[IPSM] Bill C-20: First Nations Fisca and Statistica Management Act

[hhazel at gmail.com]

this legislation can be found at http://www.fnfi.ca/documents/Bill_C-20.pdf
and a nice long article dissecting Bill C-20 can be found at
http://www.switlo.com/opinion.php?selected=63&PHPSESSID=97889e72c7d98bafe825ce89f42f63c1

    "Mr. David M. General, Chief, Six Nations Council: ... first like
to acknowledge the Algonquin Nation, on whose territory we are meeting
today. ... Unfortunately, we were denied the opportunity to present to
the standing committee in the House [of Commons]. On December 7, 2004,
the standing committee heard from Minister Andy Scott and only the
proponents of Bill C-20. We were told by the committee members that
the bill had received enough debate. We were told that there was an
all-party agreement to hear only the minister and the proponents, and
we were told that there was really no opposition to the bill since the
government had incorporated new amendments.

    ... I am here to tell you that there is significant opposition to
Bill C-20. If the proponents of Bill C-20 claim to represent the
interests of a purported 100 First Nations, then I want you to hear
the remaining 530 First Nations who do not want the bill. Regrettably,
many First Nations do not have the time and resources to be here in
Ottawa today. ... On the other hand, the proponents of Bill C-20 are
very well funded. ... When you combine the efforts of their principal
lobbyist, the chairs of the four fiscal institutions and such federal
officials who want Bill C-20 passed, that, senators, is a considerable
lobby force.

    When you consider the issues that face First Nations across
Canada, when you look at the immediate needs at the community level,
would not the millions and millions of dollars spent developing four
national institutions under Bill C-20 have been more wisely spent on
housing, education and water plants to produce clean drinking water?
... The estimated cost of the four institutions ranges from $25
million to $30 million annually. ... a number of standing resolutions
in which the chiefs and assembly [[Assembly of First Nations] reject
the predecessors to Bill C-20. ... We are told that Bill C-20 is
optional, yet the statistical institute attached to it is not. If the
statistical institute is to be applied to all First Nations, why does
it have to be linked to Bill C-20? ... First Nations leadership could
forever wrap their membership in the web of the fiscal institutions
with a mere vote of a single council. Most alarming, there is no
requirement for community consultation. ...

    The proponents of Bill C-20 do not need the proposed bill when the
institutions are already up and running. Their websites are on the
internet, their offices have been rented and their staff has been
hired. The proponents of Bill C-20 do not need the proposed bill when
the institutions are being funded already. ... We do not want or need
legislation designed by someone else."


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Canada and First Nations One Step Closer to Closing Economic Gaps -
First Nations Fiscal and Statistical Management Act Receives Royal
Assent

    OTTAWA, March 23 /CNW Telbec/ - The First Nations Fiscal and Statistical
Management Act received Royal Assent today. This innovative and First Nation-
led legislation builds on established expertise and success and seeks to
provide participating First Nations with new means of enhancing their
economies and promoting stronger communities.
    This optional legislation, which establishes four First Nation
institutions, is designed to provide First Nations with the practical tools
available to other governments for modern fiscal management, and will enable
First Nations that choose to use the services of the institutions to
participate more actively in the Canadian economy. The initiative is the
result of the cooperation of several leading First Nation organizations and
federal government departments.
    Mr. C.T. (Manny) Jules, who led the development of the Act, said the all-
party support Bill C-20 received in the House of Commons and the Senate sends
an important signal. "All parties in Parliament have endorsed a First Nation-
led approach to building a better future for First Nations through investment
and economic growth. The legislation recognizes the key role the private
sector can play in creating economic growth opportunities in First Nation
communities."
    "Today marks an important milestone. The First Nations Fiscal and
Statistical Management Act is designed to offer participating First Nations
more effective tools to build their own economies and is an excellent example
of what the Government of Canada committed to at the Canada - Aboriginal
Peoples Roundtable," said Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development,
Andy Scott. "At the Roundtable the Prime Minister stated that we need to close
the economic and social gaps that exists between First Nations and other
Canadians. This piece of legislation takes us one step closer to that goal."
    This legislation will provide First Nations with the access to private
capital enjoyed by other governments. It will further strengthen the First
Nation real property tax system and provide greater representation for
taxpayers. It will encourage the use of higher financial management standards.
Finally, it will enhance the capacity of First Nations to access and use
statistical information.

