Federal Liberal aboriginal affairs critic Caroline Bennett says there are some key ingredients to running a successful first nation - starting with settlement of land claims and genuine self government.
And while there are examples of success out there, Bennett, who was in Prince George on Thursday, said location matters.
"The remote and rural [bands] are going to have much more trouble because we've not sorted out the sharing of resources yet," Bennett said.
Matters could also be helped by "building capacity" in terms of public administration instead of simply sending in the bean counters whenever trouble arises, Bennett said.
"This old fashioned view that this is an accounting problem, like in Attawapiskat, is insulting to the people who are doing fantastic jobs as public administrators in lots of other bands.
"They're saying to themselves and to me and to anybody else who will listen, 'well how will that work?' For a job that requires capacity in public administration, the government swoops down and sends in an accountant that has none of those skills."
As it stands, she said gaining federal approval for programs and initiatives "eats up a lot of time" and is costly.
"As soon as you get more bands with the capacity to run their own show, the sooner you would end up needing less and less of the department and that's why moving faster on the land claims [is needed]," Bennett said.
Per-pupil funding for education on reserves is just two-thirds that of the public system level, Bennett said characterized the Kelowna Accord, the deal brokered under then Prime Minister Paul Martin to provide $5 billion on housing, education, health and a first nations auditor general as a lost opportunity.
"All of these kinds of things that would ensure value for money and really are interrelated," Bennett said. "Without housing, you cannot have health. You have 12 people living in one house with no running water - how does any child do their homework?"
