First Nations Issues

[rrskylar]

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Chief's payments questioned
Roseau River leader's rival wants full accounting of First Nations' funds

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Payments to Roseau River First Nation Chief Terry Nelson are being questioned by Nelson’s rival in a legal battle for chief.

MIKE APORIUS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

Payments to Roseau River First Nation Chief Terry Nelson are being questioned by Nelson’s rival in a legal battle for chief.

Roseau River Chief Terry Nelson has received more than $100,000 from the gas bar and gambling lounge his band runs north of Winnipeg.

According to a list of payments obtained by the Free Press, Nelson was paid about $31,000 in honoraria and another $75,000 for travel expenses over a 29-month period that ended in November.

The payments came from the Highway Six Limited Partnership formed to build and run the gas bar, smoke shop, video-lottery-terminal lounge and urban reserve just north of the Perimeter Highway.

Nelson's rival is questioning the payments, but Nelson says the gas bar and other private ventures are his only source of pay. Unlike other bands, the wages of Roseau's chief and council are not paid by funds from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Nelson said.

"We are generating our own revenue," he said. "We have to develop our businesses. We have to rely on ourselves."

Manitoba chiefs and councillors have been under scrutiny lately for the amount they're paid and for the complicated web of tribal councils, treaty land trusts and social service agencies that often top up salaries with hefty honoraria.

Before Christmas, documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation showed the Peguis chief and council made more last year than the premier and the mayor of Winnipeg. Chief Glenn Hudson's pay topped $174,000 once all the "other remuneration" was tallied, and some of his councillors made $250,000. Those figures don't include travel expenses.

Peguis band members complained to Ottawa. An audit of the band's books was already underway and has been expanded to include a review of how band officials are paid.

At Roseau River First Nation south of Winnipeg, Nelson estimated he takes home about $80,000 a year once all the honoraria are factored in.

He said he's on the road almost all the time and puts about 80,000 kilometres on his truck every year. The $75,000 for travel expenses he earned since Highway Six was formed is typically parcelled out weekly in payments of $500, $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000, but Nelson said those per diems don't cover the total cost of his travel lobbying for his community.

Felix Antoine, Nelson's rival in a protracted legal battle for chief, said he wants a full accounting of how the band's funds are mixed up with the Highway Six project.

"There's just too much that's going to one person," Antoine said. "We're just a Third-World country down there."

Antoine said profits from the gas bar and VLT lounge were supposed to benefit the community, but Roseau still has little programming in its recreation centre, bad housing, poor roads and a school in need of repairs.

Nelson said the gas bar and VLT lounge employ 40 First Nations people and have so far funnelled $1.3 million into the community, some of it earmarked for education

Funds from Highway Six have also been used to bankroll a group representing the seven Treaty One First Nations, who have battled Ottawa in court over the Kapyong barracks and a series of oil and gas pipelines through Treaty One territory.

Last week, questions were raised about how seven southern chiefs spent $1 million in funding from one of the pipeline companies, Calgary-based Enbridge. Most of the $1 million meant to help seven Treaty One First Nations get proper representation in a battle for resource rights was spent within three months, much of it on honoraria and travel for chiefs.

About $50,000 was paid out to Highway Six. Nelson said the cash repaid a loan the company made to Treaty One First Nations to help the chiefs begin to battle the pipeline.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

[1ajs]

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
First Nations face lawsuit over legal bills

Bands owe $380K: lawyer

By: Mary Agnes Welch
27/01/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 25

