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NAN responds to think tank article

Nisnawbe-Aski Nation’s leaders are dismissing a recently published article that suggests remote First Nation communities that are struggling economically should be relocated closer to larger urban centres.
 
Nisnawbe-Aski Nation’s leaders are dismissing a recently published article that suggests remote First Nation communities that are struggling economically should be relocated closer to larger urban centres.

The article was published by The Frontier for Public Policy. According to its website, the organization is an independent and not for profit Winnipeg-based think tank.

The article points out First Nations communities like Kashechewan, located in Ontario's far north along the James Bay cost, are plagued by social, economic and geographic issues. Those issues will make those communities forever dependent upon the federal government, says the articles author.

Floods have forced Kashechewan's residents to flee the community several times since 2004. In a press release issued this week, NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy responded to the article and said "First Nation communities have a special relationship to the creator and land. Once displaced the people become dysfunctional as the reserve system has demonstrated."

Kashechewan Chief Jonathan Solomon says government policy has kept communities from having the opportunity to sustain themselves.




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