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

So as I understand it, the crux of the problem is the deplorable state of housing on the reserve. That being the case, can someone explain to me how a housing program that has 2,031,000 in revenue manages only 60,512 in programme delivery? It wouldn't have anything to do with the 403,302 in administration or the 1,374,128 in wages?

Source: Consolidated Schedule of Programs
 
Thucydides said:
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.

It used to be "All the news that's fit to print". Nowadays it's "All the news that fits our narrative, we print"
 
ModlrMike said:
So as I understand it, the crux of the problem is the deplorable state of housing on the reserve. That being the case, can someone explain to me how a housing program that has 2,031,000 in revenue manages only 60,512 in programme delivery? It wouldn't have anything to do with the 403,302 in administration or the 1,374,128 in wages?

Source: Consolidated Schedule of Programs

Even better question, why are they spending $11 Million in total wages/Benefits across all programs, $5.5 Million in the Education Coloumn alone, PLUS another $4.8 Million in welfare payments.  And unless I am reading this wrong, according to schedule M, at the end of 2011 there was $57 Million sitting in a Capital Fund, and strangely enough, very little spent on infrastructure.
 
This article makes it sound like Spence's 'diet plan' (which appears to not be working if the picture is accurate  :blotto:) is the reason behind the 11 Jan meeting and while it says she is attending, it doesn't say she was invited. 

* Perhaps the PM should postpone the meeting several months, 25 days of hunger strike hotels and soup hasn't resulted in much loss of that unhealthy excessive weight Spence is carrying around.  We went with 'unschedules meals' for the 10 days of our BSERE course when I did it and I lost weight, in a hurry. 

Article Link

Spence to join Harper meeting with chiefs Jan. 11

Attawapiskat chief says she'll continue her hunger strike, now in its 25th day

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence says she will join a "working meeting" between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a delegation of First Nations chiefs, but is not ready to give up her hunger strike.

Spence made the announcement from Victoria Island just north of Ottawa, where she has been conducting a hunger strike that is now in its 25th day.

"To all the supporters and the helpers, I'm really grateful today. I'm just really overjoyed .... to hear that the Crown and the prime minister and the governments, that they're going to meet with us Jan. 11th, but I'll still be here on my hunger strike until that meeting takes place," Spence said.

Spence said she would attend the meeting, but when asked whether it would be enough to end her hunger strike, she said she would wait to see the outcome.

"We'll see what the results are, if there's really a positive result, because there are a lot of issues that we need to discuss," Spence said.

Spence's spokesman, Danny Metatawabin, said Spence and her supporters want Gov. Gen. David Johnston and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the meeting as well, and said the hunger strike could continue after Jan. 11.

The prime minister's office announced the meeting earlier Friday.

"This working meeting will focus on two areas flowing from the [2012 Crown-First Nations] Gathering: the treaty relationship and aboriginal rights and economic development," said a release issued Friday morning by the Prime Minister's Office. "While some progress has been made, there is more that must be done to improve outcomes for First Nations communities across Canada."

Speaking Friday near Toronto, Harper said the AFN will "determine the composition of their own delegation."

Asked about whether he's worried the Idle No More protests could get worse, Harper said Canadians expect everyone to obey the law while protesting.

"People have the right in our country to demonstrate and express their points of view peacefully as long as they obey the law," he said.

Cornwall police issued a statement Friday saying they were closing the Seaway International Bridge crossing to the United States due to planned protests on Saturday morning that could cause possible disruptions and traffic delays. Sarnia police issued a similar warning for the Blue Water Bridge international crossing near Sarnia Saturday afternoon.

Spence calls situation 'a crisis'
Metatawabin said he cried when he heard the news of the meeting.      :boke:

"Tears started to come down my eyes and I had to hold off my tears because I wanted to share my tears with Chief Theresa and all the helpers that came to support her," Metatawabin told reporters at an Ottawa press conference earlier Friday.

Early Friday morning, a news release issued by Spence — who, despite frigid temperatures, remains camped out with her supporters on Victoria Island in the Ottawa River between downtown Ottawa and Gatineau, Que. — says that as the 25th day of her hunger strike begins, "her message is becoming more crucial."

"This is a crisis, and we cannot continue on this path of social indifference," Spence says in the release, reiterating her call for an "urgent" meeting on the implementation of treaties between First Nations and the Crown.

On Thursday, Spence's camp said a meeting needs to happen within 72 hours and suggested protests across Canada sympathetic to her cause could escalate.

Friday's statement quoted Metatawabin as saying the chief "cannot physically sustain her hunger strike" until Jan. 24, a meeting date proposed earlier by the AFN, which had been calling for Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston to meet with chiefs from across Canada on the first anniversary of their 2012 Crown-First Nations gathering.

