There's been an awful lot of attention paid to the former MHA for the North Coast, the Honorable Wally Andersen. Many bloggers and editors may postulate and pontificate and opine about how he got his hand caught in the cookie jar and how he defrauded you and me of our tax dollars. Wally himself, has pleaded guilty of taking money he should not have in a system that had all checks and balances removed under the supervision of then Premier Brian Tobin (Anyone notice how Mr. Tobin's been kept out of this?).
The cries of "get out your onion, Wally" and "Shame on you" ring very hollow and shallow to me when I recall in those days it was quite common to buy a button or two hundred off Wally knowing that the money would be in a bankroll that would be peeled off as soon as the honorable gentleman got to Hopedale or Davis or Nain. Anyone else remember seeing that? Surely I wasn't the only one!! I flew on aircraft with Mr. Andersen and watched as we'd get off the airplane in Hopedale and three or four needy mothers could walk up to him and tell how they didn't have their cheque or money to buy groceries and he would peel off $200 a piece to tide them through a difficult time. Or how he would slip some poor chap, down on his luck, $50 and state categorically "Now don't let me hear from one person here that you spent this on booze."
In the world of aboriginal peoples' the concept of community property is as natural to grasp as the concept of sharing the air we all breath. Why is that so hard to understand? Those in ivory towers point their fingers at Mr. Andersen and state "He bought a $10,000 skidoo for himself off the proceeds of crime. Who'd he share that with?"
Knowing the Wally Andersen I did? Every single person who needed it.