Three factions, one Nation

Page 2

Accusations, explanations, frustration, and mixed feelings were all part of a two-day meeting at Hobemma, which is located 178 km southwest of Edmonton.

On March 29 and 30, the bingo hall on Samson Reserve, one of the four First Nations communities that make up Hobemma, was occupied by about 60 of the 5,000 residents who belong to the reserve. The members attending the meeting were concerned that band money was unaccounted for, to the tune of $50 million.

The two-day meeting began on Monday morning when council and other members participated in a protest walk. That evening band members met to discuss how the alleged missing money was going to affect them who was supposed to be keeping track of the finances and how it would affect oil and gas payments to members.

Despite a few of the band council members' explanations and assurances, the band members remained skeptical.

"The Warriors want the money audited. Fifty million dollars missing? Where did it go? We are shareholders of this money. Not all band members know this," said Harley Strawberry Rain, one of the Warriors members. The Warriors are made up of a few band members who claim to represent the people when financial problems or other issues need to be addressed. Their goal is to act as mediators between band council and members.

The first day of the gathering ended at 7 p.m. with plans to meet at 10 a.m. the next day. The band council members who attended reassured the members that the Chief was attending the next morning's meeting.

Next day, a large screen and transparencies were used as three council members tried to explain how the $50 million was spent. Band member Marvin Yellowbird indicated that much of the problem was with the bank's high interest rates.

"If we continue to use the banks to help us take care of our money, a lot of it will go to interest. We could be using other ways to spend it," said Claude Saddleback, one of the band council members. "Why don't we just get someone to come in as a financial advisor to take care of our money?" he asked.

"If we get to keep our money in our reserve, we will not know how it is being spent, so maybe it is best that our money is kept in a bank," said another member.

"Our band council is pointing fingers at each other. The chief has about eight of her council members behind her, and then there is Claude Saddleback and his group, and us, the people, are caught in the middle," said Tammy Crier, a band member.

"We are here to explain where the money went, and that is what we did today. The Chief is not here. This is our side of the story," said Yellowbird.

Chief Florence Buffalo did not attend any of the meetings. A call from Alberta Sweetgrass went unanswered. Her staff did not know where she was.

"I heard of the dispute with the band council and its members, but we are treating it as the band's own internal matter," said Indian Affairs spokesman Glenn Luff. Plans for another meeting were in the works, but dates and times were not available at press time.

As Tuesday's meeting came to an end, band members were told to pick up a fact sheet from the band office. The paper was to be a duplicate of what the band councillors displayed on the screen during the meeting. However, as of yet, none of the members have received the document.

"We are the grassroots people of this community. The band council members are trying to get us out of this deficit that we are in," said Tammy Crier. "There are three divisions here, and everyone is wondering what is going on. There are a lot of unanswered questions."