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National Post editorial board: Racism on a native reserve

National Post editorial board October 9, 2010 – 7:50 am

Canadian taxpayers pay close to $10-billion a year to finance on-reserve programming for natives. Yet whenever it is proposed that we impose some accountability about how that money is spent, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) — a lobby group representing the interests of native chiefs — complains that its members are being mistreated.

Such was the case with the 2002 First Nations Governance Act, which would have required First Nations to develop the sort of fair voting systems and transparent accounting practices that Canadians living off-reserve take for granted. It was the ultimate common-sense legislation; but because it irked band chiefs — who (like all politicians) would prefer to do things behind closed doors — Paul Martin eventually killed the legislation over the advice of his own Indian Affairs Minister, Robert Nault. Read More »

Posted in: Canada, Full Comment, Policy Tags: natives, Liberals, NDP, Paul Martin, Assembly of First Nations, National Post editorial board, AFN, Kelly Block, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Conservaties, Kahnawake