A continued embarrassment

The CP reports that Jim Prentice is pushing forward with plans to keep the Kashechewan reserve on the flood plain where the federal government first forced it to move half a century ago, rather than moving it to higher ground:

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice will sign an agreement Monday toward rebuilding, but not moving, the flood-prone Kashechewan First Nation, The Canadian Press has learned.

The remote northern Ontario reserve, near the coast of James Bay, is on low-lying land that has flooded twice in the last three years.

Residents were also evacuated in 2005 because of a dirty water crisis that made international headlines.

A report produced by consultants hired by Kashechewan to survey the community said most people want to move to higher ground within their traditional territory. They say it's just a matter of time before their homes flood again.

The former Liberal government promised to relocate Kashechewan over 10 years, at an estimated cost of $500 million. The Conservatives said the Liberals never officially budgeted that cash, and that it's too expensive to move the reserve.

Instead, sources say the new agreement will establish a working group to assess the First Nation's long-and short-term needs, but will not move it off the flood plain.

It's especially rich that the Cons will go to the trouble of trying to "assess (Kashechewan's) needs" in a way that deliberately rules out the most obvious one - that being some reason to believe that the community won't wind up getting flooded yet again due to federal negligence.

If there's any reason for hope, it's that the working group itself sounds like a classic delay tactic - which could well put off any definitive action until after the next federal election. And if that happens, then there's a strong chance that the Cons will be replaced with a government which wants to do more than the bare minimum (or less) before anything gets finalized.