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Treaty One First Nations could end up being sued by their own lawyers, who claim the bands owe more than $380,000 in unpaid legal bills.
But Peguis First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson says the bands are disputing the bills and negotiations with the lawyers are underway.
"We have been working with them on this issue," said Hudson.
In a letter sent last month and obtained by the Free Press, Montreal lawyer Peter Hutchins said he would go to court if the outstanding bill of $383,181.50 was not paid by Jan. 15.
Hutchins Caron and Associates represented the Treaty One First Nations in a long court battle against Enbridge, TransCanada Keystone and the federal government over the construction of oil and gas pipelines through traditional aboriginal territory.
The First Nations lost the case.
"We've made many attempts to amicably resolve this matter, including proposals to settle for less than the amount of the outstanding debt, which you have consistently ignored," wrote Hutchins. "We have sent members of the firm, including Peter Hutchins, to discuss these proposals with you in person, to no avail."
Treaty One First Nations include seven of the province's biggest bands in southern Manitoba, such as Roseau River, Brokenhead, Sagkeeng and Long Plain.
They have made headlines in recent years for appealing to the courts to uphold their right to be consulted and possibly compensated when major projects like the redevelopment of the Kapyong Barracks or pipelines are proposed.
During the case, Enbridge donated $1 million to help ensure the bands were properly represented. Cancelled cheques and bank records show most of that money was spent within three months.
About $300,000 was spent on lawyers, including $248,000 paid to Hutchins Caron and Associates.
More than $200,000 was given back to the bands and to Roseau River's gas bar and VLT lounge. Another $118,000 was spent on honorariums and travel expenses for chiefs, councillors and a handful of band members, some of whom travelled to Washington, D.C., a year ago to lobby the new Obama administration for more control over oil and mineral rights.
Hudson said the bands spent about $600,000 on a case they were told they'd win and expected compensation from the pipeline companies to defray the costs of litigation.
Obliging Ottawa to recognize First Nations' rights is a long process and includes the right to be consulted and included in the redevelopment of the Kapyong Barracks, said Hudson. That project could be worth $500 million to the Treaty One bands.
Reached at his Montreal office earlier this week, Hutchins declined to comment. "They are still clients and it's between us and our clients," he said.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 27, 2010 A5

[Biff]

So let me get this straight....


1. The bands have a legal battle against the gas companies. No doubt to get free money.
2. The gas companies the bands are fighting against actually give the bands $1 million dollars to use for legal fees.
3. The bands spend the $1 million dollars in three months but not completely on the lawyers and legal fees.
4. Now they owe more money and are not paying. I'm sure the taxpayers will end up paying for their free money somehow.

.....nice bit they have. I wish i lived on a piece of property the pipeline went through.

[RTD]

^ Right, but this game is much easier to play if you have treaty status.

[rrskylar]

Same shit different location: Does it ever enter into these peoples minds that just maybe you might have to do something to help yourself.

Sioux reservation struggling after winter storms

By WAYNE ORTMAN



EAGLE BUTTE, S.D. (AP) - Sonny Brave Eagle and his family spent six days in the dark without a phone or working radio before law officers found them in their home after a fierce winter storm cut power across South Dakota's impoverished Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

"We didn't know what was going on," said Brave Eagle, among hundreds of people on the sprawling reservation amid a second week without electricity as utility workers struggle to make repairs. The storm brought down power lines, iced roads and led to water outages.

Tribal Chairman Joseph Brings Plenty estimated that 1,500 to 1,700 homes were still without power Monday, and said it would take "better than three weeks" to get the reservation up and running again.

The tribe has spent "enormous amounts" of money on such needs as fuel and water, and an emergency fund that had $175,000 a few months ago has been drained, said tribal spokeswoman Natalie Stites.

For now, Brave Eagle, his wife and their two young daughters stay at an emergency shelter or a relative's house with four other families. They didn't have a vehicle or even batteries to power a radio when the lights went out at their house, about 12 miles north of Eagle Butte in north-central South Dakota, after a powerful ice storm hit Jan. 20.

Ice coated roads and electrical lines, and forced shops and schools to close. Then before residents could recover, a blizzard tore through the Dakotas with wind gusts between 25 and 50 mph.

The frozen ground complicated efforts to replace power poles, and snow had to be cleared away to allow utility crews to get close enough to rebuild transmission lines, said Brings Plenty.

The power outage led to equipment malfunctions at a pumping plant in a pipeline system that provides drinking water to the reservation. Water service and pressure must be restored gradually in an old system with weak pipes, the tribal chairman added.

About 8,000 people live on the reservation, which is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, and the outages affected everyone, Stites said.

But the reservation faced difficulties well before the storms. The unemployment rate is 80 percent, tribal leaders say. More than half of Ziebach County and 38 percent of Dewey County lived in poverty in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The reservation spans both counties.

Several shelters and distribution centers were set up around the reservation. At the height of the outages, about 14,000 people in the region were without water - most of them at Cheyenne River.

The number of water outages had declined Monday, with about 100 people still affected, said Tri County Mni Waste Water System general manager Leo Fischer.

