Government of Canada Quietly Suspends Capital Funding

Kasabonika Lake First Nation Condemned to a Slow, Cold End

TORONTO, Nov. 25 /CNW/ - Community members of the remote Kasabonika Lake Reserve in Ontario's Far North are in a state of despair this season having been told that their hope for decent living conditions and economic viability will have to wait another 5 years.  It will take that long before Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) Ontario Region agrees to forward the funds already granted approval for upgrading the Reservation's local power generating station. INAC has been ordered to balance their books, but fiscal management cannot justify the consequences of human suffering and the inevitable destruction of a community.

Pulling funds for these projects will create an avalanche of woe: deteriorating health and economic futures, jobs, homes, education, security… the very survivability of First Nations Reservations.  Capital projects are quite literally the bedrock of our First Nation communities; so much depends on this solid foundation.

In an environment where temperatures reach 40 below zero (Celsius) in winter, use of electricity in Kasabonika Lake is severely rationed.  In human terms, the INAC decision to withhold funding will exacerbate conditions of poor health and sanitation, an 80% unemployment rate, overcrowding, condemned housing, and abject poverty.  Currently up to twelve people share a 3 bedroom house because no new homes can be built without the power station upgrade, despite a 3% population increase each year. School and nursing station expansions are on hold as well as a new police detachment, a grocery store, a community service building, and a warehouse. Perhaps worst of all, the hope of economic self-sufficiency for the reserve through small businesses and participation in mining projects in the area will be lost.

The power station reached maximum capacity 3 years ago, paralyzing the Reservation's growth. Last year, the Canadian Government conceded that conditions were so dire in Kasabonika that it was finally added to the list of Reservations to receive funding for a power station upgrade - only to be told in a sudden about face that capital funds will not be available until 2015.

This action will aggravate the situation of our desperately poor and under-serviced First Nation communities and in the case of many like Kasabonika Lake, may indeed spell their end as living conditions become increasingly intolerable and the community unsustainable.

"The implications of INAC's decision are devastating.  There's no room for the new babies born each year, and no place for the parents to work" says Financial Controller, Antonius Knijnenburg. "We are hanging on by our fingernails right now - by 2015 there will be no fingernails left.  We urgently call on the Prime Minister, the Treasury Board and INAC to save the people they represent by recalling the freeze".

"If the capital funding freeze will be allowed to last until 2015 as the government intends, the energy restriction will literally choke the economy and all we built over the years will have been a wasted effort", laments Chief, Eno H. Anderson, "there will be nothing left but desperation."                              

Consequences of the INAC Funding Freeze

Quick Stats

1. Birthrate: Kasabonika Lake First Nation has a population of 1000 and an annual birthrate of 3.5% while infrastructure and services are forced to remain static.
2. Housing: The community is funded to build 10 housing units each year. As a result of the capital freeze no houses will be built for 5 years enlarging the current backlog to 90 units.
3. Jobs:  10% of the population are about to lose their jobs in seasonal housing and other infrastructure projects.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

November 2010	November 2014
Population: 1000	Population: 1140
lacking 40 housing units	lacking 90 housing units
15% employed full time	15% employed full time
75% unemployed or on welfare	85% unemployed or on welfare
10% employed seasonally

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HYDRO CONNECTION RESTRICTION
Economic value lost	$3,181,200
Job value lost	$6,540,000
Jobs 4 years	218
Total Economic Value Lost	$9,666,400

For further information: