Define "underfunding"' please.

The government is clearly being disingenuous, which is to say economical with the truth to gain a tactical advantage in this dispute.

But Attawapiskat is no shining example of openness and transparency, either -- isn't this the same band that screamed bloody murder when a federal administrator was foisted on it some months ago?

First Nations funding issues have something in common with military procurement: costs are discussed in global terms -- 15 years of maintenance for 65 jet fighters, for example, or building new houses for an entire community living in a very isolated area where all materials must be flown in. None of us on this board -- unless there's a deputy minister hiding out there under a Mudcat monicker -- has the administrative experience to manipulate such concepts knowledgably and explain them lucidly to the rest of us

I believe band administrators have much the same problem: they have to translate the minutiae of daily life in the bush into funding proposals that fit into a government program that calculates its spending in terms of Parliamentary votes.

In the armed forces, there are literally thousands of skilled administrators, logisticians, engineers and planners to handle that challenge, and we still end up with trucks that break, sewage disposal problems on sub-Arctic bases, and budget over-runs. But the military chain of command can't slam its books shut and pull the race card when incompetence and error are found, and the Department of National Defence has no problem firing those who are culpable.