Many Algonquins are seriously concerned about the second class governing systems we are forced to contend with. The current Land Claim Negotiations anti-corruption mechanisms are seriously flawed. The development of ANR elections were very questionable. There are numerous concerns about legalities and conflicts of interests. There is unfair and unequal representation. The qualifications of many at the negotiations table are not consistent with accepted expectations in similar situations yet  very few people are concerned enough to actually take a stand. Millions of tax dollars are being spent on a process that few people would ever have any confidence in if they closly examined the particulars.

Is it the beginning of a sophisticated sabotage for Aboriginal people?

Algonquin ANRs each receive approxmately 85,000.00 dollars a year of tax generated money in a process that lacks credibility and for which they have no independent training or education. There has been no comprehensive study or debate done on Algonquin history. Most involved are participating in total ignorance of the facts. How many Algonquins in Renfrew County with no post secondary education could ever expect to earn something like 85,000.00 annually, legally, apart from the Indian Industry?

So who is driving this car anyways?

The article below gives an excellent example of the attitudes of entitlement some individuals believe they deserve. Are we not financing a new elite?

The article below gives a good example of what goes wrong even when there are proper mechanisms and controls in place.......imagine what happens to a people, like the Algonquins, when there is none. Are we seeing everything that is on the table? There are absolutely no mechanisms in place that prevent all kinds of under the table deals. There is nothing in place to prevent our ANRs from becoming very wealthy CEOs.

Wake up Algonquins! Wake up Canadians!!

Why do we have to be satisfied with sub-standard governance and psuedo accountability?

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 2, 2007

No New Year's hangover for top CEOs

TORONTO - By 12:13 pm on New Year's Day, while many Canadians were still nursing a hangover, Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs had already pocketed what will take minimum wage workers the rest of 2007 to earn.

The clock keeps ticking. By 9:46 am Jan. 2, as most Canadians begin another year of labour, Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs will have reaped, on average, $38,010 in pay.

"That equals the average annual earnings of workers in Canada,” says Hugh Mackenzie, research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). "And it will take them all of 2007 to earn it.”

By the time Canadians tune into the 6:00 news Jan. 2, Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs will have pocketed nearly $70,000. The highest paid CEO will have pocketed more than $570,000.

"If time is money, are Canada"s 100 highest paid CEOs really worth more in a day than most Canadian workers are in a year?” asks Mackenzie.

“People wonder what the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us looks like. This provides us with a pretty good snapshot of how unevenly the Canadian workforce is valued these days.”

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Timing is Everything: Comparing the earnings of Canada's highest-paid CEOs and the rest of us is availalble on the CCPA web site at http://www.policyalternatives.ca or http://www.growinggap.ca
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Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
410-75 Albert Street, Ottawa ON K1P 5E7
tel: 613-563-1341 fax: 613-233-1458
http://www.policyalternatives.ca
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