Living just a five minute drive from this native reserve and having worked on it myself, I understand the governments pains more than anyone. The Kwikwetlem First Nation’s are situated in a very strategic area, having water front open to the Fraser River perfect for fishing, acres of tree land and the monopoly of selling Fireworks to the thousands of high school children every year. The reason I bring this up is because I used to work regulating the fish that were caught by these first nations with BC Hydro and as well as a part time job with on of the council men very close to my family. My point? The cash coming into this community is very generous in comparison to the amount of people actually working there.

Now everyone in my community heard about the scandal by Chief Ron Giesbrecht and it was no surprise. Every year native communities across Canada get tax payer money and can use it for certain plans but the problem here is that no one is actually accounting what they are spending their money on. When asked to show a financial statement of where their money has been spent, an astonishing $180k was taken by the Chief alone and yet they are still asking for more and more. 

$900,000+ per year in pure tax payers money is a little much I have to argue. When you drive up to this reserve, at first glance it looks nice but when you drive further it is a dump. Although the numerous Cadillac’s and BMW’s parked at the houses might make you think they have money, the houses and living conditions really don’t reflect the wealth coming in.

It upsets me that native communities fight so hard for what they deserve but a few clans give them all a bad name. Embezzling the cash  really hurt this clans reputation and it makes the people directly affected by this to really wonder-why do we support natives this much?

I do believe it is wrong for the council of this clan and many across the country for milking the cash but they do need it to survive. To fix this problem, Harper needs to establish that reserve accountants can not provide the statements but official accountants hired by municipal governments must monitor the spending by these clans.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Harper+government+outraged+that+chief+tiny+Coquitlam+first+nation+received+900K+latest/10080633/story.html