BY LETTER TO THE EDITOR ON JULY 12, 2014.

I have a serious concern about all the developments that are occurring at Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc., which is situated in Standoff on the Blood Reserve.

Here we have professional trained employees attempting to continue working in an environment of bullying tactics by senior management in the administration as well as an unclear direction that BTDH Inc. is heading to without a board of directors in place.

We had board elections on March 25, 2014 and on the same day of elections, chief and council passed a band council resolution no longer supporting a Ten Year Fiscal Transfer Agreement between BTDH Inc. and Health Canada, First Nations Inuit Health. The passing of the band council resolution, I would have to say, is one of the most irresponsible actions of our elected leaders and they have continued to block the newly elected board members to begin their duties as a board of trustees. Today, over three months after the elections, the board members are still not sworn in and three council members does not form a quorum on the board.

Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc. is incorporated under the Canada Not-For-Profit Act of 1983 and therefore is subject to its conditions. Nowhere under the NFP Act does chief and council have any legal authority as per the corporate bylaws; the actions of our leaders’ interference with the election process can be termed as violating the constitutional rights of the members of the Blood Tribe. BTDH Inc. is incorporated as a membership organization.

When the formation of our health department was initially brought to the membership of the Blood Tribe, there was a complete rejection whereby the membership voiced their concern that chief and council will destroy the provision of health services, and this led to the creation of Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc., as a separate and legal entity from chief and council except that council would comprise three of the seven board members.

I was elected to two terms on council and was on the Board of Health and it saddens me when our members are totally ignored by our leadership. What we are witnessing is the worst fears of our members from 1983 beginning to unfold and our corporate integrity is quickly fading, brought about by chief and council interference.

Shorty Soop
Cardston

Your council are not the only ones ignoring you and your brethren Shorty.

The absence of anyone commenting on Native affairs in general in the media and among regular folks is an indication that native issues are off limits. A very touchy subject, within a society where the people are divided on issues facing them daily. In this Tribal councils have succeeded beyond their widest dreams – it keeps the money flowing, to the tune of billions each year, and the financier has no idea where it goes or what good it does. That kind of largess has to be unique in modern times.

I have taken an active interest in native affairs for decades, not afraid to comment, and concern myself with the long wait Native folks have had to endue in an attempt to preserve the best of their culture, and at the same time cope in a modern world. Someone needs to recognize that the apartheid that keeps them poor, uneducated, and destitute, is not the path.

John Reilly was concerned too and took on the Native “establishment” in his 2010 book “Bad Medicine – A judge’s struggle for justice in a First Nations Community” I highly recommend purchasing this book, reading it cover to cover -twice- then keeping it close by for reference when commenting on Native issues. What you will learn will alarm you, and help you understand why people like editoriast Shorty Soop, cannot shed the “bullying tactics” of an undemocratic and dictatorial tribal council.