MEDIA INDIGENA 307 (Patreon)

Where does Indian Affairs end and the Assembly of First Nations begin? / MI 307

ON THIS WEEK'S INDIGENOUS ROUNDTABLE:

'Nation to nation,' or funder to client? When it comes to describing the financial relationship between the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian government which signs its cheques, critics are anything but kind. Through their jaded eyes, the department of Indian Affairs’ purse strings serve more like a leash on AFN, tightened whenever someone 'misbehaves.' And if this Chiefs’ lobby group can’t much function without so-called Canadian taxpayers’ money—which, to be fair, is more like First Nations' resources effectively given back to them—is this oddball offshoot of perennial paternalism the best we can do in this era of Reconciliaction? A long-standing question recently renewed by just-unearthed documents appearing to show federal bureaucrats committed to keeping the Assembly from coloring outside the lines. 

This week, Brett Forester, the CBC Indigenous reporter (and one-time host of Nation-to-Nation on APTN National News) who captured this story joins host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Trina Roache, the Rogers Chair in Journalism at the University of King’s College to discuss the light these internal ISC memos may shed on the relationship between the two entities.

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LINKS REFERENCED / CONSULTED THIS EPISODE:

• Indigenous Services increased scrutiny of AFN cash flow amid call for financial review CBC News

• Tweet: "The Indigenous Services Canada files obtained by CBC News include outgoing letters to the AFN and internal memos sent to ISC's top official. [They] offer a rare chance to compare the department's private comments with what it tells the AFN" @BrettForester

• Why First Nations calling for a Nation-to-Nation relationship might want to walk their talk first mediaindigena.com

• Why a truly independent First Nations political voice could be just $1 or $2 away mediaindigena.com

• A new Assembly of First Nations for the people? Second thoughts on a ‘One Indian, One Vote’ AFN mediaindigena.com

• Indigenous Services Canada headlines trifecta of federal departments ‘winning’ at obstructing release of information CAJ

• The Assembly of First Nations & the Failure of the Child Welfare Settlement Agreement Yellowhead Institute

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LISTEN NOW: 

https://mediaindigena.libsyn.com/canadas-colonial-co-dependency-with-the-assembly-of-first-nations-ep-307