Former bureaucrats of Indian Affairs and Northern Development are questioning the federal government’s tactics in dealing with First Nations chiefs and the Idle No More movement after the release of an audit critical of financial management on Northern Ontario’s Attawapiskat reserve just days before Prime Minister Stephen Harper was to sit down with First Nations leaders.The leaked audit report was first reported by the CBC on the morning of Jan. 7, and was officially released less than three hours later by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AAND).
The CBC’s parliamentary bureau declined to comment on its reporting of the leaked audit, and Jan O’Driscoll, spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan (Vancouver Island North, B.C.), would not confirm whether the department had intended to release the report on Jan. 7, or was forced to officially publish the report in response to the leak.
Under Treasury Board guidelines, the audit by accounting firm Deloitte and Touche had to be released within 90 days of it being signed off on by AAND Deputy Minister Michael Wernick on Oct. 16. The report’s release could have technically been delayed until Jan. 14 — three days after Mr. Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) meeting with Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo and other chiefs from across the country.
Chiefs from Manitoba and Ontario chose to boycott the meeting over the absence of Governor General David Johnston
Asked if he thought the timing of the audit’s release was politically motivated, former Indian Affairs deputy minister Harry Swain responded, “Yes,” but declined to elaborate, as he continues to serve on the audit committee for the department, which was renamed Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in 2011.
Mr. Swain, who served as deputy minister of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development during the 1990 Oka standoff, said that the Idle No More movement was much different from the armed standoff between First Nations and Canadian reservists over twenty years ago.
Mr. Swain, author of Oka: A Political Crisis and its Legacy, said that a mixture of militancy on both sides contributed to that crisis.
“It’s nothing like that serious yet. With continued stupidity we could make it that way, I suppose, but I don’t think we’re there yet,” he said.
“Those conditions don’t apply now. ... It’s much more a broad national concern about treaties and rights, and why governments aren’t living up to the constitution and what the courts tell them to do,” Mr. Swain said of the Idle No More movement.
Mr. Swain stressed the need for the government to actively address the concerns being expressed by First Nations and aboriginal Canadians.
“There’s been a long-standing request, demand, for a serious conversation about what the treaties mean. It’s a question of successive governments, not just this one,” he said. “If the government were to empower some senior representatives... with a mandate to get out in the field and listen and talk — and I’d start with listen — that would go a long way.”
The audit, which reviewed more than 500 band transactions between 2005-2006 and 2011-2012, found that 80 per cent of the transactions “lacked any or proper supporting documentation.” The impoverished community received $90-million in federal transfers over that time period.
The leak of the report — whether it was officially approved or not — caused chaos among First Nations chiefs and within the Victoria Island encampment of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who has abstained from solid food for over a month to demand a meeting with Mr. Harper and Mr. Johnston. She was among the chiefs to boycott the meeting over Mr. Johnston’s absence.
After weeks of granting media access to the Victoria Island compound, media were tightly restricted by Chief Spence’s supporters following the leaked audit.
Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations accused the government of trying to delegitimize First Nations leadership ahead of the Jan. 11 meeting.
“I think the timing of the release, of course is to detract from what we’re trying to do regarding inherent and treaty rights,” Chief Bellegarde told The Hill Times following a meeting with First Nations chiefs ahead of last Friday’s meeting. “If you can muddy waters and throw mud and try to make the First Nations leadership painted with a negative brush—that’s what governments always try to do. Strategic words and tactics. They’ve got a strong media communications strategy and the timing is suspect. No question.”
University of Carleton Public Administration professor Robert Shepherd, who has served in various capacities within Aboriginal Affairs and has also done consulting for the department, was also critical of the tactic.
“It just seems that if somebody was really trying to be sensitive in the department, could [they] not have held off on this audit for another week or couple of weeks? Does that really take a lot of effort? I really don’t think so,” said Prof. Shepherd, who specializes in public management and program evaluation.
He conceded that the audit highlighted problems with financial accountability in Attawapiskat, but said that the findings are partly related to conditions placed on band finances by AANDC.
“Most reserves have challenges in their management in this area, and there are capacity issues across many reserves,” Prof. Shepherd explained. “The second part of this is that the level of funding makes bands do some creative things with their financing that may come into question with auditors.”
“These are probably for very legitimate purposes, but that’s aside from other things the auditor found in Attawapiskat’s case where money may have been baldly misdirected of misspent on something... I suspect there’s a mix of both — it’s just not clear based on the evidence,” he said.
Prof. Shepherd said that the financial relationship between bands and the department is “very complicated.”
“There’s a whole degree of complexity here that’s not really coming out. Most of the reporting I’ve heard is just a simplistic reporting,” he observed. “I wish the world was as simple, but it’s not.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: CHRIS PLECASH
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