[IPSM] Aboriginal groups losing patience with feds over funding

[shelly]

      Aboriginal groups losing patience with feds over funding
      'Clearly, we're not a popular cause,' says Assembly of First Nations' chief
              
            SUE BAILEY 
            CP 


      Tuesday, March 01, 2005


      Patience and hope are fading after the Liberals all but forgot dire aboriginal needs in the latest federal budget, aboriginal leaders say.

      Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), is openly questioning whether Prime Minister Paul Martin will back up earnest talk with action.

      "We've received some very bold commitments that have heightened expectations," Fontaine, who is known for his conciliatory approach, said in an interview.

      "But clearly, we're not a popular cause," he added with some bitterness.

      Chiefs must also battle the impression, created by isolated cases of fraud, that the $7 billion spent on aboriginal programs each year is widely misused.

      Leaders say much of that money is eaten up by federal bureaucracies before it reaches cash-strapped reserves.

      Skepticism about the effectiveness of the billions committed to aboriginals annually may explain why the minority Liberals committed relatively meagre sums in the budget to ease living conditions that the government has called "shameful."

      Promises over five years total $735 million to ease a housing crisis, bridge stark education gaps, fund early learning programs and provide for a healing fund for survivors of residential school abuse.

      That amount was dwarfed by the billions of dollars pledged for the military, child care, the environment and a host of other causes.

      Last week's budget effectively tells Canada's poorest to keep waiting even as Ottawa racks up a budget surplus of almost $9 billion, Fontaine said.

      Patience is being tested on reserves across the country.

      In its defence, the federal government said it is continuing talks with aboriginal leaders to set funding priorities on everything from education to economic development.

      © The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
     




     
     
     
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