I'm not sure to what to make of Doug Cuthand's column today (SP Oct. 15/10.) He rails on about the unfairness of publishing the salaries of chiefs without also publishing their job descriptions. He then goes on to say its a 24/7 job and all the various roles a chief must play. The same could be said of any politician today. Most politicians feel they are over-worked and underpaid. This is a common theme for all politicians and governments.
In essence he thinks the demand for accountability should come from within and not from Ottawa, but then states that providing the information will just give some band members one more thing to complain about. This could be said of all constituents.
He acknowledges that the occasional chief, councillor or trustee dips into the till and gets caught but they are by far in the minority. Again, this could be said of all politicians and governments.
This is a good news, bad news scenario. The good news is that First Nations governments are recognized and treated like all other governments. The bad news is that, like all other governments, they must account for the public monies they expend.
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My personal observation is that the corruption inside many of these reserves is rampant and vote buying etc. is a way of life inside most reserves. This is what happens when many elections are based on family members getting jobs rather than political ideals. Band audits are nothing more than a sham as many are just an indication of where the money went never was it legal to spend in the first place. I applaud any attempt to clean up this mismanagement as it is my money they are stealing.
ReplyDeletecake, icing and eating it too nice idea doug.sooner or later canadians are going to get fed up with this hand out attitude.now they want a front end share of potash? how much of the fed and prov. budget is paid out to natives already as line items, does not this resources wealth already flow to them as it does to ALL canadians. time to rip up the treaties and treat all the same. this is tiresome at best and will likely result in civil war in the future.
ReplyDeleteCuthand has always been an apologist for corrupt practices involving aboriginals. If he were truly more concerned about justice for aboriginals than he is about maintaining rights of band councils, he would endorse Block's motion.
ReplyDeleteNow, if band councilors did not receive my tax dollars, it would be no concern of mine what they get paid or how they spend it. However, this is not the case.
The choice Cuthand should offer is to for chiefs and councilors to accept tax dollars and disclose the manner of expense, or refuse federal or provincial monies and not tell a soul.
But of course Cuthand doesn't pose this question, because he has clearly chosen the side of band councils over their constituents.