FSIN Says Budget Is Good, But Not Great

FSIN Says Budget Is Good, But Not Great

Friday, April 07, 2006 at 15:01

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says the provincial budget is a good beginning, but First Nations expect more.

Federation chief Alphonse Bird says he wonders why Finance Minister Andrew Thomson is “eager to backfill for Ottawa’s abandonment of First Nations people”.

Bird is referring to Thomson’s announcement on First Nations’ access roads yesterday, in which the finance minister said the province wanted to ensure that paving projects “don’t end at the edge of a reserve.”

Thomson also said his government had decided that they could no longer wait for Ottawa to meet the needs of First Nations communities in this regard.

Bird says the province must go further than roads to put significant investment into First Nations people, communities and institutions.

He says aid for First Nations students and new seats at SIIT are welcome, but Bird calls them “small measures” that do not truly address the fact that Aboriginal people are being left behind.