No, The Solution To Attawapiskat Isn’t Fucking Equity.
via APTN
Under the guise of this horrifying crisis in Attawapiskat, some of the Tories see an opportunity to ‘fix’ the reserve system.
The reforms would allow for private property within the communal system of the reserves. The only significant change, it seems, is that it would allow the home-owners to mortgage them homes, gain equity and, best of all, put them up as collateral on a loan.
Have we learned nothing? Pushing low-income communities to risk their homes is never a good idea. Especially not on the precipice of a housing crisis, like Canada might be facing.
The reforms are not the end of the world.
As the Globe points out, this system already exists,
Many reserves – particularly those near cities – already allow home ownership and mortgages via long-term leases with the band
Add to that Shawn Atleo, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and his less-than-excited response to the proposal, and it makes you wonder - why bother?
The Conservatives are working on an ideological laundry list of reforms. That’s fine, that’s part of their job, but does it have to be right fucking now?
If your house was ablaze, and the fire fighters that rush in start discussing what sort of wallpaper would look nice, you’d lose your temper.
Occupy Attawapiskat
The solution to this crisis is, as Shawn Atleo put it, “bold innovation.”
Okay, so let’s do it. And let’s not just listen to John Duncan blithely broadcast pre-recorded messages from his mouth, no, lets listen to Shawn Atleo.
One needn’t go farther than the Assembly of First Nation’s website to find a rather novel idea on how to fix the housing crisis.
Resolution No. 14/2007 called for the recognition of First Nation Governments to manage and control housing and infrastructure programs from a local, tribal council, Treaty organization, or provincial/territorial organization structure. It also called for the transition of management and control of all housing matters from the federal government to First Nations, with an appropriate First Nation network of support, including national and/or regional First Nation ‘Centres of Excellence’ that are local, territorial and regional in scope and be made available to ensure an adequate First Nation capacity development framework.
Give the responsibly of housing back to local governments? Given the massive disparity between what the local Attawapiskat government needed and what the federal government was hearing, that might not be such a bad idea.
The AFN’s website also mentioned bill C-304, a really damn good bill I’d forgotten existed. Indeed, if this bill had been implemented, Attawapiskat may have never gotten to a crisis point. The bill would have created a national housing strategy that would have addressed this sort of tragic shortage of decent living conditions. The bill passed, but because it was a private members’ bill, it died on the floor when the session ended.
And who voted against it? All the Tories! (Except Peter Goldring, who just left caucus because of drunk driving charges.)
There are hundreds of viable solutions that could fix the housing crisis in Attawapiskat, on all reserves and throughout Canada. Right now, there’s no willingness to address it. The government wants to send a few model homes and pat itself on the back for a good job done.
And the opposition should wipe those smug grins right off their face. They have taken absolutely no initiative or proactivity on this file. They scream and scream about government incompetency, but when they’re asked for a solution, they wring their hands until they bleed and mumble“mnm..housingstrategy…mhm.”
Crises aren’t fixed overnight. They’re not fixed with bandaids. They’re not fixed by decrying your opponents.
They’re fixed with cooperation, innovation and planning.
