By Kevin Gaudet and Colin Craig

It is high time some light be shed upon the pay and perks of the elected officials on First Nations reserves. Currently, many band chiefs and elected council members are refusing to disclose how much they get paid. Instead, they set their own pay in secret and often hide the information from their own people. How can the citizens of Canada’s aboriginal communities judge whether they get value for money from their leadership if the leaders are hiding how much they pay themselves? It is time this changed.

While the federal government’s website clearly states that band members have the right to receive annual documents which detail chief and council salaries, travel and honoraria, many band members often report being rebuffed, threatened and intimidated when they ask their bands for this information.

When these same band members approach the federal government for the documents, they are often told to go back and ask their band office for it; even though the federal government has copies of the documents. Thus, band members get caught in a never-ending loop and cannot receive basic information such as their politicians’ pay levels.

That is why the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) recently launched www.ReserveTransparency.ca – a new website dedicated to assist band members access information they have the legal right to see. The website contains all the tools and information a band member would need to apply for and access these documents. Moreover, through the site, the CTF will help band members expose instances where information isn’t provided and thus federal law has been broken.

In some cases, when band council pay levels are leaked, they’re pretty shocking.

For example, the CTF was recently sent a brown envelope containing information that showed the Chief of the Enoch Cree Nation, a community of 1,529 just outside of Edmonton, was paid more than Alberta’s premier -- getting paid $180,000 tax free. Meanwhile, the average Enoch band member’s earnings are much closer to $20,000 per year. At the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, secret documents obtained by the CTF reveal that some band council members were making more than Prime Minister Harper.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the issue isn’t just that some of these pay figures seem out of line with the size of their communities. Ultimately, with out knowledge and access to this information, band members cannot decide for themselves if they approve of these pay amounts.

Of course, not all reserve politicians are taking advantage of their power to refuse access to band documents and set their own pay. There are many chiefs out there who are doing great things for their communities and regularly release financial information to band members. Unfortunately, their reputations, and sometimes the reputations of band members themselves, are tarnished by negative stories of greed and heavy-handed tactics from other reserves. 

Just as Canadians can go online and find out -- to the penny -- how much their MLA or MP is making, chief and council pay should also be posted on the Internet. The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs already has a website containing profiles for every reserve in Canada. Each reserve’s profile has information on income levels, population statistics and even limited financial information. As the government already holds annual band pay and audit documents for every reserve in the country, it would be easy for them to begin posting the documents on-line as well.

The federal government claims it cannot post the information due to a court decision. However, it certainly has the power to change the law to allow band members the same access to information off-reserve governments regularly make public.

A legislative change would not only help band members identify the bad apples and hold them accountable during elections, it would help protect those that are threatened when they ask for the information.

To those that oppose such measures, one has to ask – what have you got to hide?

By: Kevin Gaudet
Posted: May 06, 2010
Topic: Federal

Contact the regional director Gregory Thomas for further information.

Type: Commentary

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