarily dismissed as being outliers, as their stories/success upset the narrative.  Heaven forbid they be used as examples/blueprints for other communities to become successful, and thus no longer be outliers.  Of course like most things in life, success takes actual hard work and perseverance, much easier to bitch, whine, moan, and block rail lines.  And what about all the professional non-native sh*t disturbers?  If the majority of Native communities did start becoming successful and less reliant on government hand-outs, what will those people do for a living?  Putting those people out of work, what cruelty.