Band office occupation linked to Reform, chief says

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Six First Nation band members calling themselves the Action Committee locked out band office staff and the chief and council of the Little Red River Cree Nation during a week-long takeover of the band office.

Members of the Action Committee spoke with Sweetgrass on Feb. 22 while they were in the band office.

"We know what rights we have. Our leaders have to be answering to us," said Rodney Cardinal, one of the spokesmen for the group.

At the time of the interview, Cardinal said they had not eaten or slept for two days.

"We knew the finances was really bad a long time ago. Now, when we go to the banks in High Level to cash our cheques, either they won't cash them or they go NSF," said Roger Auger from inside the band office.

In a general council meeting in Fox Lake, Auger and members of the Action Committee demanded answers about finances, he said. Chief and council shut the meeting down, but resumed the meeting after Auger and members of his group, who asked questions, left, said Auger.

"At the Feb. 11 meeting, councillors admitted to being $3 million in a deficit," Auger said. The group asked the council to explain why the band was in a deficit, but there is no communication between band council and the people, he said.

"We are demanding to meet with our grand chief, Phil Fontaine, before we talk about anything else," said Auger. So far they have left two messages at the Assembly of First Nation office for Fontaine, but he hasn't returned their calls, he said.

Spokesperson for the AFN, Jean LaRose, stated the policy of the AFN is not to get involved in a local community issue unless the chief and council and the other party requests their presence. To his knowledge, the AFN has not heard from any of the Action Committee members, said LaRose.

The Action Committee left the band office without incident on Feb. 25 before a court-ordered injunction could be served by the RCMP.

"To us, this was just a strategy to embarrass the council," said Chief Johnson Sewepagaham in an interview with Sweetgrass after the group left the band office.

"Last year these same people were calling for a independent financial audit. The action group wanted their own people to come in and do an audit after Indian affairs just finished doing one," said the chief.

"The approach they used was with lawyers to gain information about finances. If people come to us with lawyers, then we will respond in the same manner," said the chief.

"They are connected to the Reform Party. Everything that they have done smelled like Reform Party tactics," said Sewepagaham. The Action Committee is a group formed by mostly one family, he said.

"They accused council of financial mismanagement, but when we had our general meeting the majority of our people were satisfied with our financial situation," said Chief Sewepagaham, referring to the Feb. 11 band council meeting.

"We've had some problems, no doubt," said Sewepagaham. Their financial problems lately have more to do with the transfer of bank accounts and a line of credit being established with a different bank, he said.

"These people even went so far as to accuse us of being in bed with Indian affairs," said Sewepagaham.

Indian affairs spokesperson, Glen Luff, confirmed the Indian Affairs office in Edmonton was aware of the situation, but consider the situation at Little Red River Cree an internal matter, he said.

"They do have a deficit, but there is no remedial management plan with the Little Red River Cree. A management plan comes into effect when the deficit exceeds eight per cent of the total budget," said Luff.

A general band meeting was called while the Action Committee occupied the band office, said Sewepagaham. It resulted in 440 of the band members signing a petition calling for chief and council to take steps to remove the Action Committee members from the band office, he said.

"The message was very clear," said Chief Sewepagaham.

Myron Thompson, a Reform Party MP, organized what he calls an Aborginal grassroots movement for accountability last year. He said the movement will put pressure on chiefs and councils to be accountable to their memberships.

Thompson said he met with a group of Aboriginal people in High Level last December that included several Elders, but could not confirm if Auger or Cardinal were at the meeting.

On March 1, staff went back to work in the band office after the week-long occupation by the Action Committee.

"In terms of operations, it's normal. In terms of the community, we will have to take some time to understand what has happened here," said Sewepagaham.