Squirming under questions from incredulous reporters who just
couldn't believe how the referendum was being conducted, Government
officials claimed that the $1,000 payments won't be deducted from
welfare checks if people used the money to buy furniture for their
homes or work clothes. Required home furniture and work clothes
are of course already provided to welfare recipients on a special
grant basis over and above normal welfare benefits.
Woodland Chief Johnny Cardinal defended the $1,000 per family
member payments as "economic development". "Take a family of
five," Chief Cardinal said, "that's five grand." "If they go out
and purchase a fairly decent vehicle," Chief Cardinal said, "that's
economic development."
Chief Cardinal couldn't explain how buying a used vehicle, almost
certainly in a neighbouring non-aboriginal community, would
constitute Woodlander "economic development". Neither could he
explain how buying a used vehicle with what amounts to an advance
against subsistence welfare payments -- normally required to
purchase basic food and other essentials for one's family -- would
constitute Woodlander "economic development". (Purchase of a used
vehicle of course clearly won't qualify for exemption from welfare
payment deduction as home furniture or work clothes.)
With most Woodlanders dependent on welfare, the Federal Government
should be able to fairly quickly recoup most of the $700,000 or so
paid out to assure a positive electorial result. While the
relationship of such slick dealing to the admirable objectives of
equality and economic development might seem more perverse than
positive, the Mulroney Government must certainly be given high
marks for creativity in buying people's votes with their own
welfare money -- sort of a Canadian Oliver North type of operation.
Substantively the Woodland Cree settlement offer consists basically
of a reserve land component, an infrastructure component and a so-
called "socio-economic development" component. The actual text of
the offer has been independently described by two different Lubicon
legal advisors as one of the most complicated, convoluted and
obscure legal documents they've ever seen. Given the provisions of
the offer, the obscure nature of the text is likely intentional.
The reserve land component provides 35,200 acres or 55 square miles
of reserve land plus $512,000 from the Canadian Federal Government
"in lieu of" an additional 16 square miles of reserve land.
$512,000 for 16 square miles of reserve land amounts to $50 per
acre for self-selected, tax-free, inalienable Indian land -- about
what the Indians got for Manhattan Island.
Although the so-called Woodland Cree Band didn't exist until it was
"created" a couple of years ago by the Canadian Government out of
disparate individuals from a half-a-dozen different aboriginal
societies, and consequently couldn't have conce--
Terri Kelly via oneb.wimsey.bc.ca!onebdos
Terri.Kelly@onebdos.wimsey.bc.ca