Verbal sparring on Attawapiskat continues

The war of words between the leadership of Attawapiskat and the federal government continued as northern Ontario rang in the New Year.
The first volley of 2012 came on January 4, when Mushkegowuk Council accused the federal government of putting Attawapiskat’s essential services at risk. Mushkegowuk noted that the federal government transferred $1.5 million of education monies from the council’s accounts to the accounting firm BDO Dunwoody.
“The First Nation is now concerned that payroll and other essential payments will not be made,” Mushkegowuk stated in a press release.
Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (ANAC) Minister John Duncan responded the next day by accusing the leadership of Attawapiskat of withholding information. Duncan said the money for essential services – including teacher’s salaries – will be paid out when the third-party manager is provided with “the necessary information from the Chief and Council.”
Duncan’s statement prompted a lengthy, angry letter from Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
“The issues for my First Nation and all other remote First Nations are similar,” Spence wrote. “The Government of Canada has repeatedly ignored the real issues and for those who choose to speak out is penalized with a Third Party instrument to quell and silence us.”
The crux of the conflict rests on the third party manager appointed by the federal government to oversee Attawapiskat’s Chief and Council.
Meetings in December between Spence and Duncan failed to come to a resolution on the third party manager. Following the last meeting between the two leaders Spence filed a court injunction against the third party manager. In the meantime the manager has been banned from the community, and is working from Winnipeg.
Attawapiskat’s council said the third party manager is costing them $20,000 a month in salary.
“Why should my First Nation be paying $1,300 a day for some firm to issue payroll cheques for my First Nation with our already limited Band Support Funding?” Spence asked in her letter to Duncan. “We do not need a high priced manager to issue cheques, because we are capable of issuing cheques and managing our business affairs.”
Spence also stated that she believes the third party manager has been put in place to “decimate” the band’s administrative structures and eliminate the band’s local capacity.
She called Duncan’s decision to install the third party manager a “knee jerk reaction” to the questions of opposition MPs in Parliament.
Click here to download Chief Spence's letter to Minister Duncan.