Blood Tribe members being asked got share stories about housing issues
By Tim Kalinowski on March 27, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com Advocates demanding the federal government intervene to order an outside audit of Blood Tribe Housing are asking for Blood Tribe members to email them their stories and letters about problems they have experienced with housing on the reserve so they can be included in their submission to Ottawa.This audit, if granted by the federal government, would be performed by an outside accounting firm that has no association with any entity from the Blood Tribe.
Already many stories have begun to come in since the group spoke with the Lethbridge Herald a few weeks back when they first raised their housing concerns in the media, confirms Blood Tribe Elder and advocate Roger Prairie Chicken.
He says there are stories of people being forcefully evicted from their homes without due process, stories about poor housing maintenance, and stories about people paying for years on their home without being able to get an accounting statement from Blood Tribe Housing to see what they still owe.
“We are crying for help,” Prairie Chicken says. “We are crying for help to the governments, and anybody that will listen to us because our people are suffering.”
“We really want people to write in so we could bring everything to Ottawa,” agrees fellow advocate Charline Plume. “We want people to know you could be paying on your house until you pass away, and you will never get any records from housing on how much you paid and how much you owe. That’s what is happening on our reserve.”
This lack of transparency at Blood Tribe Housing, and lack of fiscal accountability to the people, is why a full, impartial and external audit is vital, says Elder Keith Chiefmoon.
“There is no transparency at all,” says Chiefmoon, who has a management background. “There is millions of dollars spent and sent to Housing, and if they are running these programs. As a manager you do reports– sometimes monthly, biannually, triannually– there is nothing … As members of the tribe, we have a right to know.”
Those wanting to send in their stories can do so at advocatesforhousingaudit@gmail.com Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter 4
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