Natives need to take responsibility..

A very interesting op-ed in the Financial Post today by Loawrence Solomon on native governence.

Although Canadian taxpayers foot almost the entire bill, natives own and operate their own water facilities. The Office of the Auditor General of Canada explained the areas of native responsibility just this September in its Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the House of Commons. "First Nations are responsible for the construction, upgrade and day-to-day management of water systems." The federal government funds all design, and construction costs, and 80% of the operating costs, a mere 20% expected to come from user fees. The federal government entirely funds the sampling and testing of water.

Yet although the safety of their water system is predominantly within native control, native leaders hire incompetents to run their plants -- the Auditor General's report found most lack the needed knowledge and skill, and only 10% of operators met provincial certification requirements. Although federal guidelines call for testing that averages at least once a week, the report found that "regular tests of drinking water are not carried out in most First Nations....In some cases, First Nations failed to carry out waters tests for periods as long as seven months.