Taxpayer abuse
Re: “Band chief makes more than PM,” March 7.
Chief Roger Redman and Chief Theresa Spence have both highlighted that some chiefs have no interest at all in helping their band members, but are dedicated to abusing taxpayers. Redman seems to think he is entitled to more money than the PM and his councillors are worth more than Saskatchewan’s premier.
I suspect the reason they make sure at least some of the band members live in abject poverty is to let people see how hard life is for the native population.
Spence tried putting the blame for her band members being in dire straits on the federal government believing, apparently, that her poor accounting practices had nothing to do with it.
Some bands are extremely well run and flourish. Couldn’t members of these successful bands help those struggling by giving them guidance? Helping one another would be far more beneficial than automatically blaming government for their own shortcomings.
I believe it is time to start annual audits of every band, and any money unaccounted for should come out of the following year’s money to make bands accountable. The way things are with some chiefs acting as they do, how can First Nations expect to be taken seriously when they complain about how hard done by they are?
First Nations need to clean up their own act before demanding more of anything from the federal government. The behaviour of these two chiefs, and undoubtedly others, proves it needs to be done.
Nigel Gates, Calgary