Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, June 10, 2011

Living conditions on First Nations reserves getting worse: AG

OTTAWA—The federal government has not come through on its commitments to improve living conditions aboriginal reserves, where things have gotten worse over the past decade, says a report from the auditor general.

“I am disappointed that conditions on reserves have worsened and are well below the national average,” interim Auditor General John Wiersema told a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.

The report tabled in the House of Commons on Thursday morning revisited earlier investigations into living conditions on First Nations reserves — where services provided by provinces or municipalities in the rest of the country are under the sole jurisdiction of Ottawa — and found that many key recommendations had still not been satisfactorily implemented.

Continuing problems include a growing housing shortage, mould in the housing that is there, access to safe drinking water, a high level of high school dropouts among First Nations children living on reserves, and a lack of culturally appropriate child and family services.

The report urges both Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and First Nations communities to come up with new ways to deal with the issues, including rethinking funding arrangements and choosing legislation over policy.

Full Article
Source: Toronto Star 

No comments:

Post a Comment