The hypocrisy of it all

Susan Martinuk nails it in The Calgary Herald today.  "Aboriginals' biggest problem is their leaders".  That's the title of her column, which focusses mainly on Theresa Spence's hunger strike.  Spence is chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario -- you know, the tribe where all the children were sniffing glue and an intervention was staged on intertnational television?  Yeah, that's the one.

"Spence says she wants to talk about treaty rights and is willing to die for her people," writes Martinuk.  "She may be willing to die for her people, but the paperwork shows she is not willing to sacrifice her hefty paycheque for their benefit," the column continues. 

Spence gives herself $69, 575 per year; the band manager collects $74,806; and the acting band manager claimed $68,397 in travel expenses, the latter over two years.  "All of this while the other 2,800 residents were living in abject poverty, huddled in shacks without heat or running water," Martinuk points out.

I have blogged about this sham many times:  The leaders of Canada's native peoples are their own worst enemies.  Forensic audits showed that Spence's council had not produced a budget in years and had maxed out a $2.5 million line-of-credit, paying only 10 percent interest on the loan.  "Too much money was being spent on administration instead of programs," concluded the auditors.

"You can see why Spence has some credibility issues.  A $70,000 income may be justified when the band is flourishing, but it becomes outrageous when the median household income for families on reserve is $11,229.  It's not Harper and the federal government who are denying the natives; it's the native leaders who are denying their own people the opportunity for education, housing, health care and employment -- through greed."

I could not agree more. 

"For most natives, the only way out is some kind of connection with the outside world.  They cannot flouish if isolated on a reserve where there are no economic prospects or work.  For too long, aboriginals have been fed a myth -- by their leaders -- that any assimilation into the white man's world will forever destroy a distinct (sic) native culture.  But the Jews have kept a vibrant culture alive for over (sic) 5,000 years without a homeland and while dispersed around the world.  Surely aboriginals can maintain a high degree of cultural significance in a country renowned for its respect for multiculturalism.

"It's time for natives to join in with the rest of Canadians in a productive economy and a functional society.  Frankly, it's the only way out of poverty and despair."

When you see hand-wringing coverage of hunger strikes, road blockades and canoe trips to the UN, don't buy any of it.  All I can say is thank G-d my Mohawk great-grandmother moved off the Tyendinaga  Reserve and married a white man.