By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 10, 2011
Some Attawapiskat residents at odds with chief
Some residents of Attawapiskat First Nations support the government’s plan to put the reserve under third-party management, a move strongly opposed by the chief and band council.
“I think it would be a good thing. We need to clean up our financial crisis here in Attawapiskat because it’s been like this too long now,” Greg Shisheesh, a former deputy chief of the reserve, told CBC News in a phone interview.
“I was happy to hear the federal government was stepping in to clean the mess up.”
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Shisheesh, who said he has lived on the reserve all his life, said he believes a forensic audit should be conducted on a number of organizations on the reserve, including the band office and economic development office.
“If our leaders have nothing to hide, by all means do it.”
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has vehemently rejected the imposition of a third-party manager.
“She says that and she didn’t even ask the whole community what we thought about it. She never asked us,” Shisheesh said. “The way the chief and council operate is totally opposite. They decide and then bring it to us after.”
Spence also said on Monday she will use the courts if necessary to resist the imposition of a third-party manager.
Martha Sutherland, a tribe elder, told CBC News she is frustrated with the reserve leadership.
“We want to hear what the Indian Affairs has to say, the third party, and we want to meet with them so we can voice our concerns.” (Source: CBC News)