Attawapiskat chief wants more cash? You don't say! - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

JohnnyNipshank · 05-10-2012, 02:44 PM

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/05/1...sh-from-ottawa

This is just getting ridiculous and makes my blood boil reading it.

- chief wants $50,000 a month with no strings attatched for "housing", will declare another state of emergency if this demand is not met

- when asked on a conference call with federal bureaucrats about her housing plan that has been requested by the government for months she simply hung up the phone!

-even elders on the reserve want a forensic audit done to see where all this government funding went (90 million in 6 years)

Jacks · 05-10-2012, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Chief Theresa Spence has told federal government officials some trailers on her Northern Ontario that house about 90 people are no longer suitable and she wants to move the people into the community's healing lodge. The trailers are not the ones shipped to the reserve this spring but were brought to the community in 2009 by the mining company DeBeers.

You have to wonder why trailers from 2009 are no longer suitable?

JohnnyNipshank · 05-10-2012, 03:08 PM

Exactly, i just can't wrap my head around it. If they get anymore $ without an audit done, Spence will be the one of Canada's greatest thief's ever!

VladtheImpaler · 05-10-2012, 03:11 PM

Lincoln Navigators for everyone*.

*By "everyone" I mean "relatives of the chief".

undercoverbrother · 05-10-2012, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacks

You have to wonder why trailers from 2009 are no longer suitable?

maybe this guy knows

Jacks · 05-10-2012, 03:20 PM

You can bet if the CBC decides to cover this the headline will be something like "Conservatives fail to fix housing crisis" or some crap like that.

GP_Matt · 05-10-2012, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyNipshank

Exactly, i just can't wrap my head around it. If they get anymore $ without an audit done, Spence will be the one of Canada's greatest thief's ever!

I am pretty sure that the title of Canada's best thief goes to Paul Champagne. Not only does he have a great name for a villain but he stole more than $100 million from the government, convinced his wife that he was just a great investor and managed to get HP to pay the government back the money that he stole. They didn't catch him either, he turned himself in when it started to look like the people he tricked were going to be charged in his place.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/02/champagne-wishes/

The link is to a really great article. A must read for anyone who balks at the claims that governments can save money by cutting fat and becoming more efficient.

JohnnyNipshank · 05-10-2012, 03:27 PM

I have been involved in voluntary audits of native bands over the past 7 years and i have found that they are a very closely knit group that generally shy away from talking to the media (or any outsiders) about any problems within the band itself. That's why hearing about the elders concerns as well as other aboriginal groups saying this woman is embarrassing all natives is so shocking.

CaptainCrunch · 05-10-2012, 04:17 PM

There's no question that Spence is a criminal and she really should be investigated by the RCMP.

With the amount of money that she's raking in from both the government and nearby mines and her people except for her highly paid council members and friends are living in abject poverty is completely criminal.

bizaro86 · 05-10-2012, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

I am pretty sure that the title of Canada's best thief goes to Paul Champagne. Not only does he have a great name for a villain but he stole more than $100 million from the government, convinced his wife that he was just a great investor and managed to get HP to pay the government back the money that he stole. They didn't catch him either, he turned himself in when it started to look like the people he tricked were going to be charged in his place.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/02/champagne-wishes/

The link is to a really great article. A must read for anyone who balks at the claims that governments can save money by cutting fat and becoming more efficient.

No kidding.

It seems like there were two parts to this. He saved the gov't a ton of money by only paying to fix things that were broken instead of buying extended warranties. Sounds like low lying fruit to me.

The second was that he was able to steal money because bureaucrats wanted to shovel it out the door as fast as they could so they didn't loose the budget next year. He helped them do that, and helped himself to some of the money. Some of the money they're desperately trying to spend is probably wasted non-fraudulently. Might be a chance to save some money there.

burn_this_city · 05-10-2012, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacks

You have to wonder why trailers from 2009 are no longer suitable?

They probably did zero maintenance and they fell apart, or were destroyed by the occupants.

Northendzone · 05-10-2012, 05:13 PM

$90 million in a few years, I am sure that they made the most of that.....

Azure · 05-10-2012, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

They probably did zero maintenance and they fell apart, or were destroyed by the occupants.

My company does a lot of housing projects for Natives, and that is more than likely exactly what happened.

They don't take very good care of it, and the government usually replaces everything within a couple years.

Stranger · 05-10-2012, 05:44 PM

Is the band responsible for the shipping costs on materials goods to the reserve? Either way something is fishy about this whole situation.

Two Fivenagame · 05-10-2012, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure

My company does a lot of housing projects for Natives, and that is more than likely exactly what happened.

They don't take very good care of it, and the government usually replaces everything within a couple years.

...no reason to take care of their homes then.

I think the government of Canada needs to blindly throw more money at this problem because that ALWAYS works and has clearly worked for decades.

When do we get to stop being fooled by this ploy?

afc wimbledon · 05-10-2012, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure

My company does a lot of housing projects for Natives, and that is more than likely exactly what happened.

They don't take very good care of it, and the government usually replaces everything within a couple years.

This always tends to be true when there is no pride of ownership, native or otherwise, it would be better if the feds gave the individual bandmembers their share of the money and the band council had to raise taxes like every other council by getting elected on a spending platform.

GGG · 05-10-2012, 07:30 PM

One of the big problems in the Indian act is that it essentially prohibits ownership. So there never is an asset that is theirs.

Azure · 05-10-2012, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

...no reason to take care of their homes then.

I think the government of Canada needs to blindly throw more money at this problem because that ALWAYS works and has clearly worked for decades.

When do we get to stop being fooled by this ploy?

Pretty much it. I could tell you some crazy stories about how they treat their houses. But, taxpayer paid for. So they don't care.

GP_Matt · 05-10-2012, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGG

One of the big problems in the Indian act is that it essentially prohibits ownership. So there never is an asset that is theirs.

The problem with ownership is it would give them the right to sell. The reserve land belongs to the whole tribe so allowing one member to sell it is seen as anathema.
I disagree and think that property ownership is the cornerstone of progress but no one asked me.

Azure · 05-10-2012, 10:40 PM

Property ownership would encourage them actually giving a crap about it. As of right now they don't care.