There is a reason society frowns on people in high public offices hiring family members ...

Bellegarde hiring his own partner a reminder of other recent scandals

A report last week that the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Perry Bellegarde has hired his partner, Valerie Galley, as senior policy adviser is very troubling, to say the least.

In response to a request from the Citizen, the AFN initially had no comment, but then CEO Peter Dinsdale wrote, “The National Chief has worked closely with his partner, Valerie, for many years in previous elected leadership capacities. She was a key part of his campaign team for the position of National Chief. And she is a valuable member of the transition team as the National Chief gets established in his role. Valerie’s transition advisory role will come to an end by the end of the year and she will pursue other opportunities outside of the Assembly of First Nations to work with First Nations. Valerie reports to me as the CEO and not to the National Chief.”

After the recent scandals involving outrageous salaries paid to aboriginal leaders and allegations of mishandling of funds, this is not the kind of behaviour one expects from the national chief of the country’s leading First Nations organization. He should not have done it. There is a reason society frowns on people in high public offices hiring family members or friends. It blurs the line between public and private interest, raises questions about honesty and integrity, and undermines public trust in our leaders and institutions.

“Our people are constantly being accused of not being accountable and transparent. If the National Chief feels that he can hire his girlfriend and pay her a salary out of the AFN coffers, this would serve only to heighten criticism that is often levelled at our people,” Chief Ava Hill of Six Nations is quoted in The Toronto Star as telling Bellegarde. She is right.

APTN National news has published her letter and Bellegarde’s response.

The AFN is a publicly funded organization. These taxpayer dollars are meant to pay for the important work the AFN does on behalf of First Nations, and putting the national chief ’s partner on the payroll is not one of them. Bellegarde’s inappropriate behaviour feeds into the perception, rightly or wrongly, that some aboriginal leaders play fast and loose with public funds.

As national chief, Bellegarde should know better, and what’s particularly disappointing is that even after acknowledging the hiring was a conflict of interest, his solution is to direct that his partner report to the organization’s CEO, and not directly to him, as if that changes anything about the conflict of interest at the heart of the hiring.

Hiring your partner on the public dime is a form of personal aggrandizement that should not be tolerated in any public institution, especially one with so many critical eyes on it like the AFN. It was not too long ago that revelations about some aboriginal chiefs paying themselves obscene salaries shocked and alarmed many Canadians. Having a chief of a reserve of 85 people for instance, earning more than $900,000 in one year thanks to an economic development bonus structure, left the impression that some of these are actually in it for the money, and not the welfare of their people.

We all remember the problems and controversy that rocked Attawapiskat, and others like it. Canada’s First Nations have serious problems that have to be confronted, everything from poverty to lack of health care, education and above all, lingering racism. The lack of action on the murders of aboriginal women remains a huge problem, and the recent report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shows that much remains to be done to heal the deep wounds in aboriginal communities. Whatever the solutions are to these deep-seated problems, they would be driven by aboriginal leaders and most certainly will require massive funding.

But these leaders cannot lead the fight for justice for their people if they are tainted in any way by the slightest whiff of impropriety. Their critics — and there are legions of them — will focus on these shortcomings and not the real issues at hand. It is why Bellegarde’s hiring of his partner is so counterproductive. It may be good for them as a couple, but it is neither good for the image of the Assembly of First Nations nor the cause for which it stands. Bellegarde should do the right thing and let Galley go.