Redman makes history for hefty salary

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Roger Redman is the first chief selected for a Teddy Government Waste Award by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). 

His selection comes at the same time as the federal government is pushing a bill proposed to increase the accountability and transparency of First Nations.

“We are ecstatic about (the bill). We called for that bill over three years ago,” said Colin Craig, prairie director for the CTF. “We sounded the alarm bells (in 2009) and said, ‘Come on, Ottawa, it’s time to bring transparency to these figures.’ Because when you have transparency that’s how a lot of these problems get addressed.”

Redman, chief of Standing Buffalo First Nation, was tagged as the Federal Teddy Winner because, according to calculations undertaken by the CTF, Redman’s take home pay, when converted to how much he would have to earn before income tax deduction, is higher than Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s.

Using an audited statement from the band and information obtained through the Access to Information Act, CTF determined that Redman’s salary, which consisted of payments from his First Nation ($174,862), from the Saskatchewan Federation of Indian Nations ($13,375), and from Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs Inc.  ($6,500) totalled a tax-free $194,737 in 2011-2012, which is equivalent to $317,583 that would have to be earned off-reserve. 

Harper earns $315,462. Neither Redman’s nor Harper’s figures include expenses or travel costs.

Craig said he was made aware of other money Redman earned during that time frame but was not able to include it because he had no documentation to support the claims. He also said, as far as he knows, most of the $194,737 Redman earned is federal funding and not band-owned business dollars.

The Teddy Awards tag “silly expenditures by government as well as things that are just outrageous,” said Craig.  Redman fits that bill as he serves a community of only 443 people.

CTF was contacted in January about Redman by a media-outlet in Saskatchewan, who wanted the organization’s comments on Redman’s pay. Redman’s salary came to the fore when Stella Isnana won a by-election in March 2012 and raised concerns about the money being made by chief and council.

Isnana’s husband Mel Sr. served as chief from 1979 to 2001, the year he passed away. Redman then became acting chief. He ran successfully in successive elections. Isnana herself, who had served on council previously, challenged Redman as chief in the 2010 election.

Isnana said she was offered $5,000 per month as a travel per diem and a little over $1,100 every two weeks as an honorarium. Not only did the money concern her but also Redman’s lack of reporting back to council or band members after he attended meetings.

“I didn’t think that was right. So I told them this wasn’t accountability and you can’t do this... It’s not right and I’m not going to take it I told them,” she said.

While chief and council were raking in close to $1 million in pay, Isnana said programs, such as education, health and training, were going unfunded on the First Nation and budgets were being cut by 10 per cent.

Isnana supports the push by the federal government on Bill C-27, the First Nations Financial Transparency Act.

“Accountability and transparency are big issues for me,” she said. “If you’re going to be in a position like this and people trust you, you have to be accountable. You have to have that care and compassion and responsibility and everything that goes with it.”

Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson doesn’t defend Redman’s salary but she is wary about comparing Redman’s salary to the Prime Minister’s.

“If they’re going to compare a chief to the Prime Minister, comparing the wages and stuff like that, I think they should take into account everything,” she said.

Everything, says Cook-Searson, includes Harper’s pension for the next 30 years, not something the majority of First Nations’ chiefs get; the private jet that carries Harper across the country and around the world; and 24 Sussex Drive, where Harper and his family call home.

“Not in defence of Chief (Redman) but in defence of all of us as leaders,” said Cook-Searson. “I think it’s disrespectful the way (CTF) did that.” 

Cook-Searson also points out that CTF seems to be claiming that all the money used to pay chiefs in Saskatchewan and the country is generated by taxpayers.

“That’s not true because most of the money generated in Saskatchewan or Canada comes from the land and resources. We as First Nations’ people have always asserted our treaty and inherent rights to the land and we just agreed to share it, not to give it up,” said Cook-Searson.