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.
269 Responses to “Stung by allegations of inflated pay, native chiefs to open their books”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Recent Comments
If most people wrote about this subject with the eloquence that you just did, I’m sure people would do much more than just read, they act. Great stuff here. Please keep it up.
fantastic internet site, I could definitely go to your web page once more…acquired some really nice info.
Very Interesting Information! Thank You For Thi Information!
Peculiar this blog is totaly unrelated to what I was searching for – – interesting to see you’re well indexed in the search engines.
Its wonderful as your other blog posts : D, regards for putting up.
I like this weblog very much so much great info .
I am glad to be a visitor of this perfect blog !, appreciate it for this rare info!
Your resources are well developed.
Wish I’d thought of this. Am in the field, but I procrastinate alot and haven’t written as much as I’d like. Thanks.
I discovered your weblog site on google and verify just a few of your early posts. Proceed to maintain up the very good operate. I simply further up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader.
The post is absolutely great! Lots of great info and inspiration, both of which we all need! Also like to admire the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your website!
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many helpful stuff in your website especially its discussion. From the tons of responses on your posts, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the excellent work
Wish I’d thought of this. Am in the field, but I procrastinate alot and haven’t written as much as I’d like. Thanks.
This is a great blog. Thank you for the very informative post.
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
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!
Our local network of agencies has found your research so helpful.
This is something that will need all of our combined efforts to address.
We’re developing some community services to respond to this, and your blog is helpful.
Hey very cool site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .