Secwepemc leaders strategize on PM meeting December 9, 2011 By Mike Youds Daily News Staff Reporter Housing and water are bound to be near the top of the agenda when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with aboriginal leaders next month in Ottawa. The Indian Act, however, remains a colossal stumbling block as First Nations struggle to improve the quality of life for their members, Whispering Pines Chief Mike LeBourdais said Friday. The Shuswap Nation Tribal Council expects to have a seat at the table of a Crown-First Nations gathering set for Jan. 24, 2012. During a tribal council meeting earlier this week, Secwepemc leaders agreed to reconvene Jan. 11 to strategize on the gathering, LeBourdais said. The PMO announced the gathering as a crisis continued to mount in the James Bay community of Attawapiskat, Ont. Inadequate housing and a shortage of supplies cast a national spotlight on the Cree village, although the issues are widespread, particularly among remote northern communities. LeBourdais said attention has focused on the $90 million Ottawa has transferred to the community, but that can be misleading. The funding amounts to $17 million annually and there are always conditions imposed by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), he said. Some of those conditions make no sense whatsoever. As an example, he cited INAC funding for water on the Whispering Pines reserve. There are five wells on the reserve, but only one provides potable water, servicing six homes, as the others contain high nitrate levels. “The frustration is with INAC’s policy and a lack of common sense. The clean water well is not funded, even though it’s the only well that will provide clean drinking water. They will fund the wells that can’t provide clean drinking water.” For the past four years, the band has paid Canadian Clear to truck in water at a cost of $32,000. INAC has agreed to compensate the band for that cost, but the money hasn’t arrived. The department has said it would fund the functioning well, but only if five homes were using it, not six. “This is the logic we have to deal with at Indian Affairs.” Yet LeBourdais, who spoke earlier in the week to a NorKam class about aboriginal issues in Canada, holds out hope for the future. “It was kind of refreshing,” he said. “I was very hopeful for the next generation.” Secwepemc First Nations are not faced with crises as severe as Attawapiskat, but they do wrestle with the same archaic system, he said. “The similarity is the Indian Act and the practices followed and interpreted by the bureaucrats. That’s what leads to poor housing conditions and poor water.” However, the Indian Act will have to be dealt with piece by piece. “Over time, I’m hopeful we can replace that with something that works for future generations.” Click here for reuse options!