The South Dakota National Guard helped bring in generators from the state. The tribe distributed fuels such as propane, delivered donated bottled water and sent bulk water tanks around the reservation.

Brings Plenty said no deaths had been reported, but a few people became sick from carbon monoxide fumes given off by makeshift heating sources.

"We could have had quite a few people perish in this," he said.

Seventeen dialysis patients were moved to a hotel at the Prairie Winds Casino in southwest South Dakota, said Rick Shangreaux, the casino's acting general manager. The patients are being treated at a facility on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the casino is located.

[hexrae]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Same shit different location: Does it ever enter into these peoples minds that just maybe you might have to do something to help yourself.

You must have missed posting entire sections of the article, because no where does it read that these people AREN'T helping themselves.

[1ajs]

have to agree.. takes quite a bit of time to put 18,000 hydro poles back up thats in the entire state btw

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by hexrae

You must have missed posting entire sections of the article, because no where does it read that these people AREN'T helping themselves.

I wasn't referring to power transmission or what obviously is the power utilities responsibility, but rather the living conditions on that reserve and the hopelessness of the people on that reserve and on the Pine Ridge Reservation to the south. The county the Pine Ridge Reservation encompasses has been the poorest in the US since about what 1900, surely in 100 years an action plan could have been formulated to improve living conditions or better yet residents could have moved to find a better future somewhere else.

[1ajs]

Aboriginal lenders cry foul

Mainstream banks benefit from federal loan program

By: Mia Rabson
4/02/2010 1:00 AM
PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA

Alan Park, CEO of the Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capitol Corp., says Loan Loss Reserve program creates a double standard.


OTTAWA -- A Winnipeg-based aboriginal financial group is demanding equal treatment from a federal program that gives non-aboriginal banks money to guarantee loans made to First Nations businesses.
The Tribal Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital Corporation has asked a federal court to review the Loan Loss Reserve program, alleging it was created without consulting First Nations and puts aboriginal lenders at a disadvantage.
"It's a double standard," said Alan Park, chief executive officer of TWCC, which is leading a group of four aboriginal financial institutions that held a press conference on Parliament Hill Wednesday in a bid to get more attention for their battle.
The group filed a complaint in federal court last month.
At issue is the Loan Loss Reserve program, announced in 2008 as a pilot project by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). Five Canadian banks and credit unions were selected to receive funds as federal guarantees for loans made to First Nations businesses. The Assiniboine Credit Union in Manitoba received $2.8 million as guarantee money for loans of $250,000 to $5 million for aboriginal-owned businesses.
It was introduced to see if it would help businesses on reserve secure capital that is often difficult to get because of an Indian Act provision preventing non-aboriginal-owned banks from using reserve lands or property as security for loans.
Nina Chiarelli, a spokeswoman for Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, said Wednesday the government believes removing long-standing barriers to business development is a benefit to aboriginals.
"To this end, the Loan Loss Reserve program was designed to encourage loans where the business proposal is strong but securing financing could be difficult or limited because of the Indian Act," she said in a written statement. "The LLR program is complementary to the Aboriginal Financial Institutions, not in competition, and another concrete measure that our government hopes will expand Aboriginal participation in Canada's economy."
INAC says aboriginal lenders only issue loans up to $250,000 and therefore the LLR program does not compete with their business.
But Park said that's not true and said some aboriginal institutions issue loans up to $500,000. He said the subsidies given to mainstream banks will allow them to offer loans at lower interest rates, crowding aboriginal lenders out of the market.
"They say this is to be a complementary program but how can it be complementary when they have a subsidy and we don't," he said.
Park says aboriginal lenders came into existence because mainstream banks weren't interested in lending to aboriginals, and it's unbelievable Ottawa would now come in to offer subsidies to mainstream banks and not offer the same kind of help to aboriginal lenders.
Park says there are 57 aboriginal financial institutions, which have loaned $1.4 billion to 35,000 different aboriginal-owned businesses in the last two decades.
He says the lenders turned $200 million in initial investments into $1.4 billion in 20 years. TWCC itself manages a $34-million loan portfolio.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 4, 2010 A6

[rrskylar]

More news from the bizarre:


Native investment firm buys jet
Chiefs express concern about purchase of Canwest plane

By: Martin Cash and Mary Agnes Welch

Martha Stewart arrives in Winnipeg on a Canwest company jet in 2002. Tribal Councils Investment Group purchased the corporate jet in a fire sale.

