The 'Globe and Mail' Ottawa Bureau chief is a class act. I wrote to him this morning and within 10 minutes, he replied. Needless to say, I was shocked. Here is our exchange today:
Dear Mr. Fife,
As a long-time admirer of yours, I was a little surprised at your comments on the most recent ‘Question Period’ about Canadians not being able to congratulate themselves until conditions on native reserves are rectified. What puzzles me is that no journalist seems to do the research into how much money is given Indigenous peoples to contribute to looking after their own reserves? Unlike my journalism days at Maclean Hunter 50 years ago, when research meant hard slogging through paper, facts are now readily available at the touch of a keyboard.
Transfers to Indigenous will increase from $21 billion (2022) to $35 billion by 2026. That’s a lot of money to look after 1,807,250 natives in 600 bands. Where is the responsibility of native leaders for fixing conditions on their own reserves? There never seems to be any at any level? In my opinion, governments have disenfranchised Indigenous peoples by simply throwing money at them with neither expectations nor accountability – something Mr. Trudeau cancelled when he came into office in 2015. The work ethic has been diminished because they just get more money, which, judging by current conditions, hasn’t solved anything.
I have followed the travails of Charmaine Stick, of the Onion Lake Band, who has been trying to get financial accessibility and accountability from her own band leaders since 2016. She has failed.
My questions remain: Why do journalists not lay out all the facts about the financial position of natives in this country? Why does no one follow the money? I know the answer, of course: It is a journalistic sacrilege to ever question Indigenous leaders about money.
Thank you for taking the time to read and perhaps ponder my questions.
_____________________________________
His response:
Thanks
for writing Nancy. I do agree that we need better financial accountability and
transparency. It was a foolish decision by the Trudeau govt to revoke the
transparent & accountability measures put in place by Stephen Harper.
So
yes we should be keeping a better eye on the spending. Nonetheless too many Indigenous
people live in third world conditions on reserves. Their numbers in prisons -
both make & female - are far too high and the suicide rates are eye popping
compared to non-Indigenous Canadians.
We
have a lot of work to do on both accounts.
Regards-Bob
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My response:
Mr. Fife, my belief
in your professionalism and integrity has been confirmed by your prompt
response. Thank you.
Yes, Indigenous people live in third-world conditions. My question is why? In my view, it is because that is how the money flows via The Indian Act – an act that won’t be repealed or re-written because that would entail a never-ending, Pandor’s Box of consultations with hereditary and elected chiefs of 600 bands. Feature that.
As for the inordinate number of Indigenous in prisons, that is also reserve-generated due to the fact there is nothing to do on many reserves except get into messes – several BC reserves excepted. My research tells me that those natives who live off-reserve and get an education do much better, but if they choose to return to family on-reserve, they fall back into unhealthy lifestyles. In fact, every native leader who bemoans residential schools actually went to one, got a basic, or higher-level, education, and remained in mainstream society. Ovide Mercredi, Murray Sinclair, Jody Wilson-Raybould, James Bartleman and many others come to mind.
Natives need to get off the reserves, but they won’t. That’s the tragedy.
I don’t expect a reply, but thank you again for responding to a fellow journalist, albeit long-retired but still writing!
Cheers, Nancy M-C
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So, that was pretty cool!
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