Metatawabin says he visited Spence on Friday morning and "she's well, but you can tell her body is weak."

AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo and other regional chiefs from northern Ontario were on Victoria Island on Thursday, meeting with Spence in an apparent effort to broker some sort of compromise solution that could respond to demands without further endangering anyone's physical well-being. Atleo said little as he left, however, apparently unsuccessful in his efforts.

Resource-sharing at issue

Atleo has been meeting with officials from the prime minister's office behind the scenes in an effort to address not only Spence's hunger strike but the concerns of the Idle No More protest movement more generally.

Some involved with the movement have suggested theirs is a grassroots protest and the elected national chiefs cannot represent their interests because they are part of the system that has failed them in the past.

First Nations leaders are calling for resource-sharing arrangements so that they can share in profits from development around their land.

"If they're opening up a mine near your town, they have a duty under Ontario law, in this case, to be able to talk to your mayor and council ... no such thing for First Nations," Grand Chief Stan Louttit said.

"We can't just rely on impact benefit agreements that we're forced to negotiate. There needs to be a process in place where we get a piece of the pie, just like Ontario does, just like Canada does... we need to get part of that as well so that we can begin to prosper, so that we can get out of the poverty that we're in."

Results of audit expected soon

Asked about criticism over the salaries of Spence and the rest of the band council that in 2010-11 totalled $304,364, Louttit said the Attawapiskat council agreed to a comprehensive audit looking at all the funding that goes into the community and how it's spent.

The salaries that year ranged from $22,980 to $69,579 for Spence and covered 22 people who sat on the council for anywhere from one month to a full year.

Louttit says the audit is done and being reviewed by the Aboriginal Affairs Department and Health Canada, which provide the funding.

"If a comprehensive audit or an offer for a forensic audit is not sufficient for people, then I don't know what is. There's just that perception out there: 'There's little old Attawapiskat, 2,000 people, they get $60 million over five years, wow, I can't fathom that. That's a problem,'" Louttit said.

In reality, he said, everything in the North costs up to 20 times more and as much as half of the government funding goes to education.

"I've worked in that system for many, years and I can vouch for the fact that it is very, very difficult to do business in a remote community. Not like it is in Ottawa, not like it is in Timmins or anywhere else... but the average Canadian out there, they see millions and millions and they just get concerned and said, 'Hey, there's something going on there.' But I challenge those people, come to the community and look at the books and come and live there for a couple of weeks and you'll see," Louttit said.

Harper wouldn't say when the audit will be released.

Protests escalate

Spence is not alone on her hunger strike. Cross Lake, Man., elder Raymond Robinson has also gone without food since Dec. 11.

The CBC's Adrienne Arsenault reported that while Spence is weak and reporting some pain, she remains upbeat and takes a daily walk with her friends and supporters.

Arsenault said Robinson is not faring as well, telling her yesterday that he's lost more than 30 pounds and is having trouble standing up straight because of his pain.

In a separate development, a release issued Friday morning by the Sikniktuk Mi'kmaq Rights Coalition in New Brunswick said the group has notified the RCMP that it plans to block CN Rail trains from transporting goods along the Highway 126 rail line in Adamsville, N.B., between now and Monday.

The release says the chosen location is a historical trading post where Mi'kmaq people bartered their handmade baskets for goods with local settlers.

Previously, Mi'kmaq protesters from Elsipogtog held a four-day traffic slow down along Highway 11. The group is calling for recent federal legislation to be abolished or stopped, saying it infringes on their treaty rights and human rights.
------------------------------------

Weak?  In pain?  From what, the water was too hot in her shower at the hotel the other day??

::)  What a load of shyte, I am beyond tired of the CBC agenda-style reporting. 
 
You should have heard Evan Solomon on CBC Radio this morning...

I'm not as worried as I might have been a week or more ago. Mainstream media (I do not consider the CBC a member of that group) is catching on and the CBC is going to look the same as they did with Vote Compass and their stance on videos shot at parties in Greenwood - like raving fucking idiots.

Beyond that, if INM isn't careful they are going to get dragged into Hurricane Spence which is nothing more than a self serving :trainwreck:
 
* Perhaps the PM should postpone the meeting several months, 25 days of hunger strike hotels and soup hasn't resulted in much loss of that unhealthy excessive weight Spence is carrying around.  We went with 'unschedules meals' for the 10 days of our BSERE course when I did it and I lost weight, in a hurry.

Yes Funny that I spent 15 days in the hospital in June was on Solid Food only 5 days rest was jello and IV fluids I lost 62lbs, 10lb of it was a body part, so the math says 50lb/10days=5lb per day. spence 25 days/5lb perday=125 lb lost Does she look like shes lost 125lb? Now I was laying in a bed doing nadda, Spence is active going for showers beating the drums chasing reporters. so really she should be losing 7lb a day.
 
