"AFN's National Chief under fire MOU fails lift 2% cap"

NIAGARA FALLS - Questions have begun swirling around whether an MOU signed by Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde with Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett actually removes the two percent cap on funding for First Nations programs.

And there are questions why the AFN executive were not given time to review the document.

AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde and Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett signed the MOU last Tuesday as part of the kick off to the AFN 37th annual general assembly in Niagara Falls.

Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day told Turtle Island News, "where does it say in here the 2% cap has been removed. It doesn't what it says is it will take two years," he said outside the meeting rooms.

He said he has concerns about the controversial MOU.

"Not only did the AFN executive not receive time to review this MOU, but many chiefs are still uncertain about the need for an MOU to develop with the (federal government]," said Regional Chief Isadore Day on Wednesday.

"Has the two per cent cap been removed, or will it be removed at the end of the term of this MOU, on Dec. 31, 2017?" Day asked. "There are a lot of questions and concerns that need to be answered as soon as possible."

He said he has been instructed by the Ontario Chiefs to send a letter to Bennett immediately seeking answers. "When this MOU came to the floor yesterday (Wednesday) Ontario stayed for the very reason and concerns I have raised here."

He said the signing of the MOU was an example of the "need to communicate more effectively and a reminder of the failure to do so was evident yesterday with the signing."

He said the AFN executive did not receive time to review the document and many are uncertain about the need to develop a new fiscal relationship.

He said the Ontario chiefs expected a nation-to-nation relationship and document removing the cap not an MOU.

Bellegarde defended the signing saying there is no need for confusion since the MOU is simply a formal process to jump-start the government's new fiscal relationship with First Nations peoples.

The Ontario chiefs decided during a caucus meeting Wednesday morning they will send a letter to Bennett seeking further clarification, despite her assurances.

"We have lifted the two per cent cap on funding with our historic commitment of $8.4 billion in our first budget," Bennett said in her remarks to the chiefs Tuesday.

"Now that the budget has passed Parliament, I am happy to report this funding will begin to flow into your communities and I know you've been waiting," she said.

But on Wednesday, Day said it wasn't clear when First Nations communities would have access to the new funds.

"The funding needs to flow immediately. Not two months or two years from now," he said.

""We also need to be informed that the two per cent cap is in fact gone, which includes a cap on base funding. This is an election commitment that must be realized now, not through an MOU," Day said.

NDP MP Charlie Angus said he is concerned the federal government isn't being entirely forthcoming wit hFirst Nations given that some $800 million in new funding is scheduled to flow after the next federal election. "I find it very bizarre that the minister would sign an MOU promising to look at ways to lift the two per cent cap if the two per cent cap on base funding had been lifted," Angus said in an email Wednesday.

Bennett assured Angus that the "money was flowing."

The AFN and the Chiefs of Ontario also signed a new agreement on Wednesday that according to Day "will serve to open the lines of communications and strengthen our relationship.