Election protest continues on Poundmaker

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The department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and the grassroots membership are helpless to press forward on demands for accountability on the Poundmaker Cree Nation.

Protesters have camped out near what passes for a band office on the reserve, located near North Battleford, for several weeks now. They claim the election last May was not conducted according to their custom and they want it overturned.

Departmental sources simply say that since the band is under a custom election code and has no conflict of interest guidelines, which are not required under the Indian Act or current regulations, the federal government's hands are tied. The Poundmaker Working Group, as the protesters call themselves, claim they are getting nowhere in their demands that the results of a May 2004 election be overturned. That election saw Chief Ted Antoine and three of the four band councillors re-elected despite a mountain of public documentation showing that things are not going well within their administration.

The fourth anniversary of a $500,000 fire that destroyed the band office will arrive on July 16. Marcia Keller, a social development officer with the band, and her daughter Georgianne Rempel, were charged with arson after that fire, but they were both acquitted after Saskatchewan provincial court Judge Lloyd Deshaye decided in November 2003 that there was not enough evidence to determine who set the fire.

During the trial it was revealed that the fire took place the evening before a social assistance compliance audit of 13 Poundmaker members was set to begin. The audit was ordered by INAC in response to a request by the RCMP. Records that would have been used in the audit were destroyed in the blaze.

"Though I am satisfied that one of the two accused in this case must have been responsible for setting the fire, I do not think the evidence establishes which of the two brought about the commission of the offence. Nor does it establish that the two acted in consort in any way or that one somehow assisted or encouraged the other to do so," Judge Deshaye wrote in his judgement.

The judge was critical of the chief's response when he was examined as a witness.

"I found him to be either a very obtuse witness or not forthcoming as to his knowledge of the workings of the social development finances. Indeed, it seemed he was complicit in and perhaps actively involved in efforts to cover up the fraud being perpetrated by Ms. Keller," the judge wrote.

But when the audit was completed, Keller was charged with defrauding INAC of more than $30,000. She pled guilty and was subsequently convicted on the charges.

Band members Tyrone Tootoosis, his aunt Leona Tootoosis and Wes Favel have launched a civil suit against Keller in connection with the fire. They say that even if the two women didn't set the fire, they were the only two people in the building at the time and should have at least alerted authorities that the building was burning.

"If the destruction of the band office was not caused intentionally by Keller, it was caused, and/or contributed to, by negligence," their statement of claim reads.

About $300,000 was paid to the band by two Saskatchewan insurance companies after the fire. The band office has not yet been rebuilt.

The destruction of the band office and last year's election aren't the only issue concerning the members of the Poundmaker Working Group. A band audit released in 2002 shows that chief and council were making huge amounts of money, some of it in ways that would be considered clear conflicts of interest in mainstream governments.

During the period covered by the audit, Chief Ted Antoine received $85,000 in contracts, was paid a salary of $55,300 and received travel expenses of $31,269 as well as honoraria of $2,550. His brother, band councillor Duane Antoine, received $113,100 in contracts, a salary of $45,800 and honoraria of $2,550 along with travel expenses of $19,050

Bryan Tootoosis, another councillor, received contracts worth $17,907, a $49,200 salary and travel expenses of $38,229. Councillor Colin Favel, was paid $18,800 in contracts, a salary of $48,875 and travel expenses of $28,976.

Keller received a salary $64,500, despite the arson charge.

The audit also showed that Poundmaker is in third party management with a debt in excess of $2 million.

Tyrone Tootoosis speaks for the Poundmaker Working Group. He told Sage that former Chief Blaine Favel formulated a custom election code in 1997. Tootoosis said he was able to obtain a copy of that code from INAC and circulated it around the community prior to last year's election and the community approved it. But instead of following the seven-page code, Tootoosis said, chief and council came up with their own one-page code that presented fewer obstacles to their re-election. There's no provision for an appeal in the code introduced by chief and council, he added.

"There should have been an appeal process put in place at the nomination meeting," he said.

Tootoosis said the protest at the Chief Poundmaker Historical Centre, which now houses band council operations, will continue until accountability is achieved.

"After 127 years, our people are waking up and I'm proud of them," he said.

He also said he will ask the group to plan some sort of event to mark the anniversary of the fire and draw attention ?? the fact that four years have passed, $300,000 has been received and yet no new band office has been constructed.