Martha Stewart arrives in Winnipeg on a Canwest company jet in 2002. Tribal Councils Investment Group purchased the corporate jet in a fire sale.

A First Nations investment firm formed to help lift aboriginal people out of poverty has purchased Canwest Global's corporate jet for an undisclosed sum.

Tribal Councils Investment Group bought the Hawker Beechcraft 800A from Canwest in a fire sale of the media giant's assets -- a move that has raised the hackles of some chiefs.

But TCIG president and CEO Allan McLeod insists the purchase of a corporate jet will be a good investment.

"Some people will probably jump to conclusions (about the purchase of an executive jet)," he said. "But at the end of the day, this is a high-quality asset that we have bought at a good price that we will put to work to make us more money. That is how we expand distributions to our shareholders."

McLeod would not say how or why TCIG executives would use the plane, saying only Perimeter Airlines, which will operate it for TCIG, has had many calls from potential customers looking to lease it.

Mark Werhle, president of Perimeter, said, "It's a great opportunity for us to expand our charter business."

TCIG is also a significant investor in Perimeter's parent company, Exchange Income Corp., and TCIG earns fees by promoting and marketing Perimeter's services to First Nations. Exchange also owns Calm Air and Keewatin Airways. The three airlines serve virtually all the northern reserves and towns.

McLeod would not say if or when TCIG executives would use the plane.

Several chiefs expressed discomfort at the idea of an economic development firm that's meant to help First Nations people find self-sufficiency buying a corporate jet.

"I think all the eyebrows would be raised," said Chemawawin Chief Clarence Easter, who sat on the TCIG board until late last year.

Said Long Plain First Nation Chief David Meeches, "I haven't heard anything about a corporate jet, but let me tell you, if I bought a corporate jet I would sure be hearing about it from my community."

The optics of owning a corporate jet while TCIG's stakeholder bands struggle with some of the worst poverty levels in the country is not lost on some chiefs and other members of the aboriginal community in the province.

"Manitoba First Nations people should be proud of the financial success of TCIG, so it begs the question why many are not very fond of it all," said one executive familiar with aboriginal economic development issues in the province.

He said many are frustrated by the veil of secrecy surrounding TCIG and he said many people believe it is large enough now it could be doing a lot more to invest in local businesses at the community level.

For the last several years, about $100,000 a year in TCIG dividends has been parcelled out to the seven tribal councils. Some councils use the money for their operations. Others divide it up among the member bands.

Buffalo Point Chief John Thunder said he got about $11,000 one year before he pulled out of the tribal council altogether. He said TCIG and the tribal councils that run it amount to another level of bureaucracy that hinders the trickle-down of funds and investments to reserves.

Meeches, whose band also gets about $10,000 a year from TCIG, said he has asked for more direct information and reporting to the chiefs who make up the tribal councils that in turn govern TCIG.

But McLeod is quick to point out TCIG has paid out about $20 million in dividends over the last 20 years from an original investment of $25,000 from each of the seven tribal councils.

"Our shareholders are very happy with the return on their investments," he said. "To compare the return on investment of any individual band that has not made an investment is not fair."

Southern Grand Chief Morris Swan Shannacappo, who sits on the TCIG board, agreed, saying an annual return of $100,000 on a $25,000 initial investment is light-years better than most people get.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Tribal Councils

Investment Group



"ö Founded in 1990 with $175,000 -- $25,000 from seven tribal councils, including the Swampy Cree, Keewatin and Dakota Ojibway tribal councils. Its official vision statement is "to contribute to First Nations' self-sufficiency by generating wealth and being a major player in the Canadian and international economies."

"ö It does that by using long-term strategic investments that generate wealth and jobs.

"ö TCIG has invested in several Manitoba businesses, including Arctic Beverages, Exchange Income Corp. (owner of Perimeter Airlines, Calm Air and Keewatin Airways), Artis REIT and Precambrian Wholesale, which supplies a wide range of dry goods to independent retailers across the North.

"ö No financial information is publicly available. Even TCIG board members representing each of the tribal councils are told they cannot keep financial statements after briefings. Its website says TCIG has experienced "significant" growth over the last several years.

"ö CEO Allan McLeod said annual revenue has grown from $30 million three years ago to more than $100 million.



