Administrators' accountability questioned

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Chris Rivet, a 39-year-old Metis resident of Edmonton, has been an enrolled participant in the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement since the beginning in 1994.

While he says getting information about the intricate workings of the many corporate bodies set up to administer the agreement has never been easy, things have gotten worse in the last two years.

He admits he has made himself very unpopular with the leaders that administer the Metis section of the land claim area. Other grassroots members suggest he has brought some of his troubles on himself by making serious, but unproven allegations against at least two prominent administrators.

Whether he's well liked or not, the agreement states in Section 7.1.3 a) "A designated Sahtu organization which administers the capital transfer . . . shall be structured such that: i) all participants have an equal interest therein, as at the date of settlement legislation."

That means, Rivet insists, he has a right to know what the people in charge are doing on his behalf. He claims that right is being ignored.

"I try to get just the basic information and they say, 'Sorry we can't do that.' Or they promise to send it and it never comes," he said.

Rivet provided this publication with a considerable stack of papers that chronicle his attempts to access financial information from the Fort Norman Metis Land/Financial Corporation, one of the many corporate boards that run the land claim area. There are almost 30 of them. The earliest letter in that pile goes back to September 1996.

A series of letters document the path Rivet followed as he attempted to find out what was going on in the North. A letter in October 1996 to the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) N.W.T. office brought the reply that only the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated (SSI) could provide the answers he was looking for.

So he wrote to the SSI.

"I do understand some of your concerns regarding needing more information," a November 1996 letter from the SSI's chief operating officer R.G. Doolittle explained.

"Our administration is going to be reviewing the communications needs of all the land claims organizations/boards and affiliated Aboriginal communities."

Doolittle wrote that the Sahtu Enrolment Board was putting the finishing touches on a database that would make it easier for the board to keep in touch with the land claim participants.

The letter also contained a promise.

"Once the participant database is completed, we will be in touch with our people on a regular basis."

But two years later, Rivet was still trying to find a way to get the information he required.

A response to an inquiry made of INAC's comprehensive claims branch in Yellowknife in August 1998 suggested the problems Rivet was having were due to growing pains and that the situation "would improve with time."

When he wrote to then Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jane Stewart two months later, the minister replied in writing that "The Fort Norman Land and Financial Corporation is a corporation within the meaning of the Corporations Act. The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has no authority or jurisdiction on the business of this, or any, corporation, therefore we are not in a position to address your concerns."

A couple of weeks later, Rivet was sent a copy of a letter written by lawyer Richard Hardy to the president of the Fort Norman Metis Land Corporation at that time, Eddy McPherson. In that letter Hardy urged McPherson to send copies of the financial statements and a notice of the annual general meeting to the members as soon as the reports had been approved by the board. The lawyer said he had been contacted by Rivet who told him he had been left with the impression that the corporation was not going to provide the financial information.

"The corporations have an obligation to provide these statements to each member and I would urge [you] to comply with this requirement as soo as possible," the lawyer wrote.

Having received no response, three months later, Rivet wrote to the minister of Justice, at that time Anne McLellan. The minister's parliamentary assistant, for reasons that are not stated in the correspondence, sent Rivet a copy of volume one of the land claim agreement and a copy of the act.

Rivet says the federal government's "hands-off" policy makes him wonder what rights he has as a member and who protects those rights. He talked of the "frustration of not knowing" what's going on.

"I think the government of Canada should still be responsible for where tax dollars go," he said. "They're paying so they should be accountable."

The Sahtu Nation Secretariat, the body that receives the federal transfer payments called for in the agreement each year, has taken receipt of $61,151,838 since 1994. Of that total, $10,411,101 was returned to Ottawa as payment for the agreement negotiation loan. Other monies from a variety of sources are also forwarded to the secretariat each year. The tenth annual installment from the federal government-of $9,634,851 -is due to arrive at the Sahtu Nation Secretariat on Sept. 6.

The total membership of all land claim participants (October 2000 figure) is 2,716. Rivet says the size of the payments to the 214 members of the Fort Norman Land and Financial Corporation has shrunk in recent years. This year's payment, set by the board at $250, was expected last December. Rivet said he and his family members living in Edmonton had still not received their cheques as of April 20. He said he has not been told why the payment is late.

"It seems like it's getting less every year. In 2001, we got $537. This year we got $250," he said. "When we ask for basic things like the minutes . . . we're always promised a newsletter's going to be coming out to participants to help us keep informed. They've been saying that since I've been enrolled in the claim and it's never happened."

His relatives who live in the region ay there is evidence of economic activity there, something Rivet and other off settlement members might want to take advantage of.

"I'm finding out business is good. I found out when my cousin came down that they're setting up this social service program on the settlement, Elder benefits. But there's nothing for participants off," he said.

Off settlement participants are not benefiting equally, Rivet said. Although his per capita share of the money received by the corporation (not including any profits generated by economic initiatives entered into on his behalf as a shareholder) is in excess of $20,000, he has received much less. The money is supposed to be used to expand the economy in the region and create a source of future earnings for members, but since Rivet has not been informed in detail of what investments have been made, all he knows at this point is that he's not getting his share.

"I think I've made about $4,000 since I've been enrolled," Rivet said.

He said he would be willing to move to the settlement area if there was housing and a guarantee of employment, but the scarcity of information makes it impossible to know if that's possible.

"If there are job opportunities up there, we should be able to be told," he said.

Calls to corporation president Rocky Norwegian and corporation lawyer Richard Hardy were not returned.

Larry Hutchinson, executive director of the SSI, responded to an e-mail request for information, but did not answer the eight questions put to him.

Hutchinson wrote: "The structure established in the Sahtu is probably one of the most complicated in the N.W.T. and is not an easy one to understand. It is the responsibility of the land corporations to provide their members with information pertaining to the corporation's permitted activities. I have spoken to Mr. Rivet on a number of occasions and advised him of this. You may want to contact Mr. Richard Hardy who has been involved in the Sahtu Dene Metis Comprehensive Claim since it as signed."