Judge lays blame

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The blame for the suicide of a Stoney Nation youth in 1998 falls squarely on inept and dishonest band leadership that gutted programs that could have helped him, said a judge who directed an inquiry into the death.

Sherman Laron Labelle was 17 when he hanged himself on the Morley reserve May 21,1998.

Judge John Reilly of the Alberta provincial court spared no condemnation of the federal Department of Indian Affairs either, which he says "apparently did nothing about the lack of educational opportunity, the lack of programs for mental health and alcohol treatment and the abuses of power by [the] tribal government." Reilly's report last month to the minister of justice and attorney general calls for the disbanding of the department and a new system for handling tribal money. The Stoney Nation is currently under the third-party management of Price Waterhouse Cooper.

The judge examined Labelle's personal and community circumstances and the circumstances of Aboriginal Canadians generally in assessing the circumstances of the young man's death. His findings are echoed by the remarks of the only Stoney member who would respond to questions from the media, Greg Twoyoungmen.

Twoyoungmen says he provided about 30 pages of sworn testimony to the inquiry and says Judge Reilly's findings are accurate.

"Well, you know, Judge Reilly's one of the few people who comes onto the reserve, visits with the people, interacts with my people, so he knows what's going on. He's a friend of mine, he comes to my place for tea, coffee, 'cause he's the circuit judge," Twoyoungmen volunteered.

The Stoney Nation, 3,300 members strong, is made up of Wesley, Chiniki and Bearspaw bands, each with a chief and four councillors. Twoyoungmen is a member of Wesley.

The judge said a Stoney tribal council member testified that she kept a diary from 1990 to 1998 which recorded 120 drug and alcohol-related deaths, 48 by suicide. Reilly pointed out this suicide rate is 10 times the national average.

It was further noted Labelle had been in multiple residences, through treatment programs, and had a history of school difficulties. Yet a worker with Stoney Child Services who had worked with Labelle cited a lack of training and support for her role. She said she was among five workers dismissed by the Stoney council.

Reilly went on to say the Stoney Adolescent Treatment Ranch was closed as a result of allegations of sexual abuse by staff.

He points out that the education system, too, is in a shambles.

"A chief who serves on the education committee talked about how the school should have an environment of learning and should involve the parents but he admitted that the facilities at the Morley school are limited and that he sends all three of his own children to off reserve schools," Reilly's report states.

Stoney's school superintendent testified numerous programs had been discontinued three years previous because of funding cutbacks and there had been no graduates from the Morley school for 10 to 12 years, yet there were excess staff on the payroll.

Former members and supporters of the Nakoda Education Management Team (NEMT), which ran education, leadership and life skills programs, testified they had 15 graduates between 1992 and 1996, but it was all dismantled after the band election in December 1996. A former Morley high school principal stated Labelle would have been alive if the NEMT had been there for him.

Reilly's report further points out that since June 1997, when he first directed the chief Crown prosecutor to investigate social conditions, political corruption and financial mismanagement at Stoney, he has come to believe "the situation is far worse than I suspected." The judge believes "not only do vested interests divert money that should be going to help the poor members of this reserve, but ... they deliberately sabotage education, health and welfare programs, and economic development in order to keep the people uneducated, unwell, and unemployedso that they can be dominated and controlled."

Fred Jobin, the former Indian Affairs field worker at Stoney, who recently became director of First Nation Relations for Treaty 8, yet retains responsibility for the Treaty 7 Stoney file, defended the department's involvement in assisting the Stoney administration to repair past mistakes. He attributed many of Stoney's problems to a lack of fiscal and personnel policies. He spoke at length about the third-party management process, how and why it is implemented and the great progress that has been made in terms of Stoney getting its fiscal house in order and creating new policies to avert further problems. He deftly avoided queries about items that are not already public knowledge, spoke in generalities about money, and carefully sidestepped attributing actions or statements to individuals.

Jobin said Indian Affairs intervened two years ago at Stoney because there was "a major deficit; there was concern about basic services being provided. There was a variety of allegations that were circulating. We took action. We initially brought in the firm that is a co-manager. After we received the audit, we went through the audit. We decided to take greater intervention and that's where we imposed third party. In addition to that, at the request of chief and council, we undertook an independent forensic audit by a firm called KPMG."

Jobin was asked where the deficit stood now.

"Their financial situation improved significantly . . . Last year the tribe ran a surplus.

"In terms of Judge Reilly's recommendation in terms of dismantling the department, Jobin shifted blame from Indian Affairs personnel by stating, "well, first of all I don't think it's any secret that the department has stated that the Indian Act is archaic and it needs to be modernized."

Jobin added before there can be a phased withdrawal of third party management from Stoney, financial and human resources policies must be in place and operating, accountability proviions established between council and the community, and key management positions filled.

Twoyoungmen disputed Indian Affairs' contention that the deficit was $5.6 million when third party management was brought in. He alleges it grew a million a month in the nine months following the December 1996 Stoney elections - to $9.1 million.

"That deficit [$5.6 million] wasn't there. It started growing from December '96. We were maybe $100,000, a couple of hundred thousand [in debt]. For an oil-rich reserve, that's not much. It was nowhere near $5.6 million as they claim. Nowhere. That's BS. That's just a fallacy, that's just a snow-job," Twoyoungmen said.

Of Indian Affairs' evasiveness on the tough questions, Twoyoungmen added "That's because they're hiding as well. Incompetent, inefficient, and that million-dollar KMPG audit amounted to nothing. I think it was $3 million, actually, for the forensic audit. And they're supposed to charge people - 43 charges pending, and not one has been laid."

Calgary RCMP Inspector Don Schlecker would not discuss whether or not charges are imminent. He described the investigation as "ongoing."

"Oh, no, it's not ongoing. It was finished. It's a cover-up by Indian Affairs to cover up their incompetence...," Twoyoungmen alleges.

"I've talked to the council," Jobin said, "and generally . . . they're very reluctant to talk to the media. They feel the media has been critical of them; they feel they've been under a microscope; they feel they've been criticized unfairly. I'm passing on their comments. They feel selected individuals talk to the media and that's what gets reported and it doesn't reflect the full feeling of the tribe."

The tribe's silence notwithstanding, Judge Reilly made several recommendations to prevent deaths as a result of the kind of despair he finds on the Stoney Nation.

"To prevent young Aboriginal people from taking their own lives, there must be a commitment to end the tyranny that dominates and destroys their lives," he sated.

The judge wants the following:

? That a provincial Department of Justice establish a special prosecutions branch to prosecute crimes against Aboriginal people;

? That the province enact a statute making it an offence for an elected official or a public servant to make a false statement;

? That the provincial department of Health and Welfare unilaterally provide health care workers to reserves and that Aboriginal workers should be trained to replace non-Aboriginal health workers;

? That the provincial government support Aboriginal education systems;

? That the "department of learning" create mandatory Aboriginal studies courses to dispel skewed ideas about Indians;

? That the provincial government support, through funding, First Nations meetings that will lead to the creation of broad-based First Nations governments;

? That the provincial government take a stand to support the abolition of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada;

? That support be given to economic development in Aboriginal communities, consistent with recommendations given by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples;

? That the provincial government demand the federal government and Indian Affairs "put strict guidelines on monies paid out, so that they in fact go to the people for whom they are intended," Reilly concluded.