An elderly B.C. First Nations chief and his ex-wife, along with one of their sons and a grandson, received more than $4.1-million in remuneration over the past four years.
Shuswap First Nation Chief Paul Sam, 80, gets a tax-free salary that has averaged $264,000 over that period to run a tiny reserve near Invermere, a resort community near the Alberta border.
The Shuswap have 267 members, of whom just 87 live on the reserve.
the Canadian indian sure gets great compensation for doing nothing
What… no potlatch?
Raven has landed.
Taxpayer class action lawsuit anyone?
Snicker.
Why is there always a big screen TV?
Answer: Because the Federal Government gives it to them. Thank you Harper for the 50 inch LEDs.
Why is there always a big screen TV?
Answer: Because the Federal Government gives it to them. Thank you Harper for the 50 inch LEDs.
I knew a chief of a Western Canadian band of about the same size who took his entire family on a quite-nice cruise annually, a holiday I as a school principal certainly couldn’t afford with my own family.
Oligarchies are a rewarding form of government if you happen to be one of the oligarchs.
Yeah! Who do these uppity Injuns think they are… Senators or something?
Hey, nothing to see here. It’s just reparations for land theft. Conservatives are as bad as the Liberals. To do any less would be racist.
“I wouldn’t keep the legislation in place,” Trudeau told the newspaper. “I would work with First Nations to make sure that a proper accountability act that would have disclosed any excesses we see, but is done in a way that is respectful of the First Nation communities.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/11/justin-trudeau-first-nations-financial-transparency_n_5668640.html
That’s right, the Libranos and band councils should decide what information is released.
Personally I GIVE Shuswap First Nation Chief Paul Sam, 80, a hardy THUMBS UP!
GOOD ON HIM!! GOD BLESS YOU Chief Paul Sam, 80!
HE is ONE 80 year old I would be happy to sit with and share a WOBBLY POP and recount our youthful days!
yah Joke, butt you shouldn’t wobbly pop post in here
Joe, you’re the one I’d enjoy to visit with.
More than just a philosophy, grievance is big business in a Liberal socialist society.
The Canadian Aboriginal has as much right to claim their land as an ancestral heritage as an Englishman living in the UK today, or a Swede, German or Frenchman.
Don’t thank PM Harper, thank the Liberals as they put this system in place, did not act on the Royal Commission that John Cretan commissioned, and which recommenced a complete overhaul of the Indian Act. Also thank the Liberals and NDP and assorted grievance collectors who are screaming blue murder just because the Conservative government enacted some accountability provisions.
Walter F, Turdeau would just sit down with the crooked chiefs, smoke a few joints and sing kumbaya.
Exactly. Harper would be stonewalled by the Liberals, Dippers and the media party if he ever tried to clean up the Indian Act with which there is no provision for accountability. Recall Theresa Spence and her fishy fast in her tepee on the Hill and all the Opposition, including Paul Martin went to her side in support of her farce.
Funny thing, when you take the trouble to look at the numbered treaties, payments from the government were supposed to go directly to the individual band members. If we did this, the chiefs would have to come up with a way to tax the individuals on the reserve. Only when the government lumps all the money together and pays it to the band council are abuses like this made possible. Let’s get back to dealing with aboriginals the way their treaties agreed to.
