Stung by allegations of inflated pay, native chiefs to open their books
Posted on December 11, 2010 in Equality Debates
Source: Globe & Mail — Authors: Bill Curry
TheGlobeandMail.com – news/politics
Published Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. Bill Curry, Ottawa
Under fire over revelations that some of them are paid better than provincial premiers, Canada’s native chiefs are poised to make an unprecedented commitment to open their books.
The more than 600 chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations are expected to adopt a resolution next week promising to “lead by example” through the clear and timely release of audits, public accounts, salaries, honorariums and expenses of their chiefs and council.
The resolution also calls on the Harper government to work with native leaders to help develop an independent oversight office – either a native ombudsperson or Auditor-General.
The push for full disclosure is in response to a series of stories generated by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation alleging that hundreds of chiefs and councillors are being paid the equivalent of $100,000 or more and that more than 200 are paid more than their respective premiers.
The AFN disputes these figures, arguing that the taxpayers group is creating alarm with inflated numbers by including travel costs and per diems as salary. The issue is also being raised by Conservative MP Kelly Block, who introduced a private member’s bill this fall that would require chiefs and councillors to publicly disclose salaries and expenses.
AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo acknowledged in an interview that many chiefs have come to the conclusion that the best way to respond to the controversy is to provide full disclosure.
“I’ve had a good number of calls from chiefs saying, ‘You know, there’s every reason why we should just confront this directly,’ and they will be bringing a resolution forward,” he said. “In speaking with chiefs, there’s a great concern that the public discussion, the information that’s come out of the [Canadian Taxpayers Federation], has really painted all chiefs with a broad brush. It just isn’t true that all 633 chiefs are corrupt or are receiving pay that isn’t acceptable or are not accountable to their citizens and their communities. It’s just simply not the case.”
Mr. Atleo said many chiefs are already making such information public. He also noted that the AFN has advocated a native ombudsperson and/or Auditor-General since 2006, but the federal government has not been interested.
Reached for comment, the head of the taxpayers federation, Kevin Gaudet, said the AFN resolution sounds like “great news.”
“If that means going forward they’re going to commit to make the things public that we’ve been calling for, wonderful. I don’t see a downside to that,” he said. “Transparency breeds accountability and that’s a wonderful thing. …The campaign we’ve advocated has been on behalf of grassroots aboriginals themselves, so good for its leadership if it’s going to follow through on what its membership has been seeking.”
Mr. Atleo said the AFN motion does not mean chiefs will support Ms. Block’s private member’s bill, which the motion dismisses as “unnecessary and heavy-handed.”
Moved by Grand Chief Doug Kelly of B.C.’s Soowahlie First Nation, the draft motion commits chiefs and council to release audits, public accounts, salaries, honorariums and expenses and to ensure “information about community finances and decision-making is easily accessible, and available via the Internet where applicable.”
The resolution will be debated and voted on at the AFN’s annual general assembly next week at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Gatineau. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser is scheduled to speak at the assembly.
< http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/stung-by-allegations-of-inflated-pay-native-chiefs-to-open-their-books/article1834057/ >
Tags: budget, Indigenous
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 11th, 2010 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Equality Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Recent Comments
I wrote down your blog in my bookmark. I hope that it somehow did not fall and continues to be a great place for reading texts.
This is valuable stuff.In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers developed their content they way you have, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.
Good day! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects? Thanks a lot!
I love what you’ve created here, this is definitely one of my favorite sites to visit.
I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again
It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read even more things about it!
Hi my family member! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and include approximately all important infos. I’d like to see more posts like this .
I wrote down your blog in my bookmark. I hope that it somehow did not fall and continues to be a great place for reading texts.
I feel that is among the so much significant info for me. And i am satisfied studying your article. However should commentary on some basic issues, The site style is ideal, the articles is in reality excellent : D. Excellent activity, cheers
How long have you been in this field? You seem to know a lot more than I do, I’d love to know your sources!
A friend of mine advised this site. And yes. it has some useful pieces of info and I enjoyed scaning it. Therefore i would love to drop you a quick note to express my thank. Take care
Glad to be one of several visitors on this awful internet site : D.
Thanks for some other great post. Where else may anybody get that kind of information in such an ideal method of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am at the look for such information.
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that.|
I thought it was going to be some boring old post, but I’m glad I visited. I will post a link to this site on my blog. I am sure my visitors will find that very useful.
I’ll check back after you publish more articles.
You write Formidable articles, keep up good work.
I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your future updates. The usefulness and significance is overwhelming and has been invaluable to me!
Very fine blog.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup.