Court scolds Ottawa over Ontario reserve

It was “unreasonable in all circumstances” for the federal government to appoint a third-party manager for the financially troubled First Nations community of Attawapiskat, the Federal Court ruled Wednesday.

But there was no political malice at play in the decision — on the part of either Prime Minister Stephen Harper or members of his cabinet — nor any intent to embarrass the northern Ontario reserve or its members, the court concluded.

Sending in Jacques Marion last November to take over the band’s finances was the wrong way to address what was a critical housing shortage and worsening humanitarian crisis on the northern Ontario reserve, the court said in its written ruling.

“The decision to appoint (Marion) did not respond in a reasonable way to the root of the problems at Attawapiskat nor to the remedies available,” the ruling said.

“The (government) invoked a financial management remedy without considering more reasonable, more responsive or less invasive remedies available.”

The Conservative government made it clear Wednesday it’s unhappy with the ruling, but isn’t yet ready to say whether an appeal is in the offing.

“We are disappointed with the court’s decision and will review it to determine the appropriate next steps,” said Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan.

The ruling verifies what many experts have already concluded, said constitutional lawyer and University of Ottawa professor Joseph Magnet: the relationship between the federal bureaucracy and some aboriginal communities is seriously flawed.

“It’s just dysfunctional,” Magnet said. “You can see it (in Attawapiskat) and you can see it elsewhere. Those relationships don’t work.”

New Democrat ethics critic Charlie Angus, whose riding includes Attawapiskat, said Duncan sat on his hands for a month while the housing crisis was unfolding, and then overreacted when it began making headlines. When the crisis quickly became a black eye for the government, “in the midst of what became an international crisis, their response was to run roughshod over the law, attempt to remove a democratically elected band council, and break the law,” Angus said.

“We really have to ask ourselves why is it that this combination of incompetence and ruthlessness was the only response of this government to deal with a community that was desperately poor and asking for help.”

The court, which acknowledged the politically charged climate and intensive media attention at the time, took pains to point out that it found no evidence Ottawa was playing politics with the community when Marion was appointed.

“Those allegations were largely withdrawn, and to the extent that they linger, the court finds that there is no evidence that the prime minister or the cabinet engaged in such reprehensible conduct,” the decision said.

“The problem in this case does not lie at the feet of the political masters but in the hands of the bureaucracy.”

The James Bay community of 2,000 declared a state of emergency in October 2011 after a severe housing shortage forced more than two dozen families to live in temporary, mouldy shelters, some without insulation or plumbing.

The Conservative government appointed a third-party manager amid suggestions from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the band had been mismanaging federal funds in the face of the housing crisis.

Marion was withdrawn in April, but the band persisted in its lawsuit against the government.