You should rephrase that. Some Indians get great compensation for doing nothing. In all fairness how is this any different to the bank, car manufacturer bailouts we have seen. Nurses making over $200,000.00/year, the largesse of crown corporation execs and exorbitant salary and bonuses. For example this is Sask Power 2010 exec yearly salaries all on the public record and can be accessed here
http://www.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?mediaId=1451&PN=Shared
BRUCE, GUY
214,511 Salary/15,953 Expenses
DAVIES, PHILIP
248,294Salary/6,046 Expenses
DOHERTY, KEVIN
255,860 Salary/12,232 Expenses
KALRA, SANDEEP
293,564 Salary/1,161 Expenses
KINDRED, THOMAS
284,855 Salary/7,578 Expenses
LEBERSBACK, JOHN
213,762 Salary/2,313 Expenses
MARSH, MICHAEL
277,268 Salary/11,259 Expenses
MAY, JUDITH
285,609 Salary/10,629 Expenses
MITCHELL, W A GARNER
306,486 Salary/5,753 Expenses
MONEA, MICHAEL
259,519 Salary/ 46,013 Expenses
RING, GRANT
248,051 Salary/6,942 Expenses
WATSON, ROBERT
129,711 Salary/13,009 Expenses
WILKINSON, GARY
126,282 Salary
YOUZWA, PAT
51,73 Salary
The latest list is here for 2012 http://www.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?mediaId=383de49e-916f-4cf5-b36f-f915f69fedb9&PN=Shared
Increases across the board.
This list is typical of any crown corporation or entity sucking on the public teat anywhere in Canada.
The simple fact is, this rape of the taxpayers is not exclusive to Indian Bands but is now a feature of the system and growing exponentially. They all use each others salaries and benefits as reasons to justify their own salary increase demands. The only hope that I see is the system crashes, worldwide depression, and a reset.
Why is there always a big fat Swiss Account.
Until Canadians taxpayers refuse to pay the cost of tribal governance this corruption will not just continue, but the costs will accelerate into the stratosphere.
Self Governance MUST be paid by Indian self taxation.
What about all the (Indian Business) Lawyers on the taxpayers dime?
For all the Harper haters out there let me explain something to you. Democratic leadership is about building consensus. The PM of Canada is not a dictator and has to build momentum toward achieving a goal. If the goal is defunding Indian Affairs then you need to build a consensus towards that goal. How do you do it? Well you start off by revealing how much the chiefs are making. When enough people see the waste of money that is Indian Affairs the consensus will be to defund Indian Affairs.
Take all the money we give status Natives. All of it. Divide it by the number of status Native adults and give it to them. Then they can vote in the government and programs they want, instead of the current top-down pillaging. Enough of this corruption; anything is better than this.
Shamrock,
You must first reduce the total federal money by that which is now spent on tribal governess & lawyers. It is not the function of taxpayers to just fund everything by changing the way the money is handled.
Agreed, those activities wouldn’t be requirement anymore. They’d have to get their money bottom-up or, since their function is now useless, find other work.
Those “benefits” should be prorated by racial purity, IOW a “Status” Indian with 1/16th “native blood” should only get 1/16th that of the pure Indian. Perhaps that would expose the racism inherent in the apartheid of the Indian act.
Better still, deed over, in fee simple land within traditional territories, lands proportionate to the overall Canadian population (and racial purity) to (Indian) individuals and abolish the Indian Act. Tear up the mercurial treaties and if the Indians still want a treaty tell them that first we have to have a war. They virtually surrendered the first time and the rest is revisionist history. After that, welcome to Canada, sorry for the delay. Meet your Provincial government. From now on, local governance falls under provincial jurisdictions and legislation. The feds have made a mess of things, as usual.
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“john chittick says… “Status” Indian with 1/16th “native blood” should only get 1/16th that of the pure Indian.”
the history of the bay of quinte, published in 1869, records that there was only one apparently full-blooded mohawk indian on the tyendinaga reserve… all the rest having mixed lineages, primarily with german farmers & settlers, who were reportedly exploiting the timber rights on the rez.
the authorities back then were already concerned about paying out monies to people who had married into the band and were less aboriginal than some of the existing loyalists.
a fascinating read.
ps… here’s the best part. it’s not just a band… it’s a nation.
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That will cut off 80% of nfld
You missed the point. The teat-suckers at corporations and crown companies are actually paid for doing something, the amount might be questionable but they do something. In the long run, they are accountable to the share holders. Natives, on the other hand, do not have to explain where one red cent goes.