Protesters to band: Show me the money
Penticton Indian Band members after information on band finances occupy its offices
Adispute over the Penticton Indian Band’s finances came to a head Tuesday on the reserve with around a dozen band members occupying the administration office in protest.
“Nobody can tell you where the money is going. We’ve had two years of nothing but lawsuits and undue process,” said elder Pierre Kruger, who was joined by band members holding placards with tables blocking the office’s front doors.
Interim band administrator Jonathan Baynes called RCMP to attend.
“What you have here is an illegal sit-in,” Baynes told Penticton RCMP Const. James Grandy in front of the group.
Baynes told the protesters the chief and new administration team want the same thing as they do — financial accountability.
“The new administration wants to clean house and get the details and information of what has been going on with the financials for the past 10 years. But the information we need exists in that building,” said Baynes, who claimed the band is $11 million in debt.
It has also had a hard time keeping staff and council members. Just last week, the band publicized its reply to a lawsuit launched by former administrator Brent Ryan-Lewis, who alleged he was fired without cause in May when he “began raising questions about decisions made by the defendants chief and band council.”
The band denied the claim in its reply filed July 18, and alleged Ryan-Lewis had engaged in “fraudulent and dishonest behaviour” that cost him his job.
Kruger claimed the firing of Ryan-Lewis is part of a larger pattern, as at least 11 women have been fired during the past two years, many of whom he alleges spoke up against money mismanagement.
One of the protesters’ demands, therefore, is to be free to speak up without fear of reprisals.
“Ironically, it was a number of Chief Chad Eneas’s family who was instrumental in the 2001 band office closure and occupation who had demanded exactly what we are asking today,” Kruger said.
That occupation resulted in the band ratifying its own Financial Administration Law. Kruger alleges the chief has not recognized that law. The 2001 protest lasted four months, and Kruger said this one will last just as long if dissidents’ demands are not met.
“Since Chief Chad Eneas was elected, he has only been to around three band meetings. We used to make decisions in the band hall. Now decisions are made behind closed doors,” Kruger said.
Those occupying the band administration office also want a forensic audit done by an outside source, not within the chief’s administration. They also want to see the current financials.
The occupation is not impacting essential services.