Twinn locked assets in trust fund

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Protecting his band's multi-million dollar assets against the effects of a controversial amendment to the Indian Act drove the Chief of the Sawridge band to lock the funds away in a family trust fund.

Senator Walter Twinn locked the band's assets, valued now at approximately $100 million, in a trust fund only two days before Bill C-31 was passed to protect them for the future.

"We didn't like what was happening," he said. "We had to keep something."

Twinn took the stand late last month at the constitutional challenge to Bill C-31, the amendment to the Indian Act designed to re-admit some non-status Natives to their communities.

The Sawridge chief is challenging the amendment on the grounds that Ottawa should not have the right to force bands to accept new members.

Ermineskin Band spiritual adviser Wayne Roan and Tsuu Tina Nation member Bruce Starlight are also plaintiffs in the action against Ottawa, claiming the amendment threatens bands culturally, politically and economically.

The Sawridge Band is one of the wealthiest in Canada, with diversified assets in oil companies worth about $60 million. Additional assets in companies like a truck stop and hotels are worth about $30 million.

Twinn was on the stand for four days. At first he refused to discuss the bands' company holdings. He later told the court that he had even had one woman, who applied for status under Bill C-312, investigated by a private detective to prove her child was not a member.

Ottawa had added only 14 people to the band's membership list since the act was passed April 17, 1985. But an additional 250 people have claimed band membership.

The Sawridge Band requires anyone applying as a member to fill out a 42-page application form detailing medical history and financial holdings, among other things.

Documents submitted to Judge Frank Muldoon have revealed the Sawridge Band to be a relatively small, tight-knit community made up almost entirely of Twinn's relatives.

Nineteen of the 21 members who live on the reserve all have Twinn's surname. An additional nine band members live off-reserve and do not have the right to vote in band elections.

The trial will continue in Edmonton until the end of November. It will then move to Ottawa for an additional three weeks.