Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs slashed by $2M funding cut
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, already operating with half its normal staff, says it has less than four months to figure out how to keep the organization afloat.
In April, the full extent of Ottawa's cut to AMC’s core funding will be felt, with budgets chopped by 80 per cent from $2.5 million to $500,000 per year.
They said 'you are going to toe the line with our policy objectives or things are going to get quiet in Manitoba'- Grand Chief Derek Nepinak
Grand Chief Derek Nepinak says that amount of money will basically just keep the lights on.
Nepinak said when he was first elected in 2011, he was given a warning from the federal Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Department.
“They said, 'You are going to toe the line with our policy objectives or things are going to get quiet in Manitoba,'” Nepinak said.
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“I think that was unfortunately the plan — to really silence the voice of First Nations people."
The federal department says it made the changes so funding will be more equal across the board.
Nepinak has been one of Manitoba’s most outspoken grand chiefs. Over the past year, he has also been a loud voice in the Idle No More movement.
In September 2012, when the federal funding cut was announced, the AMC had a staff of 75 people. Now it’s down to less than half that number.
The grand chief's inner circle of policy makers originally had 27 people, but it will shrink to 11.
Quieting the Aboriginal voice?
Nepinak said with those people gone, it will now be next to impossible to provide political advocacy on First Nations issues. AMC will have to pick and choose its battles with the government, he added.
“I think Stephen Harper has a strategic plan in place,” she said, pointing to federal bills pushed through government that she said threaten the environment and First Nations' treaty rights.
Gazan said she believes the prime minister is feeling threatened because people are standing up to his corporate and resource development agendas.
“If you don’t abide by that, if you don’t play into that, then he cuts you off at the knees," she said.
5 fast facts about the cuts affecting Aboriginal political groups in Canada
- Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) funds five national, 40 Regional Aboriginal Organizations (RPOs) and 78 Tribal Councils.
- By April 2014, all will see either a 10 percent cut or a $500 thousand cap applied to its funding
- Prior to the cut, AANDC spent $28,246,787 annually funding 45 organizations. Starting in April, that figure drops by $7 million.
- In Manitoba, there are four Aboriginal Representative Organizations (ARO) and seven Tribal Councils. Manitoba's four AROs received more funding than any other province at a total of $5,478,000 annually.
- The AMC was the second-highest funded in the country, after the Assembly of First Nations. In comparison, Ontario's AROs received $2,137,065 in annual funding for seven organizations.
Manitoba’s former grand chief, Ron Evans, says he doesn’t believe Nepinak has been targeted, as funding cuts are happening across the board.
Evans, who is chief of the Norway House Cree Nation, said Nepinak is pushing his own agenda rather than doing the job he was elected to do. He is concerned about how the cuts will affect the 61 First Nations that AMC represents.
The chiefs get together several times a year to implement strategies and work to change provincial and federal policies. Evans said that’s what keeps the organization strong.
“When you diminish that, it weakens the organization to the point where it becomes very ineffective,” he said.
While Gazan acknowledges the capped funding will impact the organization, she believes the AMC will survive.
“I think it's how you choose to spend money,” she said. “I mean, we can keep feeding the monster that was put in place to destroy us, or we can use the money to build really strong, healthy communities.”
“Come April 1, 2014, we are going to be down even more because that's when the major cut kicks in,” said Nepinak. “We have to figure out operating budgets within the very limited resources we are going to have.”
Nepinak is in power until July 2014, when the AMC holds elections for grand chief.