On Monday, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) gave a 9-week notice to 66 employees who will be laid off come march 31st and it’s all due to Government cutbacks.

The 66 employees make up almost all of FSIN’s staff and some have in directly aired out their frustrations on social media along with critics of the federation. One just has to log into facebook or twitter to see the response from critics alike.

But in a recent phone interview with RezX, FSINs Chief Perry Bellegarde said he didn’t want to respond to social media critics saying,”that’s not our role”.

Instead he wanted to tell those disgruntled employees not to blame FSIN but the Government.

“Our basic message to them is to channel their anger to the Government of Canada that’s making cutbacks. We’re trying to do all that we can, it’s not FSIN making those cutbacks, it’s government,” said Bellegarde, who also said once funding is secured, they could come back to work.

“Government always tries to divide and conquer…government always tries to cut off resources when our voices become too strong to fight government, this is just an example of that.

Bellagarde also said that in times like these it is important to unite in order to move forward.

“We really got to stay united, stay strong and have that strong collective voice and look at new alternative sources of revenue so we can really be truly independent and apart from government moneys, and we can really stand up to be a strong effective and really speak out forcefully, because we wont have any fear of government money cutbacks because we’re not reliant on that.”

“With this, I say it’s a new challenge but its also an opportunity to find new ways of business going forward.”

Such business going forward will most likely be discussed at FSINs winter assembly to be held Feb 11-12 at Dakota Dunes Casino.

OTHER ABORIGINAL ORGANIZATIONS FACING CUTBACKS

The FSIN was not the only organization that is facing government cutbacks, it is happening to almost all Aboriginal organizations in the country. According to the Changes to the Funding of Aboriginal Representative Organizations many other organizations are about to lose major funding come March 31st at the end of the fiscal year.

But compared to all other organizations, FSIN (and a few others) received the largest of cutbacks. Although it is important to note, that in September 2012 Ottawa announced it would be capping core funding for regional organizations at $500,000. And they weren’t bluffing.

In Saskatchewan, FSIN will lose 1.1 million in funding compared to just that of $46,000 that the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan (MNS) will lose, making their funding almost even (FSIN at $500,000 and MNS $414,000).

In Manitoba, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Secretariat will lose over $2-million (from $2,592,298) and the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc. will lose over 1-million (from $1,586,583).

Overall, the total cutbacks across the board total just over 7-million (before total funding was at $28,246,787 now it will be $21,224,252).

By Chris Tyrone Ross for RezXMag.com 

Image by Ryan Peterman/ Leftboot Productions