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Sunday, August 5, 2012
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A community member perspective...
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Cheryle yes you are right ,I think you as CHIEF things can change and will change....It is not right, not to be given off reserve members names, when things consurn all members like our up coming election.....one thing i like to see is that when election year comes that the nominations would be held in mid June that would give time for nominee to send information to off reserve members so be a fair election.....and be able to ask questions get answers before vote nite.....
ReplyDeleteI have been inundated with facebook friend requests, all asking for my support in their run for chief and/or council.
ReplyDeleteAfter perusing the latest Ojibway Times, and going on to re-elect sites,( google, re-elect Sharon Stinson Henry for chief) I have decided before I vote for any one, there are a few things we need to know!
Chief Sharon Stinson Henry, if our investments are all doing so well, why was the casino payouts reduced so drastically?
Our sweet heart deal with the OGL was to guarantee that we in our community would continue to benefit, and that things would remain the same for the next 35 years. Jobs were to be protected, and along with our other investments, being so solid and paying off, our payouts would be 10k every three years for the remainder of the deal with OLG, from Jan. 2010 to 2045.
The very next payout was reduced from the promised 10k down to 2.5k, and the reason sited was due to the increase in our membership, via the McIvor decision.
Let’s look at the census numbers, printed in the last Ojibway Times ( August 2012 volume y12 issue 7) newsletter . Our total population is 1804 with 708 living on and 1095 living off the reserve. We gained 174 new members via the McIvor decision, and 43 new births, as well as lost 22 members to death. We also have a grand total of 38 of our citizens living internationally.
You don’t need a master’s degree in math to figure out that we did not have such a huge influx of new members as to drive the payouts down so low.
Here are some numbers. 1600x10k=16 million (approx.) total payout. Now since the total payout has to be divided by 1800 instead of 1600, the individual payouts should have been 8,888.88.
But it was 2,500.00, does this sound right to you? We obviously didn’t have a 75% increase in our membership, yet we have been given a 75% decrease in the payout.
It would seem that there is some money missing. Quite a bit actually, but the part that I find most disturbing is the chief and councils’ willingness to lie this at the feet of our newest members.
This excuse by the current chief and council is an exaggeration at best, and can only be called mean spirited and unnecessarily divisive. Then they contact us, off reserve members (including I might add the newest C-3’s) to ask for our vote, all of this after you have vilified us to the community.
Can you really believe that this kind of false information and misleading remarks wouldn’t/couldn’t further divide an already divided community?
If the chief or any of her council would like to respond with some clarification about this issue, please do so!
Good luck to all of the candidates and let’s hope we can elect some honourable, people of integrity who actually might want to unite the community and welcome/serve/represent all members, equally!
Well Debra, you should have ran for a councilor's part, you get my vote....thanks for the insite you have given ,,,,my thought this needs be sent to ever band member....so how do we do it....Cheryle do you know hoe help get this news to all members...then lets having a meeting before vote nite....things need to be straighten out,.....those in office now needs to go ....lets all see to that....Thanks for the great information....
DeleteThere's $52 million in the trust $30 which is invested, interest goes to the Band general account.
ReplyDeleteYour article in The Packet really sucked. Thanks for making Rama look bad....really bad.
ReplyDeleteYou talked alot of shit but said nothing on what your gonna do, how you gonna change things, how you gonna move Rama forward. All you did was made Rama look bad.
Thats a bunch of hog wash....so say you anything be better than the crooks that in control now...and what some of the ones running in this election, have rap sheets , liars, crooks taken the members money didn't work one hour for it....i say you one of the family members, or one of them, maybe just a want-a-be....so lay off others until you hear what they have say at the meeting on 16th.....
DeleteSorry you feel that way ANONYMOUS, Others feel different about what i said and i stand behind it.Just telling it how it is.I do have a lot of good ideas. and you will here those on Aug. 16th. Feel free to come talk to me if you want.
ReplyDeleteDebra, you stated that members should have had lots more money from the trust, in my opinion then to save face this CHIEF AND COUNCILORS should find a way at this moment to make sure every band member get that extra 8,500.00 this week or i know for a fact if they did deep enought they can find that kind of money......If they don't then not even one of them should have a say in the next 2 years....let them find out how hard it is for the elders and rest to go with out...while they eat steak.....what about it CHIEF AND COUNCILORS WONT TO BE ELECTED AGAIN OR NEVER IN YOUR LIFE?????
ReplyDeleteI just got a heads up every thing this CHIEF AND COUNCLORS do ,has to go before the band members, so you wont keep their feet in the fire, then we can get the goverment envolved for what they have done, its aganist the the band members they can be held responsiabe for their actions, has to be a majority vote of all band members , then they can be held for the thing they done to all.......
ReplyDelete