$2.3 million deficit riles chiefs

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Take $8 million in revenue, subtract $9.6 million in expenditures, throw in the previous year's deficit of $750,000 and you have a recipe for disaster.

Approval of the Assembly of First Nations' annual audit was on the agenda at the AFN convention July 5. The national organization had run up a $2.3 million deficit, as of March1994.

The deficit was blamed on diminishing contributions, emergency help to the impoverished Davis Inlet Innu and Supreme Court legal challenges. Professional services alone cost the AFN $1.6 million last year.

The audit ignited stern remonstrations from many member chiefs who were loath to endorse a deficit. The debate raged on for more than an hour before the document was accepted.

Many chiefs were concerned that guidelines on spending, put in place at the September AFN conference when the organization showed a $1.9 million deficit, were not being used.

"What happened to the controls?" asked Chief Danny Watts of Opetchesaht, B.C.

Chief Alfred Day of the Oneida of the Thames in Ontario said all the procedures and processes in the world wouldn't amount to a hill of beans if they weren't endorsed by the national Chief and executive with political will and commitment.

"Somebody has got to take some responsibility for this. Who is going to take the responsibility?" asked Day. "Someone has to be accountable and say 'You can't do this anymore'," he said.

The responsibility lies with every chief, said Chief Clarke Smith of Samahquan First Nation.

"We elect the national chief so we also own the deficit. I don't hear anybody saying 'How can I help? How can I help bring the deficit down?'," criticized Smith.

He said mandates are presented by the chief without financial consideration and then everybody depends on Indian Affairs for hand-outs.

"We have to stop and dig in our own pockets. If this is my organization, then I pay for it. It's not our organization if somebody else pays for it."

Smith said the Department of Indian Affairs owns the AFN because the department funds it. He recommended striking up a financial committee with the sole purpose of fundraising for the AFN.

"We are always begging the government for money and we forget that we have an economic sense of our own."

Dene Grand Chief Bill Erasmus was concerned with a loan the organization had secured in the amount of $700,000 to finance operating deficits. The loan is scheduled for repayment at $50,000 per month plus interest and should be paid in full by Sept. 30, 1995.

"Who is responsible for that loan? Is it the chiefs? Is it the executive? Is it the national chief?" asked Erasmus.

He said the assembly didn't endorse the loan and the executive didn't have the authority to enter into the loan agreement.

Chief Steve Williams of Six Nations in Ontario said the finance committee had full authority to do whatever it had to do to get the deficit down.

"We could have been a lot worse (off) than we were," said Williams.

Dutch Lerat, chairman of the finance committee, assured the chiefs 90 per cent of the organization's spending is under control. Only 10 per cent needs work.