Winnipeg Free Press and Canwest News Service, Canwest News Service
It's time the salaries of native leaders across Canada were made public, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which is stepping up a campaign calling on the federal government to do just that. On Wednesday, the taxpayer watchdog released the salary for the chief of a tiny Manitoba First Nation — a paycheque that rivals that of Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. He's just the latest chief to find his pay publicized by the federation as it attempts to drag the issue into the public spotlight. "I think there's a lot of chiefs and councillors that are doing things for their communities, but there's a lot that are lining their own pockets first," said federation spokesman Colin Craig, speaking in general terms about the issue. O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation at Crane River, Man., has a population of 535 people, posted a deficit of more than $500,000 in 2008-09, and has a debt of $1.2 million, according to documents obtained by the federation.Yet the band paid its chief and three councillors "taxable equivalent salaries" ranging from $106,000 to $144,000 in 2008-09, the federation said Wednesday, while calling on all First Nations and the federal government to post council pay levels online.
The salaries of chiefs and councillors are tax free. The "taxable equivalent" numbers are how much someone who pays normal Canadian income tax would have to earn to take home the same amount as the chief and councillors did. By comparison, Manitoba MLAs earned $83,722 in 2008, while the premier earned $152,147. The average salary of band members is only $20,000, the federation said. (more)
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