How the government took over First Nations’ finances and made things worse

In today’s Big Story podcast, it’s called the Default Prevention and Management Policy. And for decades it was used to take control of budgets and finances away from First Nations leaders, and put them in the hands of “default managers” appointed by the government to supposedly better manage a communities finances.

Now an expansive investigation has examined just what happened in those communities that had financial control taken away. And in the vast majority of them … things got worse. In some cases, much worse. The government promised in 2017 to replace this policy — so far, without much action.

A team of investigative journalists looked at the policy, interviewed community members and experts, and published their findings for the National Observer. Patti Sonntag joins The Big Story podcast to share her team’s observations.

“We also know from court documents, etc, and Chief King, that around 1995 Gull Bay was moved into the DPMP (Default Prevention and Management Policy) and soon after that into third party management,” said Sonntag.

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