The plane

"ö The sale price of the 1988 Hawker Beechcraft 800A is a secret. But other models for sale across North America suggest the jet could be worth anywhere from $1.5 million to $2 million, depending on its condition.

"ö Staff from Carolina Corporate Jets, a Charlotte-based firm that brokers the sale of small aircraft, said there are about 47 Hawker 800As on the market with an average asking price of about $4 million, but that includes newer models.

"ö Two models from the mid-1980s recently sold for just shy of $2 million and Carolina Corporate Jets has a 1985 model available for $1.695 million.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 6, 2010 B6

[hexrae]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

A First Nations investment firm formed to help lift aboriginal people out of poverty has purchased Canwest Global's corporate jet for an undisclosed sum.

...

Southern Grand Chief Morris Swan Shannacappo, who sits on the TCIG board, agreed, saying an annual return of $100,000 on a $25,000 initial investment is light-years better than most people get.

See below, the first line of the article is conveniently misleading. "To help left aboriginal people out of poverty" is a result of their mandate, not their mandate.

Last line quoted, because it would appear the TCIG has been quite successful.

About TCIG

The mandate of TCIG is to act as the investment arm of its Tribal Council shareholders combining the investment capacity of the individual Tribal Councils.

TCIG’s key objectives are to:

* Achieve double-digit growth.
* Be financially independent.
* Become a credible and prominent member of the Manitoba
business community.

So, how is this bizarre exactly?

[ScrappyPeg]

tribal councils are told they cannot keep financial statements after briefings.

I'm not a business minded person - but why wouldn't they be keeping financial statements?

[grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by ScrappyPeg

tribal councils are told they cannot keep financial statements after briefings.

I'm not a business minded person - but why wouldn't they be keeping financial statements?

You sure don't have to be business-minded to see there is something seriously wrong with that policy.

[ScrappyPeg]

I thought maybe I read that wrong or was missing something.

So if there are no books or accounting kept, how can anyone say it is successful or unsuccessful?

[grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by ScrappyPeg

I thought maybe I read that wrong or was missing something.

So if there are no books or accounting kept, how can anyone say it is successful or unsuccessful?

I'm sure they are keeping the books. They just aren't sharing them with anyone. Publicly.

[vid]

Which is normal for private companies. (Johnson and Johnson "A Family Company" for example never releases any of its financial data, because private companies don't have to.) But why they wouldn't let board members representing Tribal Councils (essentially part of the "family" of a private business) keep financial records is beyond me.

I can see this going the same way as NAC Air. Spend a few years telling everyone you're doing great and constantly expanding and the one day, out of the blue, everything goes bottom up, hundreds of people are out of work and all the communities that took part are shit out of luck. Not good.

[grumpy old man]

Private companies do release the information to the owners. In this case, the owners - representing seven first nations tribal councils - or Manitoba first nations people, are also the board members - yet they cannot take financial information away from the meetings.

I'd muse this is not a private company.

[1ajs]

Protestors force suspension of sewage project

Last Updated: Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 3:33 PM CT Comments8Recommend4

CBC News


 Protesters have shut down construction of a sewage system in the northern Manitoba community of Norway House Cree Nation.
Between 40 and 50 people blocked off the only access road to the work site on Thursday, claiming there has not been proper consultation with the community about the project.
They also objected to the location of the sewage system, which they believe will be too close to houses and recreation areas.
"At about noon, things got very heated [when] two of the band councillors came out and defended the project," said CBC News reporter Katie Nicholson.
Deputy chief Eric Apetagon defended the plan, saying the proposed location is the best option. However, after an impassioned exchange between the protestors and councillors, a decision was made to temporarily halt the project.
The band council called off the bulldozers and the tractors and suspended work until after the upcoming band council election on March 17.
Norway House Cree Nation is a community of about 6,500 people, located 450 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...#ixzz0hvmWCTQI

[Only The Lonely..]

Protestors force suspension of sewage project
Last Updated: Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 3:33 PM CT Comments8Recommend4

CBC News

Do you ever get the feeling that some people just like to fight for the sake of fighting?

[vid]

Improper placement of sewage facilities in Kashechewan is what caused their water crisis a few years ago. The government had the sewage plant built upstream from the water intake (which the government also built) so their sewage effluent was going into their drinking water. Sewage treatment also stinks, most of the houses near our sewage plant are practically worthless because of it.