OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–In less than a decade, the Indian Affairs department diverted more than $500 million earmarked for native schools and other projects and spent the money on public relations and other things, according to information obtained by the New Democrats.
The information, requested of Parliament by MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay), shows Liberal and Conservative governments from 1999 to 2007 took $579 million out of the capital facilities and maintenance program fund meant for building or repairing schools, medical clinics, and other structures on reserves.
"There is a clear pattern that the money which builds schools was where they went to cover off whatever else they needed under the sun ... including paying for spin doctors. They are plundering the basic budgets for communities without schools," Angus told the Star.
Some $72 million a year has been stripped away for legal services, public affairs, education programs including teacher salaries, asset management services, and human resources and supply chain management, among other things.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada spokesperson Margot Geduld explained the department moves money where needed.
"(It) actively monitors resource pressures to ensure that resources are aligned with priorities. That would include demographic growth pressures and provincially set price increases in education and social development and other key areas as well," she said.
Angus has been fighting a very public campaign to force Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl to approve funding for a new elementary school in the northern Ontario native community of Attawapiskat, in Angus's riding.
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