St. Cuthbert’s Mission residents disgusted with how their village is being managed

Sep 25, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
It is out of disgust and frustration that this letter is being written. Much to the disadvantage of our people who are mainly literate and educated, we have to cope with a few ruthless councillors left out of a total of ten along with the Toshao, who are now left to command the entire affairs of the village of St. Cuthbert’s Mission.
The residents of this community are being excluded in decision-making, especially when it pertains to allocating funds for various projects. Often times these projects are not properly supervised with the Resort being a prime example of such incompetence and mismanagement, and which has not been completed to date, but rather is now covered with bush.
As for our royalties which are derived mainly from logging, we are consistently told that there are no funds, despite the fact that logging is being conducted daily and the logging sheet is costly.
Another disgusting act is the fact that many of our old residents who are too feeble and ill to move around are not afforded transportation even though a vehicle was assigned to the village, but is constantly seen serving people’s personal needs. Residents are required to pay a fee, and these include pensioners, to transport what is already a meagre pension.
Heritage Month is about to conclude and it sickens my stomach to once again have to witness this disgraceful behaviour of the Council, whose sole interest is to full their pockets. Another concern is the fact that residents have to strictly adhere to a decision to go to a special place to celebrate, all in the name of raising funds for the village and at the end of it all, despite the massive support, you are told that much is unaccounted for.
Visitors have to pay a fee to enter and a separate fee for parking and when residents inquire what amount of money was made they are told that there was no profit.
We are deemed trouble makers for making such inquiries and when we attempt to speak out we are treated with disrespect and called all sorts of names. These few uncaring leaders are surely should be held accountable for their wrongdoing. They are being supported by high-ranking officials and have been making a mockery of the Amerindian Act which has ultimately left most of our problems unresolved.
We believe that with the election for a Toshao due shortly, those in authority and who have been displaying an uncaring attitude towards the residents of the community should step down immediately.
This election should be conducted properly and in a timely manner, while underage and non-residents should not be allowed to participate in the election.
We the residents strongly feel that the last election was not conducted properly and therefore we are stuck with a leader who was not democratically elected. It is our hope that the current Council is scrutinized and sanitized before the next election since our young people, in the absence of meaningful activities, will continue to be involved in alcohol, drug abuse and criminal activities.
We urge that those in authority look into the plight of the village or we will continue to suffer under those bent on self-advancement and not the collective progression of the people of St. Cuthbert’s Mission.
Concerned Resident

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