Minister won’t back down on Attawapiskat overseer, but promises school soon

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan says he intends to keep the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation under third-party management — for now.

But after meeting with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and other regional chiefs in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Thursday, Duncan held out hope to the band that the financial control won’t stay long.

Duncan also confirmed construction will begin on a new elementary school in the Cree community this spring, after years of lobbying by residents.

That’s unlikely to appease the band’s chief, Theresa Spence, who has been adamant that the third-party manager must relinquish control of the band’s cash flow right now. She has threatened legal action.

Duncan and parliamentary secretary Greg Rickford met with Spence and other area chiefs for about 90 minutes in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The two sides were attempting to smooth over their conflicts and plot a way forward for the band, which is facing a housing crisis as winter settles in on the northern Ontario reserve.

The chief and the minister have already agreed on how best to deliver emergency aid, retrofit winter shelter and assemble 22 modular homes for families currently living in precarious housing.

But they’ve been at loggerheads over how band money should be managed since Ottawa seized financial control two weeks ago and handed its fiscal management over to a third party.

The move means the band must pay an outside manager about $1,300 a day. It can no longer cut cheques or make decisions independently.

Spence argues her community is being penalized for seeking help, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the band has mismanaged its money.

Ottawa has transferred about $90 million to the 3,000-member First Nation over the past five years, and Harper has said he has not seen adequate results for the money.