Musqueam Band: This Land Is My Land

In response the the comments below. As a previous employee and band member of my own band,its quite "something" to assume there is any "gravy train", if anything its more like a scooter. We all know this train you speak of is filled to the brim with politicians and ceo's. I also know the government hire their own accountants to sift and separate through each penny spent by the band, anyway why fight each other, as Canadian citizen we all know nothing happens without the government approval. What the Musqueam band has achieved is good, its the only way to survive in a world where the language is money.My band wasn't lucky enough to have a city land on them so we don't even get a christmas card, I'm sure this article was suppose to fill the members wih pride and seemed to do just the opposite.

I dunno where to start. I'm a 20 year old Musqueam band member residing off reserve. I stay informed through staying in touch with family or the media.I am a blood relative of Ernie Campbell, whom you may not be shocked to hear is touted as a negligent chief by various members of the Campbell family and various other Musqueam families. In my youth I was unaware of the intricacies of the band as I placed my political interest in The House Of Commons and Queen's Park, but it has become increasingly apparent to me at least that allegations of corruption are a consensus. After Initially learning of the transfer of the Garden City property in richmond through this publication,for the Nokia building in burnaby, I became enraged enough to seek out and lynch those responsible.I settled on this rebuke of Ernie Campbell.What surprises me is that the family or entire band hasn't already lynched him or voted him and his crooked council out. What disgusts me is the state of apparent united stagnation.I have heard some optimism in regards to the upcoming election, something along the lines of a youthful movement.Back to the Garden City sale, it was in contradiction of band policy which purports to hold vote should a potential sale of land take place surpassing a determined sum. This was not the case as was not the transferring of this property to obtain the Nokia property.My uncle whom is running for council wasn't informed of this as he led me to believe the band had purchased the land in violation of a similar policy which disallows the purchase of property without a referendum.Apparently the money acquired from richmond was allotted for this transaction which maybe did happen, but they chose to say swapped because it sorta adds up; at least based on what he said.We acquired 30 million roughly which is what my uncle claimed was spent in acquiring the property.To by pass the protocol requirements of 2 separate land sale just have one procedure,Things really don't add up as you may have guessed. I receive no monetary compensation from the Musqueam except 250$ annually which actually comes from her majesty the queen.I'm proud but I'm not ashamed to say that my pursuit of a general equivalency diploma has left me in poverty, I intend to spend that money on a freezer of meat and not material gains as I cannot afford such luxury otherwise.It's a much different depiction than rich kids getting free cars.When land sales such as the shipyard go down, we see more significant compensation than the december distribution of 250$.In that case we were each allotted 1000$ between roughly 1000 members that totals roughly 1,000,000$. I wanna make clear that I'm not being greedy but I wonder who really prospered off those remaining 19 million?It's not the first time I was curious as in other scenario's I felt questionable practices took place.The acquisition of the UBC Golf course netted 5000$ per head raised from the initial paltry 1000$.I'm pretty sure if that went on long enough we possibly may have seen a rise in militant figures such as Leonard Peltier.And then there was the time we received all that olympic cash and I didn't find out until months later through the internet.There was no distribution at all and the cash didn't have clear designation.Many People on the reserve didn't even know we got something like 17 million$.The indication I have received is the money goes into the fat wallets of council, Ernie Campbell, and their closest friends and family. There is a great need for transparency and accountability at this time as they seem to me nonexistent.I hope my children don't have to deal with such fiscal irresponsibility in their life and can participate in future revenue sharing amongst Musqueum which at this time is ineffective due to administration.Lastly my departing thoughts are:Had such blatant neglect been committed by the feds I would feel greatly relieved as It's a certainty I've come to accept, but at the hands of a Musqueum and family member is shameful.

Hearing the Musqueam band complaining about their lot in life sounds like a rich teenager arguing the make and model of the free car he got just for being born to wealthy parents. Sure they are facing administrative challenges but the results so far have been an endless gravy train of money. It is interesting that the article does not mention how this economic largess is being used to improve the standard of living of the average member of the band. One can only hope that behind the scenes this money is actually helping people instead of making a privileged few wealthier.