For the better half of the previous century, it would be an understatement to note that although they have achieved greater autonomy (re: the ability to govern their own affairs to a certain degree), there exists numerous challenges which compound to deepen the hardship experienced by the more than 500,000+ Mashacara citizens within the Native Territories. Unemployment within the NT stands at around 35% among adults (adults in this instance refers to individuals 25+) and 57% among youths (individuals 18-25). Initial estimates from the Department of Education and Culture noted that of the 90,000+ school and college-age persons within the NT, only some 24% actually attain quality education. The territory’s deteriorating conditions are further brought into context by observing the nature of infrastructure and healthcare outcomes. Physical road infrastructure bet it rural roads, bridges and even housing has been seriously lacking among the mashacara nations as the communities have been largely overlooked by successive federal administrations. Much of the infrastructure (be it roads etc), can be dated by the Presidency of Andrew Neilson, which was the last time the Native Territories had occupied any meaningful attention from the federal government. The situation surrounding healthcare within the NT is more worrisome. According to the NT’s Department of Health and Human Services, owing to issues related to access to quality healthcare within communities, an inherent suspicion of healthcare providers outside of the NT and a series of other challenges largely related to resource availability, the mortality rate within the Native Territories exceeds that nation average by 30%, placing it as potentially the highest mortality rate on the Seleyan continent, especially with respect to infants and children. The territory’s worsening economic and social conditions have been chaulked upon to a series of issues including a lack of funding and attention from the federal government, a lack of core infrastructure particularly with respect to healthcare and education as well as mismanagement on the part of the territory’s government.
Although it would be easy to blame the successive Governors of the Native Territories, the Bureau of Native Affairs is equally to blame for the territory’s precarious situation. As the federal agency tasked with overseeing the unique needs of the various Mashacara tribes within Lodamun and thus crafting policies and developing programmes which ultimately work towards their benefit, the BNA has seemingly abandoned its responsibility to the more than 1 million Mashacara citizens under its remit. Programmes which should have benefitted native communities, namely the Andrews Administration’s landmark industrial policy agenda and the Concannon Administration’s economic restructuring programmes, ultimately flew over the heads of many native communities who either were unaware of these programmes existence or who were led to believe that such programmes ultimately could not have benefitted their communities. “The BNA was established to virtually become the voice of the native peoples in the federal government. There are carveouts within federal law which enable the BNA to include itself in a lot of the government’s decision-making to determine whether policies are aligned to benefit native communities as well. To know that it has virtually abandoned its principal objective and has virtually left many communities and the NT (with whom it is supposed to be communicating at all times) in the dark, is beyond disgusting and is a striking indictment of how the federal government view our struggles.” Jordan Burton, a mashacara activist lamented.
Earlier last month, tribal leaders from the various Mashacara nations including the Inuwatu, Mirowak, Ilutat, Sarnaaq, Passat and Palut gathered to discuss a long-term means, through which, via targetted investment into various areas including infrastructure, healthcare and education, the Native Territories could ultimately improve the broader situation within the various nations. Coined the Tribal Economic Forum, it was attended by numerous key figures within the Native Territories including the Presidents and Chiefs of the aforementioned mashacara nations, the Governor of the Native Territories and members of her cabinet, the Territorial Administrator, technocrats, business and cultural leaders and concerned citizens. The brief synopsis of the week-long “summit” notes that the forum’s executive committee had agreed on numerous recommendations to not only the Governor and the Territorial Administrator but also the federal government, on what is needed to address some of the NT’s chronic woes. With healthcare at the forefront of the TEF’s agenda, the vast majority of its recommendations were aimed at improving healthcare outcomes in the NT. The executive summary of the TEF’s landmark report reiterates the territory’s mortality rate and notes that without addressing the critical deficiencies within the NT’s healthcare network, the territory could potentially “waste away.” It ultimately calls on the NT to retake sovereignty over the healthcare and well-being of its citizens, noting that an over-dependence on the supposed “goodwill” of the federal government has ultimately created the impetus for the precipitous decline. Of the 13+ recommendations made, the most significant include the establishment of a unified “Tribal Health Authority” instead of the existing silo-based community health system and an increase in federal funding for healthcare infrastructure to expand community healthcare centres as well as the construction of three (3) major general hospitals to cater to the acute healthcare needs of the mashacara.
President Toule, by executive order, has appointed Dr Albert Attyte, a mashacara historian and public policy expert as the Director of the Bureau of Native Affairs where he is expected to lead a transformation of the agency with the hope that it may lend itself to a realignment of the Bureau to its core functions of overseeing the wellbeing of the Native Territories. Secretary of the Interior Matthew Palmer and Assistant Secretary for Native Affairs James Barker noted that although the federal government would maintain its arm's distance from the NT, it would nonetheless render as much support as the territory’s governing bodies would allow. “Although the Native Territories possess markedly less autonomy when compared to states, it is nonetheless our intention to give them the space needed to go about their business. However, it does not mean that we continue to turn a blind eye. We will render any help which the Native Territories and its governing bodies [its Legislature] will allow,” Secretary Palmer explained.