Canada’s Liberal government wasn’t satisfied to fly flags at half mast in commemoration of children who died in the Residential Schools operated by our government for over a century, and recently announced a new statutory holiday called “Truth and Reconciliation Day” as part of the Trudeau government’s pandering to Canada’s indigenous peoples, a group he has disappointed regularly. In 2015, Trudeau promised to ensure modern water treatment facilities were established in First Nations communities subject to “boil water” advisories for as long as 25 years. He has still not done so.
Canadians are regularly fed a diet of claims of abuse suffered by our indigenous population, and much of the reported abuse is founded in fact. Canada’s Indian Act is an overtly racist piece of legislation designed to exert control over this group and encourage their assimilation into Canadian society at the expense of their history and culture. So we are told.
It is hard to imagine a resource project in Canada that has ever proceeded through the permitting process into production without a considerable amount of time and effort to consult with First Nations over the possible impact such project might have on their communities, and properly so where the project in question involves some potential impact on a First Nations community. But the boundaries of where First Nations claim rights to land in Canadian are not well defined, and it is virtually certain that if a massive gold mine were discovered in Etobicoke there would be a flood of First Nations land claims immediately thereafter.
The endless parade of First Nations protests, blockades, appeals to the Supreme Court, fishing rights disputes, etc. defines life in Canada for many people at great expense to taxpayers and to the First Nations involved. We are left with a picture of a group that since colonialization have been treated poorly and as a result live in squalor without clean water, modern sewage treatment, or adequate housing with high unemployment, domestic violence and a higher than average incidence of suicides. If those are the facts, it is hard not to empathetic towards this group.
Over the past 60 years, Canada has transferred some $250 billion to First Nations. On a per capital basis, that amount is substantially higher than federal transfers to non-First Nations Canadians. Despite this funding and the seemingly endless array of agreements between mining, forestry and energy companies and First Nations that give First Nations participation in resource development, and the presence of Casino’s on many First Nations’ reserves, the claims of oppression persist and the photographic evidence of deplorable conditions provides evidence the claims are not hollow. Statistics Canada data support the claim that First Nations average household income is considerably less than that of non-First Nations Canadians. So what has happened to the money Canada has provided?
In 2014, MacLean’s Magazine published an article listing the tax free salaries of First Nations’ chiefs. The data point to an elite group who cannot say they are “oppressed” by any standard, with at least 200 “chiefs” receiving salaries in excess of $100,000 and some close to $1 million annually. It is not the picture of squalor and near starvation conditions popularly reported in main stream media, at least not for this group of people.
No one should draw the conclusion that First Nations leaders should not be well paid any more than they should conclude that Mayors and members of Council of other communities should not be paid for the service. But perspective is important. Here are some of the data.
Brokenhead Ojibway Nation with a registered population of 1,918 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $415,357 in TAX-FREE salaries AND per diems plus $1,557,766 in tobacco and fuel tax rebates.
Long Plains First Nation with a registered population of 813 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $539,918 in tax-free salaries and per diems.
Little Grand Rapids First Nation with a registered population of 1,590 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $706,182 in tax-free salaries and per diems.
Buffalo Point First Nation with a registered population of 126 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $300,000 in tax-free salaries and per diems.
Shoal Lake No. 40 First Nation in Ontario with a registered on-reserve population of 293 people paid their FN chief and band council $267,799 in tax-free salaries never mind $58,930 in tax-free expenses.
Mathias Colomb First Nation with a registered population of 3,192 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $601,726 in tax-free salaries and per diems.
Samson Cree First Nation with a registered population of 8,059 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $2,149,998 in tax-free salaries and per diems ($266.78 per capita).
Fort McKay First Nation with a registered population of 827 (It’s not a typo, it’s 827) paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $2,067,098 in tax-free salaries and per diems, never mind $151,428 in travel expenses ($2,499.51 per capita). Chief Jim Boucher was paid an annual tax-free salary of $644,441 tax-free ($53,703 per month), AND tax-free expenses of $35,359 ($2,947 per month), AND tax-free other remuneration $25,000 ($2,083 per month ) AND tax-free travel expenses of $60,157 ($5,013 per month) !!!!! Per month!!!
Enoch Cree First Nation with a registered population of 2,469 paying their FN chief and band council members a total of $1,159,707 in tax-free salaries and per diems never mind $84,030 in travel expenses ($503.74 per capita). Also, Enoch Cree First Nation are also paying their Board of Directors $1,511,457 in tax-free salaries and tax-free expenses.
Of the 637,660 registered natives in Canada 49.3 % live on Reserves. That's 314,366. From 1946 to 2011 the 66 native Reserves have received 3.3 Trillion dollars with no accountability.
Stephen Harper introduced the accountability act in 2012 which Justin Trudeau scrapped.
Canada’s treatment of First Nations has been deplorable since Confederation but the problems indigenous people suffer are to a measurable extent of their own making. Demanding self-government in the face of rampant corruption seems incongruous. Federal transfers to First Nations in recent years amounted to over $100,000 for a family of four each year, yet the money doesn’t seem to make it to those in need.
Reconciliation can only occur if First Nations can demonstrate capable self-government and show some evidence of a future not dependent on what amounts to welfare. It is hard to have sympathy for a group that seems uninterested in helping themselves. The Liberal government’s narrative is that they are committed to reconciliation but their record of progress is pathetic.