Who is really in charge?

Page 7

Darren Bonaparte is a first term councillor on the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. He believes the local councils have become overly dependent on government money.

"I saw first hand how our particular council has this PR front, that we're one of the most advanced First Nations in Canada. We've got our own justice system; we've got control of our own health. We've got a huge infrastructure, an arena, and the schools. But when you get inside and see-to me it's self-colonization," he said. "They call it self-government or now the new buzzword is 'nation building.' But it's self-colonization because it's just putting a front of red bureaucrats in place of white bureaucrats and they operate the same way. They make arbitrary decisions. They set aside the rules when it suits them. Friends get promoted. People who have no qualifications to hold a director's position. People who have no education that are just there by attrition. They may have started off as a secretary."

His council has also become overly dependent on lawyers and has lost the ability to make real decisions, he said.

"We crank out $1.4 million a year just for lawyers," he said. "We're sick about being addicted to lawyers. We have administrators and program people who can't even make a decision without calling a lawyer first. Moral decisions! It's become a huge part of our annual budget."

Everybody's got their favorite lawyer that they call. Part of our deficit goes to these lawyers. One of our chiefs who's involved in the financial end of things . . . said we've got to look at our lawyer thing.

"He said, 'We have a responsibility for the finances, to make sure that we're getting the best bang for our buck.' He talked to the auditors and they proposed that we do a special audit of our legal." But the idea was voted down by council despite receiving the approval of the membership, said Darren Bonaparte.

"Our legal representation has become politicized on the council because there's differences on the council. An atmosphere of dependency has been created on key people. The lawyers are the secret council. They're calling the shots," Bonaparte said.

The government knows it can try new programs that help the government position at Akwesasne, he charged.

"They try everything out on us first. And they throw a whole bunch of money on it and that's what we go for," he said. "That's another very critical thing that concerns me about First Nations leadership, especially at Akwesasne. It doesn't matter what they're proposing, if they put enough money on it, we're going to take. We're going to do a pilot project."

For all the talk about reform, there are a lot of people with a lot to lose who will do everything they can to prevent it, he predicted.

"The bureaucrats and chiefs are still trying to milk the status quo," he said.