Court rules gravel contract with Red Pheasant not valid

A judge has found a gravel contract between Red Pheasant First Nation and W. Downer Holdings Ltd. invalid. In his written ruling from Battleford Court of Queen's Bench, Justice Brian Scherman said because the contract wasn’t approved at a band council meeting it was not binding on Red Pheasant. In 2010 Red Pheasant Chief Stewart Baptiste entered into two contracts with W. Downer Holdings for the crushing and stockpiling of gravel. That second contract came with a "sub-agreement" to see Baptiste paid $1 for every tonne crushed and $1 for every tonne sold. Neither contract was considered or approved by the band council. The gravel company crushed and stockpiled a total of 75,000 tonnes. Red Pheasant paid $215,000 towards the first contract, but nothing for the second contract. In August 2011, Red Pheasant band member Graham Wuttunee, who was not authorization by council, began negotiating with Wade Downer, president of W. Downer Holdings, via text message. They agreed to settlement terms but rather than taking the agreement to council, Wuttunee obtained individual signatures of six band councillors and gave the settlement agreement to band manager Dale Wuttunee. W. Downer Holdings Ltd. took the Red Pheasant First Nation to court to try to get payment on a the settlement agreement which the First Nation refused to honour. Scherman issued scathing remarks regarding what happened. "It is no less corrupt to agree to pay Chief Stewart Baptiste and for Chief Stewart Baptiste to seek to receive a fee of $1 per tonne of gravel crushed than it is for Quebec contractors to pay, as alleged, a fee of one per cent to the city engineer and/or a 3.5 per cent fee to the mayor's political organization for contracts awarded to them," he wrote.