Keeseekoose

[August1991]

A Google news search on Keeseekoose gives this lone hit:

The Conservative Party is demanding to know why the federal government has yet to fully investigate a Saskatchewan reserve where the RCMP have charged two officials with stealing from its public-school bank account.

For a second day in the House of Commons, Tory MPs alleged that the government is reluctant to delve into the issue because the Keeseekoose First Nation chief at the time was a federal candidate for the Liberals in 2004.

G & M 16 Nov 2005

Although Greg Weston put this at the end of his column on 16 Nov 2005 (which I'll quote at length):

Then there's the heart-warming tale of St. Philips School, built with federal funds for the kids of the Keeseekoose First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan.

All this week, Conservative MPs have been turning the air blue in the Commons over revelations that folks on the reserve dipped into school funds for interesting purchases not of the pencils-and-paper variety.

After pounding the Liberals again yesterday, Conservative MP Jim Prentice was kind enough to share with us his 24 photocopied pages of St. Philips school bank statements for our reading horror.

They begin with thousands of dollars in bank machine withdrawals in Hollywood and Sea World, California, plus room charges for a week at the West Coast Anaheim Hotel.

Perhaps not satisfied with the educational value of jumping dolphins and movie stars, the cash-card-toting tourists of Keeseekoose apparently decided to hone their math skills at the Casino Regina.

In one day, the bank statements show withdrawals at the casino -- remember this is the bank account to run the local Native school -- for $500, then $300, then $600, then another $600. Three weeks later, in one 48-hour losing spree, the school accounts show 14 separate withdrawals totalling $5,600 from casino cash machines.

There were plenty of other bank card charges to the Native school that just keeps giving.

The records show dozens of charges for hotels and restaurants, shoe stores, hair salons and Canadian Tire.

The biggest single charges are for the local "Rangers" hockey team.

The records show direct transfers from the school to the team's account of $1,500 one day, $4,000 another, $2,000 a few weeks later.

In total, we count over $10,000 that flowed to what has to be the most well-financed little-league team in the country.

All of this happened back in 2002, but federal auditors never noticed a thing, probably because they would never have occasion to check what happened to millions of dollars in federal money given to reserve schools such as St. Philips.

Someone on the reserve did finally call in the RCMP, and two officials have been charged.

As for all the loot that went to the luckiest little league hockey squad, the president of the team was the then band chief.

He was never charged with anything.

He did, however, run for the Liberals in the last federal election.

Yet this was the debate on 14 November in the House:

Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Keeseekoose is a small first nation in Saskatchewan. In the time between 1995 and 2001, over $600,000 was systematically looted from its education fund. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has known about this since 2002 and this minister has known since he was appointed, but the minister refuses to help the new chief and council get to the bottom of this.

What is the minister hiding? Why will he not produce a forensic audit that shows who stole the Keeseekoose children's trust fund?

Hon. Andy Scott (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, audits are conducted routinely. If those audits find things that should go to the RCMP or other agencies, that is exactly what happens.

Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, all we hear from the minister is excuses and obfuscation. The current chief and council want to find out who stole their education money. The minister will not help them.

Will the minister admit today that he is trying to protect the former chief because he was the chief when the money was stolen and because he was the Prime Minister's Liberal candidate in the last federal election? Is this why the minister will not produce a forensic audit?

Hon. Andy Scott (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, that allegation is absolutely ridiculous.

Hansard

(I first saw all this in smalldeadanimals.com.)

----

IMV, there are two stories here. First, what is this all about? How does money disappear on a reserve so easily? How many other cases exist that we have never heard about?

Second, why are there not more journalists covering this story? Why did I have to learn about this story through a blog operated by someone as a hobby?

[Argus]

IMV, there are two stories here.  First, what is this all about?  How does money disappear on a reserve so easily?  How many other cases exist that we have never heard about?

Second, why are there not more journalists covering this story?  Why did I have to learn about this story through a blog operated by someone as a hobby?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First, it probably is routine. The stories which appear when the lid is lifted off this or that reserve speak of widespread corruption among native governments.

Second, journalists have no interest because the only reporting permitted about natives is stories of how they are being mistreated by the government. To suggest there might be corruption involved must, of course, be racism of the worst sort. I'm surprised Scott didn't say it. I'd be surprised if the Tories have been asking this for two days if the Liberals haven't at least suggested they are bigots for doing so.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear August1991,

First, what is this all about? How does money disappear on a reserve so easily? How many other cases exist that we have never heard about?

There are tons that we don't hear about. That is why it isn't really a story. Every once in a while you can read a story about nepotism or misappropriation of funds on reserves, but even these are not seen with any surprise. On most reserves, the chief and council will have large families that see the lion's share of gov't payments, above and beyond what is allocated to specific programs. Even then...well, I have been on lots of reserves, and heard many a story.

This would probably answer #2 as well...it just isn't 'news'.

[geoffrey]

I bet if we found all the missing money on all the reserves we'd find out pretty quick why however many don't have clean drinking water.

It's all about priorities...

Call it racist, call it whatever you want, it's true. I love how in those stories where the CBC's interviewing these people, and they've got a pack of smokes on the table and a few bottles of whiskey behind the sink. Lets be realistic here. If $10,000 fixes their water, and they've got say 200 people in their community, thats 5 packs of smokes each to fix their water problem... not to mention all this money apparently being embezelled or just outright stolen by their own people from their own coffers.

[Riverwind]

I bet if we found all the missing money on all the reserves we'd find out pretty quick why however many don't have clean drinking water.

Margret Wente had a good explaination of what really happened Kashechewan:

All because of a broken $30 part

You have to be a GM subscriber to see the entire text but her relevant points are:

The man who fixed it was Chris LeBlanc. He works for Northern Waterworks, a small firm in Red Lake, three hours away by air. He flew to Kashechewan on Oct. 15 -- one day after federal health officials discovered E. coli in the water. It didn't take him long to find the problem. The chlorine dosing pump was stuck. He couldn't fix the broken part, so he got the spare pump working and hooked it up to the chlorinator. Meantime, he dumped a lot of chlorine bleach into the reservoir to kill the germs.

It took him six hours to fix the problem. Within a few days, the water was clean again.

Remember the sewage lagoon? The one that overflowed into the water supply and turned it brown? As the Toronto Star found in a damning report, the problem wasn't caused by faulty engineering. The problem was caused by beaver dams, which blocked the sewage discharge outlet and forced the sewage back up into the creek. Three years ago, an engineering firm told the band to destroy the beaver dams. It did. But the beavers built new dams, and no one bothered to get rid of them again.

There was also an alarm system that was supposed to go off when the water was bad. But it didn't work properly. It went off all the time, and annoyed people. So five years ago, said one of the water operators, "we just shut it off." After the chlorination pump broke down, the operators started guessing how much chlorine to add manually. When people complained they'd added too much, they cut back. "The community doesn't like the smell of chlorine in the water," said Chris LeBlanc.

It is clear that the people in Kashechewan are the ones primarily responsible for the water problems that they experienced.

[August1991]

There are tons that we don't hear about. That is why it isn't really a story.

That may be true, Thelonious, but how many reserves have a band leader who ran as a Liberal candidate in the last federal election.

It is clear that the people in Kashechewan are the ones primarily responsible for the water problems that they experienced.

Sparhawk, what is that supposed to mean? (And thanks for the quotes; I don't subscribe to the G&M.)