First Nations people must hold leaders accountable

Winnipeg Free Press Feb 11 2008

KING Louis’s crown got another dent when a Peguis First Nation band audit hit the news. Louis Stevenson — the former long-standing chief — received a salary and honorariums totaling $240,000, as well as $113,000 in travel expenses.

I had an inkling King Louis paid himself well, but those headlines almost made me choke on my morning coffee. Sure sounds like a “take the money and run” situation to me. My guess is Stevenson realized it might very well be his last year in office. So, he decided to give himself a hefty pay raise before election time. So many questions. Where the heck did Stevenson go to rack up that much in travel costs? Did he fill up his vehicle at his own gas bar? Maybe this public shaming will squash rumours I’ve heard he was going to toss his crown into the ring in the next Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs election. Hopefully, he’ll also have the good grace to not run in the next Peguis election.

If there’s a bright side to this story it’s that the current Peguis leadership made their audit public and some band members are pretty angry about Stevenson’s salary. Here’s to openness reigning from now on.

But politics is an ugly game — how do we know the current Peguis chief, Glenn Hudson, isn’t just preparing for the next election?

First Nations should post detailed audits for the world to see. You see, there’s a lot of misunderstanding across Indian Country, and it needs to stop. We need to educate our people about their rights as First Nations band members. A chief is a servant of the people, and must be accountable to them.

Democracy on some reserves — not all — just isn’t working. Here’s what happens on a bad reserve.

Let’s say John Duck, a band member, is curious about his reserve’s budget from last year. Maybe he wants to know how much money went into housing, education or the chief’s salary. Well, if Duck wants to find this out he goes to the band office and asks to see the financial information.

The trouble is that many First Nations people don’t realize they have a right to know. And worse, sometimes people working at the band office don’t want people like Mr. Duck to see those financials. This is wrong.

You have every right in the world to see your community’s budget. Whether you live in Brandon or Peguis First Nation, you should be able to find out what your government has spent its money on.

So, Mr. Duck shows up at the band office to check out the books and gets turned away.

Now everyone on the rez knows. Maybe Duck gets turned down for a job or his wife gets fired. Maybe his mom doesn’t get her social assistance cheque or his name gets bumped from the housing waiting list. Maybe he gets threatened or kicked off the reserve.

Duck then becomes an example of what happens when you ask questions. That’s how democracy gets stunted.

Duck thinks his only option to get information is to go and see Indian Affairs. But that doesn’t work; Indian Affairs are the same people that sign off on band budgets. Indian Affairs requires audits of all First Nations and some bands’ funding information is already available on their website. So making comprehensive audits a matter of public record shouldn’t be too difficult.

Do what other governments do and publish detailed financials; I can find out the prime minister’s salary, the premier’s salary and every councillor and mayor across the province. So it only makes sense that I should be able to find out what the chiefs are making, too.

Accountability is key to a First Nation serving the needs of their people. First Nations people have a responsibility to hold their leaders accountable. The sooner that’s public knowledge, the better.

This article was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 and is filed under Canadian Issues and Politics, First Nations / Aboriginal Peoples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.