Perhaps an Indigenous financial institution should be created
To the Expositor:
We were impressed by Prof. Pheasant-Neganigwane’s thoughtful and measured words on the dispersal of the Robinson-Huron Treaty Annuities settlement. We hope her cautionary comments about the risks of individual payments will be carefully considered by everyone involved.
We would be interested to hear what Prof. Pheasant-Neganigwane’s would have to say about an option we have not seen mentioned: individual payment in the form of annuities. Government lotteries have sometimes used this form of payment to reduce the risk that funds received will be used injudiciously. Perhaps the challenge here is that funds would need to be held be in an institution that Indigenous peoples would be able to trust. That makes us wonder if there has been any discussion of the establishment of a national, Indigenous financial institution, probably organized on the model of a credit union. The potential advantages of such on institution would go far beyond the payout of this settlement.
Anne Erickson and Garry Wright
Little Current and Toronto
