AFN Calls on UN to Monitor Attawapiskat Response

Native group charges that the Harper government might not be living up to its treaty obligations.

The Assembly of First Nations has gone to the United Nations to ask if the international body would send a monitor to Canada to make sure the Conservative government is handling the Attawapiskat crisis properly. The resolution, which was passed unanimously by the Assembly's members, asks for a "special rapporteur" to make sure that the numerous domestic and international treaties Canada has signed pertaining to its aboriginal population are followed. The AFN has criticized the Harper government for not doing enough to help the housing crisis in Attawapiskat in the lead-up to winter. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs assigned a third-party manager to oversee how the community spends its money in response to the crisis, a move that attracted even more condemnation from aboriginal groups across the country. When the manager arrived at Attawapiskat, he was banned from entering the community. He had reportedly brought a couple boxes of donuts with him.