Quote:
Originally Posted by khabibulin
Federal Government has a formula for payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) for federal land to provide a replacement for municipal taxes. In fact there is a recent supreme court decision regarding Halifax claiming that the amount of PILT paid by the feds for the Halifax Citadel is way less than they should be paying. The supreme court sided with the City and this wiill have implications for the amount of PILT paid by the feds across the country.
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Reserves aren't federally owned land in the same way that Halifax Citadel is, though. The reserve won't actually be in Manitoba (it will be separate) so no money will be given to any level of government.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmt18325
Well, see, I think it's time for a change too...but I want change that most aboriginal people would never accept.
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Like what?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmt18325
In 2012, separate aboriginal communities and rights really make no sense in multicultural Canada. They need to go away. There is no reason that aboriginal cultures and languages cannot survive in Canadian society. I mean, look at places like Toronto and Montreal. There are so many cultural events there based in so many different places all of the time. Aboriginal people are really no different in the context of the present. The current system is really holding people back. It's holding back equality, opportunity, and acceptance.
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You argue that the various government bills at the centre of this protest aren't taking away treaty rights, and then you propose virtually doing away with the treaties by removing almost everything they guarantee aboriginal people.
The treaties are international agreements between sovereign states. Legislation like the Indian Act unilaterally alters them. I don't understand why so many people have difficulty understanding this.
The current system is only holding aboriginals back because the Indian Act, developed and imposed by one member of a two member agreement, is holding them back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Treesplease
The most disappointing thing about FN issues is the fact that no one has a desire to address the issue in a meaningful way - both government and FN leadership.
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One of the big controversies within this movement is that AFN has known about the measures in these bills for months now and it wasn't until grassroots citizens took a look at them that protests started. AFN leadership saw all of these abuses but did nothing to lobby on the behalf of their people until it was pretty much too late. There is a lot of anger within FN communities against their leadership, but that never gets picked up by the media because intra-FN politics don't get discussed in mainstream news. Only their interactions with the Federal and Provincial governments is reported.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Treesplease
I am waiting for the day that some politician (doesn't have to be fed to get the ball rolling) gets disgusted enough to start asking for a serious investigation into the FN issue.
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There have been dozens of those reports. Not just conducted in Canada; during the repatriation of the Constitution, the UK conducted investigations and proposed solutions as well. Most of them find roughly the same results and give roughly the same recommendations, but the government doesn't act on them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Treesplease
FN leaders will have to be at the table because they are just as responsible for the issue as anyone.
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First Nations leaders are at the table. That is why Teresa Spence is in Ottawa. First Nations leaders were at the table in January when the government listened for a little bit but then did nothing.
The Indian Act really ties the hands of First Nations leaders. What their governments can do to solve problems is very, very limited to a rigid framework designed by the Federal government.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Treesplease
Taxation will have to be addressed and I'm not talking about income tax (although that would be nice and will happen eventually). As I understand things (which could be wrong), FN communities get a fixed amount of funding from the federal government for housing and infrastructurte (% of expected cost) with the expectation that the band contribute the balance. Problem being most bands have no capacity to raise funds to provide the balance because they will not use taxation. So the net effect is partially completed houses and infrastructure and no incentive for individuals to complete or upgrade the houses as the nicer their house the greater the likelihood they will be tossed out by the band the next time there is an election and the chief changes and they want to give the house to someone else.
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Bands
can't use taxation. If a First Nations decides it
wants to allow private land ownership and use taxation to raise revenue, they lose all treaty rights. All federal funding, the "free education", the status cards, everything, is gone. They simply become an autonomous, ethnic enclave within a province. Bands cannot tax income. Only the Federal and Provincial governments are allowed to do so. Bands raise their money through rent, fees, and business enterprises and partnerships. Many First Nations in Ontario, for example, run a corporation called Wasaya Group, which operates in a wide variety of industries (primarily air travel, Wasaya Airways is the main regional airline in NWO) and brings in much revenue for those communities, though still not enough for them to really prosper. The communities that are ownership members of the company are doing better than those that don't have a business bringing in revenue. Part of the reason goods are so expensive on reserves (other than the fact that flying in groceries in small batches on propeller planes is extremely expensive) is because that is a method by which a band can raise revenue.
Also, all budgets for First Nations get approved by INAC before the money is released. Anything a First Nation spends money on is approved by the Federal government, including band leader's salaries and arenas.
The Indian Act and INAC are the main problems. In Northern Ontario, INAC is by far the largest government office. It's a gigantic bureaucracy. The largest federal government building in Northwestern Ontario is INAC's office on Fort William First Nation.
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