Attawapiskat finances put under 3rd-party control

The federal government has put Attawapiskat in northern Ontario under third-party management and ordered an audit to find out where federal fundswerespent as the James Bay community struggles with a housing crisis.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan,who announced the measure in question period Wednesday, told the House of Commons that"urgent health and safety issues" needed immediate action.

"The government of Canada has informed the chief that we are placing the community in third-party management to ensure community needs are addressed,"Duncan said.

"Part of the manager's role will be to administer my department's funding, which is normally managed by the First Nation directly."

Duncanhas also requested a comprehensive audit to identify how money has been spent in the communityof about 1,800, and what oversight measures have been takenin the past five years.

Attawapiskat declared a housingemergency about a month ago, as many residents live in uninsulated shacks or construction trailers without heat or running water. On Tuesday, the Canadian Red Cross sent a shipment of aid, mainly heaters and winter sleeping bags.

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence was shocked to hear the community has been putunder third-party management.

"I guess, as First Nations, when we do ask for assistance and make a lot of noise, we get penalized for it," she told CBC News on Wednesday."So, you know, to put us in third party while we're in crisis, that's very shameful and a disgrace from the government."

NDP MP Charlie Angus, whose riding includes the troubled reserve, slammed the government's handling of the crisis, saying its solution is to "blame the community."

"Why is it that when it's a First Nations community in distress, this government's response is contempt?" Angusasked the House of Commons.

The NDP asked for an emergency debate on Attawapiskat, but the request was rejected.

Harper said earlier this week that the government hadspent some $90 million on Attawapiskat since he entered office in 2006.

"That's over $50,000 for every man, woman and child in the community. Obviously we're not very happy that the resultsdo not seem to have been achieved for that, we're concerned about that, we have officials looking into it and taking action," he said Tuesday.

Numbers misleading: Rae

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said the $90-million figure ismisleading, as it includes funding for education, water, sewers and housing infrastructure.

"He's doing the same thing that he did yesterday, that is, the investments in health and education are included in the amount of $90 million that he is always referring to today," he said during question period Wednesday.

Rae called on the government to "take responsibility."

"There are dozens of Attawapiskats right across this country, and it's not the only community facing these conditions and these difficulties," he said Wednesday.

"The auditor general of Canada herself said, Mr. Speaker, in her last report that the aboriginal people of this country are living in intolerable conditions. It's thegovernmentthat has to take responsibility for what's happened and not simply continue to blame the victim."

The CBC's Adrienne Arsenault, reporting from Attawapiskat, said theabout $90 million spread over six years was used for services normally covered by the municipalities or the provinces elsewhere in the country.

In Attawapiskat, these services are covered by the federal government under the Indian Act. The sum left for housing is about $1 million, which, in the North, can build about four houses, Arsenault said.

Spence said the accusations of mismanagement of funds areuntrue, but acknowledged the band has struggled with accounting.

"We're improving the way it is now, but we need qualified staff to meet the financial work," she told CBC News.

Stella Wheesk, wholives in a cramped cubicle in Attawapiskatwith her common-law husband and infant daughter, said she's not sure third-party management will solve her community's chronic housing problems, but she thinks it's worth a shot.

"I think it's better. I think it's better for them to take over so we can see more improvement," she told CBC news.

Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel, who visited Attawapiskat on Tuesday, called on Harper totravel tothe First Nations communityto see the "unacceptable" conditions for himself.

"It's appalling and unimaginable, and worse than anything you could think of," she said during question period. "People are living in tents, in trailers. They have no heat and any little heat is a fire hazard. They're sleeping on mouldy mattresses."

The National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, hopes the Attawapiskat situationserves asa "tipping point" forFirst Nations communities.

"We now have social media and we never had it before, where people will be invited into the living rooms and the shacks and tents of a people living in great despair," he told CBC News.

He estimated there are about 100 or more First Nations communities, out of 634, where living conditions are similar to those in Attawapiskat.

"We have got to grasp the moment and say it is completely unacceptable," he said.

John Saunders, co-ordinator for the Red Cross, said his focusis the immediate needs of members of the community.

"It's 15, 20, with no heat and a wooden shack; those are pretty urgent needs," Saunders said.

"We distributed sleeping bags these are winter-rated sleeping bags to the first five families identified as the greatest need, and we are proceeding to the other remaining 19 families that are in the various shacks, getting heaters, sleeping bags, winter clothing to them and identifying what their other needs will be."

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Red Cross had received $63,000 in donations for Attawapiskat, Saunders said.

Steve Linklater, his wife and four children have a television and a computer, but live in a one-room canvas shack.

"It gets really cold in the morning," he said, and the family huddles together at night to stay warm. The Red Cross gave them winter sleeping bags and a heater to ward off the cold, but what Linklater really wants is "a house, a warm house"somethinghis family has waited for for two years.

Saunders, who was encountering Attawapiskat for the first time, said he was impressed by the ingenuity of people adapting to the housing crisis. "MacGyver would be proud of these folks."

Arsenault said the community's health centre has a board with a list: "These are the people who are without homes; these are the people without plumbing; these are the people without heating; these are the people living in condemned homes."

The Red Cross is going through the list of needs, one by one.

Also, cellphone service finally arrived for Attawapiskat on Wednesday.

"That would make a huge difference to daily life here," said Arsenault.