Mon Feb 11, 7:15 PM
CBC
The fact that so many First Nations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are being managed by third parties because they're in financial crisis is a "significant cause for concern," a new report on governance in those two provinces says.
On Monday, Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy released a report that looked at how First Nations are running their affairs in the two provinces.
The study, based on surveys of 1,780 people on 51 reserves in Manitoba and 61 in Saskatchewan, looked at elections, band administration, human rights, transparency of the band's activities, services provided and the economy.
In general, First Nations with good government tended have more healthy economic development, the study found. But there are dysfunctional band councils on far too many reserves, the report said.
The report also talked about the "veil of secrecy" that permeates the activities of many band councils.
"The big thing that we had ... in Saskatchewan as we did in Manitoba is the lack of information for people," said Don Sandberg, the Frontier Centre's aboriginal policy fellow, who travelled to dozens of First Nations to collect the data. "They [band members] did not know exactly where the band's finances were."
Unfair elections
There were also many complaints about unfair elections, he said.
The report said Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) has intervened in the governance and finances of many First Nations across Canada after they get into difficulty, but this is particularly true in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. According to INAC, in 2006, 12 Saskatchewan reserves were under third-party management.
Ranked on the Frontier Centre's good governance scale of 100, no band got 100 per cent. The best-run reserve, according to the survey, was Ahtahkakoop First Nation near Shell Lake, Sask., which received 78 per cent. The worst-rated reserve was Grand Rapids First Nation, about 430 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, with a score of 31 per cent. Some bands wouldn't let the Frontier Centre conduct its surveys.
First Nations University of Canada assistant professor Bob Kayseas lays some of the blame for poor governance on INAC. In his view, INAC doesn't "even ask the chief and councils to be accountable to their band membership, they ask them to be accountable to INAC."
To be successful in future, bands will need to create a new kind of relationship both with the federal government and with their community members, Kayseas said.