The Attawapiskat First Nation has not operated with "due diligence" in tracking how federal funding is spent, according to an external audit.
More than 80 per cent of the files examined in the 2005-2011 time period, including money for housing, had inadequate documentation. Over 60 per cent had no documentation, according to Deloitte, which studied the records for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
The federal government has posted the audit online amidst the continuing protest by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence until Friday's meeting between First Nations leaders and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Housing shortages and dangerous living conditions in the remote northern Ontario community dominated debate on Parliament Hill in late 2011.
A state of emergency was declared in late-October, Red Cross officials were dispatched, and the federal government bought 22 modular homes as temperatures fell and winter approached.
Watch highlights of CPAC's coverage on PrimeTime Politics:
The government announces third-party management for Attawapiskat's finances along with an audit on spending in recent years, plus opposition reaction inside and outside the House of Commons. Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan also appears before a parliamentary committee.
Spence and Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk Council answer questions in Ottawa after the third-party manager is turned away by the band council the previous day. Spence denies agreeing to the manager's presence. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo also criticizes the move.
Duncan joins CPAC's Martin Stringer. He says the cost of a third-party manager to oversee emergency efforts on the Attawapiskat First Nation would not mean less money for health care, education, and other social services funded by the federal government.
Duncan and Spence answer questions from reporters after meeting in Thunder Bay.
Spence speaks at a Parliament Hill rally about her plan to refuse food, aside from liquids, until securing a meeting on treaty rights.
Harper discusses the planned Jan. 11 meeting with First Nations leadership. New Democrat MP Charlie Angus and First Nations chiefs react in Ottawa and discuss the Idle No More movement.
Read the Auditor General's June 2011 report on First Nations reserves
2012 Crown-First Nations Gathering: morning and afternoon sessions
-Andrew Thomson



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