The Canadian government is providing endless funding for First Nations communities across Canada, yet First Nations people are still living in terrible conditions: where is all the money is going? The Assembly of First Nations, which is formed of FIrst Nations chiefs, are in charge of spending and managing the budget that they receive, in which brings us to the “First Nations Millionaires Club”. This video provides a strong opinion against First Nations chiefs, believing that they hold a great fault in the horrible living conditions many innocent First Nations face when living in a reserve. Most of the 600 First Nations chiefs are millionaires, even 50 of them receive more money than the Prime Minister of Canada, as they pay themselves large sums. The wealth and privilege of First Nations chiefs are funded by Canadian taxpayers and are at the expense of First Nations community members. This video highlights how there is a issue of no transparency, thus allowing acts of secretly stealing money easy for chiefs. It also shines lights on the large mismanagement and wasteful spending, and that chief kick out any management sent in by the government. This article is slightly bias as it shows a great distance in tone against First Nations chiefs. All facts and statistics shared are used in favour to show the poor side of chiefs, trying to convince viewers to agree with their view; however, they do not force a biased view that all chiefs are bad as they bring upon a different chief, who elected, proving and showing that not all chiefs are corrupt. Overall, this article may show some bias views towards chief, yet it addresses concerns of both non-native Canadians and First Nations as it acknowledges chiefs to be a separate party in the issue.
Reflective Questions:
- Would transparency change the actions of these first nations chiefs? Why or why not?
- As first nations chiefs are in charge of the budget, should the government be able to force upon a manager for the budget of a community? Will that take away from the rights that the first nations chiefs have?
- To what extent do you believe chief should be payed? Why do you believe this?