The challenge of Living on reserve and what to do about it.

Living on a reserve Comes with it’s challenges… and living in a reserve that is more well off than others comes with a unique set of challenges.  Here in Kitigan Zibi, we do have a nice community and a relatively comfortable standard of living compared to the extreme poverty  Rapid Lake/ Barrier Lake.  But Kitigan Zibi as whole leaves to have opportunities that are not possible anywhere else in Canada with large land mass and private property ownership on reserve with Private home ownership. But this does not come without its challenges and struggles.This is both observations and lived experience having worked as a case worker in the “Pre-Employment” program and as the current Economic Development Officer for the community.

Kitigan Zibi has different poverty, however. The poverty in Kitigan Zibi is due to two factors one is stagnant quasi-socialist governance that constantly works against the people living in the community with non-changing wages and a poor attempt to fool people on transparency on federal funding due to an outdated financial transfer agreement that requires no reporting spending of surplus funds. One program is as high as a $750,000 surplus but other surpluses are not disclosed even for band employees. another Example being the Economic Development Officer for the community would allow me to see the contribution agreement allocated to my program so in terms of budget I have no idea how much I actually have in my program’s budget and I am not allowed by the Chief and Council as well as director. The main Rationale for the average wage being twenty thousand less than the national average across the band sectors (other than a select few) is punishment because of the fact that work on the reserve is tax-free. This doesn’t explain the shrinking wages that are hidden via the payment tier system. Only through GLV printouts that I make $200 dollars less weekly than my predecessor who is now chief. This whole issue leads to a myriad of socio-economic problems. This often leads to a whole subset of the population in K.Z including myself who are full-time employees often find themselves having to find a side hustle to cover living expenses, especially in 2022 with inflation. Often people in K.Z will make a side income through crafts or selling food which Is quality in K.Z I do admire.  

The Second Challenge of living on reserve is overleverage. Poor financial education and shallow societal norms this is one of the main causes of poverty in Kitigan Zibi. The average person in Kitigan Zibi is over-leveraged due to car loans and loans for toys that they can not afford. As the Economic Development officer at this time in Kitigan Zibi one of the things I see most commonly in people who have an $80,000.00 loan for a truck and on-reserve housing loan for the average of $100,000.00 come to me for $100-$500 loan for equipment to sustain their employment (ex: Construction and forestry safety equipment). The common priority of the population isn’t on sustaining income-producing assets but on Liabilities such as Trucks, ATVs, and boats. If the common education would be shifted on good debts such as Real Estate and Investments vs. Liabilities such as fancy Vehicles, trucks, and boats People of Kitigan Zibi would be wealthy. 

Kitigan Zibi Global Settlement An example of opportunity lost. 

In 2019 there was a massive settlement given out to the community members on the sale of the Land Rights to the neighbouring town of Maniwaki. Each member received over $14,000.00. A lot of financial institutions had caught wind of this and began ad sale’s with the benefits of investing in mutual funds. Not knowing how many people actually invested their money in said funds anecdotally witnessing all the ATVs and Cars bought in the weeks following on the reserve the deductive reasoning behind it was not that much… 

To conclude if people learned skill such as Investing and wealth building and were more scrutinous and cynical of the carrot or stick operations of the band. The People on reserve would become a socio-economic powerhouse. Even if it’s using opportunities such as the global settlement in whatever is distributed to 18-year-olds now….  And use the funds for investment in stocks or real estate would be a monumental achievement. Also, Kitigan Zibi’s success would require a booming private sector independent of the band so it is no longer the largest employer and service distributor. This change would automatically make the community a better place to live and force transparency on the band’s funding and wages.