For further information: Al Fleming, Media Relations Officer, Indian and 
Northern Affairs Canada, (819) 997-8402; Agnes Papanastasiou, First Nations 
Fiscal Institutions, (613) 954-6201
This release is also available in electronic format at www.inac.gc.ca or 
www.fnfi.ca


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Native land policy faces overhaul
By BILL CURRY
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Globe and Mail

Ottawa - Breaking with the traditional communal approach to first
nations' lands, the federal government will endorse private ownership
of land and housing on reserves as part of a package of new aboriginal
policies to be unveiled this spring.

Federal and aboriginal officials are also expected to announce an
overhaul of native education, including support for a national system
of school boards and greater links between native schools and
provincial education ministries.

The new land policy likely will include rules barring non-natives from
buying on-reserve properties.

Introducing private housing markets for reserves would mark a
significant policy change for the federal government.

Ottawa intends to set up a new entity, expected to be called a first
nations housing authority, that would handle mortgages and assist band
councils in creating real estate markets on reserves.

Advocates argue that property ownership would allow aboriginals to
accumulate personal equity that could then be used to help finance
business ventures or higher education. It is also expected it would
encourage individuals to voluntarily make repairs to their on-reserve
houses, rather than rely on band councils or Ottawa for such work.

The Auditor-General has warned the lack of quality housing on reserves
has reached "crisis" levels.

Some of Canada's 633 reserves allow private ownership of property, but
most continue to operate on a communal system in which the federal
government owns the land and the band council manages the housing
supply with money from Ottawa.

Former Indian affairs minister Andy Mitchell rejected private
ownership last year as contrary to aboriginal tradition, but his
successor, Andy Scott, has embraced the notion.

The Assembly of First Nations has recently come to support the move -
as long as some form of first nations' housing authority run by
aboriginals will make the rules and mortgage decisions. The AFN also
wants the federal government to continue funding social housing for
aboriginals, both on reserves and off.

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the AFN, said chiefs had
traditionally opposed private ownership because they saw it as
undermining Ottawa's treaty obligations to provide shelter for
aboriginals.

"People have been conditioned to consider [communal ownership] as the
only option," he said. "Private ownership is not something that was
ever central to the government's housing strategy as it relates to
first nations. That can be achieved, in our view, without alienating
first nations' [concepts of] land."

Mr. Fontaine said he is urging the government to set up a native-run
agency that would replace existing federal housing programs and
oversee a move toward private ownership and improved social housing.

Private ownership would diminish divisions on reserves over housing,
he added. "We need to de-politicize this as much as we can. Chief and
council are expected to determine who gets a house, and that's not
something chiefs and councils ever wanted."

The private ownership idea is currently included in discussions and
draft documents by senior officials working on a series of
announcements for a special cabinet retreat on aboriginal issues,
sources say.

At the retreat, set for May 31, federal officials and aboriginal
groups are also expected to outline their plans for native education.
Further details involving links with the provinces would be announced
in the fall at a special first ministers' meeting on aboriginal issues
between Prime Minister Paul Martin and the premiers.

Currently, the more than 500 on-reserve schools operate in a legal
vacuum with no national standards or curriculum. While some reserves
have bodies similar to school boards and links with provincial
education ministries, most do not.

But, privately, government officials are confirming that no new money
will be announced at the retreat to go along with the new policies.

Instead, aboriginals will be asked to wait until the fall first
ministers meeting - or even the next budget - for funding commitments.

Still, Mr. Fontaine said he has taken recent comments by federal
officials to mean money would be announced at the cabinet retreat.

"We're pressing very hard to have some spending announcements, because
that was the understanding . . . that we were to expect positive
decisions would be taken at the cabinet retreat and then further
positive decisions at the first ministers' meeting," he said.

Until recently, mainly conservative groups, such as the Canadian
Taxpayers Federation, had advocated private ownership on reserves.

Tanis Fiss, director of the CTF's centre for aboriginal policy change,
praised the news that the government is open to promoting market
forces on reserves.

"We'd really like to see them go down that path, because, obviously,
it gives native Canadians more control within their community," she
said, pointing to Ontario's Six Nations reserve west of Toronto as
having successfully created its own real estate market.

"It provides far more options and flexibility within the communities
as well as more stability, because under the current system, it's
often the chief and council who decides who lives where and who gets
the home renovations."

Government insiders say issues to be discussed at the cabinet retreat
have been complicated by the AFN's insistence that the retreat also
include a final resolution to the question of residential schools
compensation. Mr. Fontaine has put blanket compensation for all former
students of residential schools at the top of his priority list, a
plan that would cost nearly $6-billion.