Where's the money?

You probably know what file I am going to rip into when I talk about money.  Correct, the natives.  This time it is about the plight of the residents of the godforsaken Kashechewan reserve in northern Ontario.  You know, the one that gets flooded out every year forcing the evacuation of its 2,500 beleaguered souls.

That, my friends, costs you and me $20 million.  Every year.  Yep, every year.  Do you know what this band gets EVERY YEAR from the taxpayer over and above the flood money?  $22 million.  "This is a significant amount of money for a community the size of Kashechewan," noted the author of a 2006 report on this sorry state of affairs.  As at the end of March, 2018, the band fund sat at $33 million.  FOR 2,500 PEOPLE.  That's considerably more than $1 million each!  And still they get the flood money! 

It's completely insane!  The leaders say everything is the responsibility of the government and the government says, "That's what you get the money for."  So there you have it.  The people in need get nothing, while those who run the place slap it into a fund and demand more.  "The resulting perpetration of inadequate services and facilities in Kashechewan lies at the heart of the current crisis," said the report's author.  BACK IN 2006!

The answer is to move, but the good, old Indian Act is how the money flows, so they won't.  And why should they?  Heck, the money comes in by the truck load! 

It just enrages me.  Read Christie Blatchford today in 'The National Post'.  She lays it all out, but sadly, even Ms. Blatchford blames the government.  People need to wake up, but they won't.