My dad recently spent 3 weeks in hospital and lost 20 lbs while on solid food.  He's already mentioned that chief Spence doesn't look like she's lost any weight.
 
Rethink said:
  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.

Hi Rethink welcome to army.ca
That was myself.  I'm confident that if it was a Liberal leader as PM or NDP or whoever else we have available these people would still feel the same way. I understand what you mean by being isolated leads someone to loosing being able to be objective but I've seen the very same mentality from people who appeared connected socially (Involved in mainstream media, social media) that seem like smart people.  Maybe it could be more by rote.

  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.
It does seem like people are coming around. 
 
Strike said:
My dad recently spent 3 weeks in hospital and lost 20 lbs while on solid food.  He's already mentioned that chief Spence doesn't look like she's lost any weight.

Speaking from personal experience too the first place someone looses weight is in their face. I dropped 40 pounds in a very short amount of time and at one point it was a pound a day and that was just doing without pasta sugar and starch.  I was still eating (a lot of) meat protein shakes and a few other things.  She does not look like she lost a single pound. I'm no expert but shes been at this 20+ days? It's easy to see why people have doubts about her fasting.

I'm expecting proof in the form of a video or picture of her eating surfacing soon- where of course there will be a convenient excuse from her camp.
The same way the president of PETA explained she used insulin (derived from animal testing) so she could better protect the animals.
 
It is really unfortunate that Chief Spence, and to some extent the agenda driven media, have derailed the INM movement started by 4 women in Saskatchewan. This is similar to the way the Muslim Brotherhood morphed the Arab Spring grassroots movement in Eygpt.
 
ObedientiaZelum said:
I'm expecting proof in the form of a video or picture of her eating surfacing soon- where of course there will be a convenient excuse from her camp.

Isn't there already a video of her leaving a hotel? Where she was apparently just napping and taking a shower? Nothing like 5 star accommodations to bring attention to the housing crisis on her reserve!

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

yea here it is.
 
And I am sure the room service bill will be for her followers, not her......
 
She’s sworn off solid foods but she’s far from allowing herself to being trapped on the island

That's the biggest bunch of fucking garbage I have ever read.

Next come the excuses about Chief Spence helping some aboriginal youth she just happened to see working behind the counter at KFC by ramming a bucket down her neck. It's still a hunger strike in principal though.
 
On an Idle No More related thought, there's a bit of a kerfuffle brewing in central Manitoba over the slaughter of a dozen elk by natives. One of the hunters posted a video on Facebook and added that he was "doing his share to Idle No More".

Most of the news agencies are mentioning the slaughter and the investigation into it but are careful to not say that Indians did the shooting.

The link here is to a sportsman's blog; I used it because it has a screen cap of the Facebook comments:

http://albertasportsman.com/alberta-big-game-hunting/elk-slaughter-duck-mountain-manitoba-december-2012/msg20532/#msg20532

If true, this is definitely not good PR for the INM movement...
 
YUP!

Facebook. 

Brilliant people who failed to enter the Darwin Awards post things like this.

 
Hatchet Man said:
Even better question, why are they spending $11 Million in total wages/Benefits across all programs, $5.5 Million in the Education Coloumn alone, PLUS another $4.8 Million in welfare payments.  And unless I am reading this wrong, according to schedule M, at the end of 2011 there was $57 Million sitting in a Capital Fund, and strangely enough, very little spent on infrastructure.

Think guns, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and very expensive cars and trucks to get to the Casinos and Bingos.


Eye In The Sky said:
there are a lot of issues that we need to discuss," Spence said.

like guns, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, tobacco addiction, gambling problems, and all the crap that goes with it.


Chief-ettes      :facepalm:
 
Jeffrey Simpson of the good grey Globe pins it down pretty well in his column today:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/too-many-first-nations-people-live-in-a-dream-palace/article6929035/

"To imagine that isolated communities of a thousand or so people can be vibrant and self-sustaining, capable of discharging the panoply of responsibilities of “sovereignty,” is to live within the dream palace of memory."
 
Is he taking about Quebec?

Isolated community in North America, or isolated Indian communities.
 
Idle no more reminds me of a cranky child at dinnertime who declines all offered food and complains they aren't being fed while asking to eat candy instead. They want 'something done' or 'changes' then proceed to shutdown any and all changes that aren't just wheelbarrows of cash then complain that nothing is being done or things never change.

While real nations negotiate trade deals and cooperate to enhance economic development too many native nations are unwilling to do either.
 
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