A few more facts

On-reserve natives receive $13,524 per student per year, compared to $11,646 for non-native provincial school students.  That's a fact that AFN grand chief Perry Bellegarde continues to deny.  And the rest of us buy his BS!   We are so lazy, we don't look into anything.   

Mark Milke, senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and an expert on funding for aboriginals, is the source of this information -- as well as much more. 

"If it's assumed that the Canadian public, through tax dollars, does not spend enough on aboriginal matters (a chronic claim from Bellgarde), an improper focus on funding -- and not outcomes -- is often the result," says Milke.  "That becomes a problem when parents want to send their children off-reserve, as they may be on the hook for the extra costs.  Surely, in pursuit of better educational outcomes, reserve parents should not be instructed by reserve governments about which school their kids must be enrolled in."  And if they choose to send their kids to school off-reserve, they should not be denied the money allotted to them.  But they are. 

Milke goes on to point out that all federal program spending on all Canadians -- including first nations -- rose to $7,316 per person.  However, specifically for natives it jumped to $9,056 per person.  That's an 882 percent increase.  Disgusting that their leadership is still belly-aching. 

Milke also points out that while the rest of us have to pay for supplementary benefits, such as dental, vision and pharmaceutical items, Health Canada spend almost $1.1 billion specifically for natives and inuit who pay nothing.  That coverage is not required by treaties of the Constitution, but the natives have been accorded it anyway. 

The fact that the remote location of many reserves hinders the progress of natives is huge.  But they still get lots and lots and lots of money.  They should ask their leaders where it goes?!

Is it any wonder Harper has left the building?