Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy says placing Attawapiskat under third-party manager is an insult.
The federal government placed the First Nation community of about 3,000 people under third-party management after the community fell into a housing crisis. The issue heated up over allegations of mishandling of federal dollars.
The Conservatives, through the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, decided a third-party manager was necessary to manage the community’s finances after the housing crisis began drawing national attention.
Following that national exposure, it was learned the feds have sent more than $90 million to the community since 2005.
Beardy said there will be some short term solutions such as bring in portable shelters into the community. Although, he said they would have to wait until the winter roads iced up before transporting the shelters.
“The last I heard Attawapiskat was still dealing with the third-party management,” Beardy said. “As we have indicated, (Attawapiskat) asked for help and the government offered them a third-party, which is an insult.
“There’s no indication about mismanagement of government dollars or any dollars. All they are looking for is support from their government and to address their basic human needs, which is shelter.”
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence also voiced her frustrating over the management. In a letter released to media and addressed to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Develop Minister John Duncan, Spence said she welcomed Duncan’s staff to come to the community except for those involved with the third-party manager.
Spence writes that she thought the manager was to work on the housing crisis entirely but suggests that he will be looking into the community’s payroll, control of all purchasing, and payments to vendors.
Spence said she thought they had made the manager’s role clear when they met in Thunder Bay on Dec. 15.
“All this rhetoric about the least disruption and short a term as possible is all politics,” Spence writes. “Your Prime Minister accused our First Nation of mismanaging funds and made remarks in the House that are untrue and have caused irreparable damage within our membership, the people of Ontario and Canada.”
Spence went on to write that her community and many others in the north were in need of third-party management long ago but were ignored.
“Mr. Duncan many decisions have been made in hast,” she said. “I empathize with the embarrassment you have suffered in the House. The issues for my First Nation and all other remote First Nations are similar.”
Spence finished her five-page letter with a request to have a manager accountable to the band council and not the ministry.
