Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said the government is disappointed with a Federal Court ruling that says it was "unreasonable in all circumstances" to appoint an outside manager to a troubled Ontario First Nation.
The court ruled Wednesday that a third party was the wrong way to address a humanitarian crisis last fall in Attawapiskat.
Duncan, the MP for Vancouver Island North, would not comment on whether he made a mistake by sending in an outside administrator to take over the books.
"You know, that's a very difficult question. I want to think about that a little more," the minister said after a speech Thursday in Regina.
"You know there was an emergency situation which we would end up wearing if we didn't get some things done, so we wanted to get some things done.
"The important thing is that the health and safety of the community was looked after," Duncan said.
"We did get the housing accomplished and we got the people in place. In retrospect, that was the most important thing."
The James Bay community of 2,000 declared a state of emergency last October after a severe housing shortage forced more than two dozen families to live in temporary, mouldy shelters, some without insulation or plumbing.
The Conservative government sent in a third-party manager amid suggestions from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the band had been mismanaging federal funds in the face of the housing crisis.
The manager, Jacques Marion, was withdrawn in April. But the Attawapiskat First Nation persisted in its lawsuit against the government, anxious to get the courts to "refute" Harper's suggestion that the band had been mismanaging federal money and to have Marion's appointment declared unlawful.
Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan said the decision to appoint someone to take over the books was made without any indication that there was a problem with the way the band was being managed.
The court also concluded, however, that there was no political malice in the decision - on the part of either Prime Minister Stephen Harper or members of his cabinet - nor any intent to embarrass the northern Ontario reserve or its members.
