https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2020/first-nations-face-overlapping-crises-and-inadequate-support-during-pandemic/

......As with other vulnerable places in the world, the global pandemic will plunge our communities into extended poverty, further widening the socioeconomic gap between Indigenous people and other Canadians. There’s a strong likelihood that First Nations in Matawa will return to deficit positions and will need to put on hold important projects and possibly some essential services. Some communities that have been able to accumulate their own source revenues will likely deplete those pots, and those communities that have been able to pull themselves out of third-party-management (which places financial authority in the hands of an outside consultant), may have to go back to it and again lose autonomy. Unlike municipalities, our communities do not/will not impose tax levies to make up for funding shortfalls.

The core issue is a lack of financial autonomy and control over economic development. One source of revenue has been agreements with industry engaged in major projects on our lands. While impact benefit and revenue-sharing agreements have been helpful to pulling our communities out of poverty, First Nations want ownership of the projects and resources in order to drive sustainable economic development. “So, it’s not just sharing in profits, but it’s actually owning the mines, owning the infrastructure and I think we have to get there for First Nations to really, truly benefit,” Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald told the Timmins Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

When policy-makers working on recovery plans look for the concrete measures that the different levels of government should be taking to address First Nations’ needs, an expression comes to mind: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Now that the pandemic has given us pause to reflect, perhaps it is nature’s way of saying that we should get off that “crazy train” we’ve been on since ahskee (the land) became known as Canada.....

TM.