The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has helped grassroots Aboriginal band members blow the whistle on several cases of over the top salaries on reserves. Each time defenders cried “yeah, but that’s an isolated case.” Well, new data from the federal government shows it’s not.
Documents obtained by the CTF from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs show that in 2008-09 there were at least 30 chiefs in the country that made more than the average Canadian premier.
Let that figure sink in sink for a second. Remember that the average reserve in Canada has between a few hundred and a couple thousand residents.
How on earth can anyone justify using tax dollars to pay politicians in those communities the same as a provincial premier who serves a million or so people?
What’s worse is that we only have partial data from the federal government. For over a year the CTF has been waiting for the full data, but federal bureaucrats have been playing games and withholding information.
For instance, we asked for the salary information for chiefs and councillors. The bureaucrats’ response in March only provided figures for chiefs and even then they were incomplete.
You see, if you’re a chief, you often receive a salary, honorariums for various work, travel pay and “other remuneration.”
Well, the government’s response not only withheld names, it only showed salary and honorarium figures, leaving out a huge amount of data. To give you an idea as to how generous “other remuneration” can actually be, a former chief in Manitoba previously received over $203,000 in that category.
Thus, the “at least 30 chiefs” figure is likely to rise once the full picture has been disclosed. Unfortunately, after clarifying our original request, bureaucrats provided the exact same response in June - hence why the CTF has gone public.
So far, defenders of the status quo have responded by noting that chiefs often don’t receive pensions.
An obvious rebuttal is “join the club.” Most small town politicians do not have pensions and Statistics Canada figures show that 79 per cent of private sector employees don’t have them either.
It’s difficult to say exactly what a reserve chief or councillor should receive. However, the first step is to disclose what they’re being paid right now. After all, as taxpayers are paying for their salaries, so why should they be the only politicians in Canada that don’t have to disclose their salaries to the public?
In fact, making the salaries public on the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs’ web site would help chiefs that aren’t receiving exorbitant amounts, but are unfairly being painted with the same brush.
Conservative MP Kelly Block has tabled legislation aimed at improving the disclosure of band council salaries. It’s not perfect as placing the data online won’t be mandatory, but it’s a good start; especially as it will force Parliament to focus on the problem.
Surprisingly, the NDP and Liberals have indicated opposition to the bill. They have sided with the chiefs who want the information to remain secret and against grassroots band members who want the information made public.
If anything is ever going to change, you’re going to have to pick up the phone and call those parties. If not, you’ll keep seeing stories like this for years to come.
Colin Craig,
Prairie Director
