FELDSTED: Perhaps splitting Indigenous and Northern Affairs into two entities is less important than dragging the department from using a 19th century approach to dealing with indigenous people

New fire marshal's office will aim to prevent fatal fires in Indigenous communities.  'They want us to do action on what’s causing people to die'

David Burke ~~ CBC News ~~ Jun 08, 2019

Homes hollowed out by fire have become an all-too-common sight in Indigenous communities across the country, prompting a plan to create a national Indigenous Fire Marshal's Office to fix glaring gaps in fire prevention programs across Canada. 

"Fire deaths on reserve [are] 10 times the mainstream average and that's just unacceptable," said Arnold Lazare, a member of the Kahnawake fire brigade south of Montreal and the project lead for the Indigenous Fire Marshal's Office. 

The federal government has no current data on the number of fatal fires in Indigenous communities. It stopped collecting data regarding on-reserve fires in 2010, according to a report of the standing committee on Indigenous and Northern affairs that was released in June 2018. 

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The initiative of indigenous people is commendable and underscores the reality that given the resources, indigenous bands can care for themselves in a self-governance model. We can also save a few hundreds of millions spent in current low-quality management of indigenous affairs in the process.

 

Minister of Crown–Indigenous
Relations, Carolyn Bennett

The initiatives of Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is abysmal and unacceptable. Indigenous communities have suffered from a lack of quality housing for decades. Hundreds of thousands spent on firefighting equipment have fallen into disrepair and disuse.

Governments are oblivious to their having removed a sense of community from indigenous reserves. The equipment is brought in an installed by contractors who leave when they are done. There is no provision for regular maintenance and training, or even a firehall to keep the equipment.

Local residents don’t enjoy any sense of ownership or pride in the facilities and equipment dumped in.

An indigenous fire marshal cannot order new firehalls, equipment, adequate housing or set standards for housing supplied. At best, he can catalogue a long list of housing and emergency equipment deficiencies and make recommendation for addressing these issues.

Why has Indigenous Services not established a list of community needs and requirements?

What are they doing?

How can they properly serve indigenous people if they don’t know what they need?

Perhaps splitting Indigenous and Northern Affairs into two entities is less important than dragging the department from using a 19^th century approach to dealing with indigenous people. This appears to be another instance of show over substance. Rearranging the department does not improve the quality and usefulness of services provided.

Crown-Indigenous Relations has about 3,198 employees and spends about $7 billion annual. Indigenous Services Canada has about 4,268 employees and spends about $12.3 billion.

There are about 350,000 indigenous people living on reserves.  The departments employ one person for each 47 that they serve and spend about $55,153 per person on reserve.

In fairness, spending includes overhead (such as operating expenses, equipment, supplies and salaries, etc.). Spending also includes expenses for education and training of indigenous people off reserve, and transfers to provinces to reimburse them for health care and education services they provide, but the smell of boondoggle hangs heavy in the air.

There have to be reasons why governments are so resistant to giving up the indigenous affairs portfolio. It is incomprehensible that we spend over $19 billion per year on indigenous affairs and find irate indigenous people at every turn.

This boondoggle should get the 26 million people eligible to vote irate. People running for office in October must not be allowed to duck this issue. If they have no plan to solve the indigenous people services problem, they are unfit for office.

 

John Feldsted

Political Consultant & Strategist

Winnipeg, Manitoba