Attawapiskat Considers Suing Federal Government

The Department of Aboriginal Affairs' insistence on letting a third-party manager control the band's funds infuriates the community's leadership.

Theresa Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation, has indicated that the community might sue the federal government over its handling of the housing crisis in the remote northern Ontario community. After declaring a state of emergency on the reserve a month ago, Spence has lobbied the federal government, and in particular, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, to send supplies to help house 25 families currently living in tents and lean-tos to shelter them from the upcoming winter. John Duncan, the minister for aboriginal affairs, responded by demanding that the band hand over control of its finances to a third-party manager at the cost of more than $1,000 a day to the band. Needless to say, Spence wasn't too pleased with that request. And on Sunday, Duncan told CTV that Spence had agreed to let the manager into the community, when in reality, she had done no such thing. Duncan has also said the department would be sending 22 modular homes to Attawapiskat by the end of January, but it's still not clear who will be paying for them.

All of this leads to the quite reasonable request from Spence that Duncan step down as minister for the aboriginal portfolio, as he's bungled just about every possible step of the government's response to Attawapiskat. Spence will be meeting with Duncan this week to hopefully clear some of the air (what we'd give to be a fly on THAT wall...), although she's already warned that she might go to the courts to get them to cancel the department's directive on the third-party manager. Given what the Tories have recently thought of court rulings, though, even the justice system doesn't appear to be a guaranteed avenue for recourse.