Crees are on the verge of signing a major new agreement with the federal government to provide Cree communities with better operations and maintenance funding.
These funds cover a lot of things the Cree communities require—salaries for Chiefs and band employees, maintenance of public buildings, equipment and utilities, public safety, police and fire services.
The agreement also covers programs like housing, road and walkway maintenance, environmental health, public health, culture and recreation, benefits and financial counseling, environment and land management, and economic development For years, Crees and Ottawa have disagreed on the amount the feds contribute in O&M funds. The federal government refused to provide increases sought by the Cree communities to meet their growing needs.
In the mid-1980s, the battle went to the courts. In an out-of-court settlement reached in 1988, both sides agreed to start negotiations on a new five-year agreement.
But those negotiations never took place because the feds refused to implement the out-of-court agreement.
Instead, for seven years the only increases Crees saw were made to cover inflation and increases in population. It was never tied to the growing financial needs of the communities, which have seen many changes in the last 10 years.
The agreement was discussed at a Chiefs’ meeting and a meeting of local directors of operations in June,
The directors of operations apparently reacted very positively to the news of the impending agreement The Council Board of the Grand Council/CRA has already approved the agreement It only needs the approval of the federal Treasury Board before the official signing.
In another development, the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Quebec government has seen some unexpected responses to Cree requests.
Chiefs recently met a Quebec negotiator to request funding for specific projects—a youth center, housing, paved roads and Elders’ homes. The Chiefs also wanted Quebec to reimburse Cree communities for compensation money they had to spend to provide basic services to the Crees, services that Quebec provides to all other residents.
Except for one, all the requests made at this meeting were considered ineligible. Only old-age housing for Elders was considered eligible.
Quebec’s negotiator said the MOU only covers basic services and programs. The Cree requests didn’t fall into any funding category, Chiefs were told. The request for reimbursement of Cree money met with a “well, too bad for you” attitude.
This is ironic given that Quebec itself has asked Ottawa to reimburse it for money it spent on Cree post-secondary education. Yet, Quebec is saying that the Cree request for a reimbursement isn’t possible.
This is not sitting well with some Chiefs who expected a much more favourable attitude from Quebec after the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.
