80 First Nations politicians make more than PM

At least 80 native chiefs and band councillors made more money last year than Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and at least 200 were paid more than their provincial premiers, according to newly released federal figures.

One unnamed band councillor in Atlantic Canada was paid $978,468 in tax-free income last year – the equivalent of about $1.8 million in taxable income earned off reserve – while governing a community of only 304 people, the figures show.

The earnings of First Nation chiefs and councillors are detailed in records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from the Department of Indian Affairs. The Federation, an independent advocacy group, is pressuring the government to make the salaries and other income of First Nations politicians publicly available on the Internet.

In October, the group obtained, under the access to information law, an anonymous listing of all chiefs’ salaries. It has now obtained more detailed records of the salaries, honoraria and travel expenses paid in 2008-09 to every elected chief and councillor of Canada’s more than 600 First Nations.

Missing from the documents are the names of individual chiefs and councillors, or the names of the reserves they represent. The government says that information is private.

The documents show that while hundreds of native politicians earn little or reasonable pay for the work they do, hundreds more receive very high salaries, even for governing reserves with tiny populations.

On one reserve of only 304 members in Atlantic Canada, the chief earned a total, tax-free income of $243,000 last year. The three councillors on that reserve were each paid more than $200,000 in band salaries, travel per diems and honoraria.

But one of those councillors was paid an additional $728,000 in what the government describes as "Other Remuneration," for a total income of more than $978,000.

It’s not clear which reserve this councillor represents, or what the other sources of remuneration are. Many native politicians across Canada are paid extra for running band-owned businesses, such as gas stations, golf courses or casinos.

A phone call Monday to the Union of New Brunswick Indians was not returned. Meanwhile Joe Marshall, executive director of the Union of Nova Scotia Indians, responded with a "no comment," when asked, via email, for his reaction to the figures.

The highly paid Atlantic band councillor was among the 82 native politicians who received higher salaries last year than the prime minister.

Eighteen of those rich salaries went to politicians on reserves in British Columbia, 47 in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, five in Manitoba, one in Ontario and nine in Atlantic Canada, according to a tally by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

In Quebec, although several native leaders earned six-figure salaries last year, none earned more than the roughly $300,000 salary paid to Harper, the group says.

The Assembly of First Nations, which represents Canada’s band chiefs, declined to comment on the salary records Monday.

Earlier this month, however, AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo lashed out at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, calling its campaign to publicize native political incomes as "an insult that paints First Nations leadership as overpaid, unaccountable local bosses, uninterested in the challenges faced by First Nations citizens.

"I know the men and women they slander," wrote Atleo in a column posted on the AFN website. "I see their daily struggles as committed leaders, and I meet them on the job, on reserve, every week across Canada."

Colin Craig, a director with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, acknowledges that not all native leaders are overpaid, but he says too many are.

He says if non-native elected leaders are required to disclose their public salaries, so should native leaders.

"Clearly, there’s a lot of native politicians out there abusing their ability to set their own pay levels," he says. "And there’s a lot of band members living in the dark – they have no idea what their politicians are paying themselves.

"Posting that information on the Internet would allow band members to access that information anonymously, and avoid retribution for finding out. People could then vote out politicians who are making half-a-million dollars a year."

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kelly Block has a private member’s bill before Parliament aimed at making aboriginal governments more transparent. If passed, the bill would require the federal government to fully disclose the details of band salaries, although not those portions of income earned through band-owned enterprises.