Attawapiskat is a pretty big story these days. I don’t really know much about the underlying issues, but just some random thoughts. Obviously it’s a travesty that we have this level of poverty and neglect in Canada. It’s even worse that the government took so long to respond at all to this emergency. I find the political discourse on this issue is pretty disappointing. The government has managed to spin this issue to their advantage by asking: “where’s the money”? Essentially, they have managed to convince people that this is just a case of mismanagement of money. Honestly, I really have no idea of the federal funds were mismanaged, (this is good analysis) but even if they were, it’s hardly the real issue. Several points to consider:
(a) This is not an isolated incident.
(b) Canadians don’t seem to think it’s an important issue. It pops up every now and then … but Canadian’s are generally happy to ignore the north, and I think the “where’s the money” story is popular because it’s the path of least resistance.
(c) There are certainly issues about the long term viability of Northern Communities that are real. Canada is locked into certain orthodoxies about economic development models for these communities that don’t seem to work. Obviously the “why are they living there” argument is too narrow - first nations communities closer to urban areas also suffer some of these problems.
(d) Is it too obvious to say that First Nation’s communities need a sustainable economic base, and they need better governance structures. Probably… how do you get there? No f’ing clue.
This post is a pretty good summary. I think it may overstate the control that INAC actually has over federal transfers – one line of the Indian Act doesn’t really prove anything about how programs are actually managed. But other than that, good set information.
(HT: MB)
