Stoney members get chance to speak to auditors

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The firm contracted by Indian Affairs to carry out a forensic audit at the Stoney Indian Reserve will be flooding the Native community with letters and pamphlets in the upcoming weeks.

The information blitz is to give the community a chance to state any problems they have encountered with the Stoney tribal administration.

The news of the campaign comes three months after a provincial court judge ordered an investigation into the operations of the reserve, located at Morley, Alta. near Calgary.

Judge John Reilly ordered the provincial Crown prosecutor to carry out the investigation after a man accused of beating his wife said the alcohol prevention program he took part in was canceled by the tribal administration. Reilly said the case was just the tip of the iceberg of cases involving the poor social welfare of the people on the reserve.

Sheila Carr-Stewart, the acting regional director general of Indian Affairs said that KPMG - the auditing firm - will be sending out notices with any cheques issued to band members, sending letters, delivering door-to-door pamphlets, and setting up a phone line for band members to report any problems they have had with the administration. All information will remain confidential, said Carr-Stewart.

She said the program is a standard procedure of a forensic audit. Other parts of the audit are to review financial files, previous audits, and to prepare information based on those files and to gather information that comes from the community.

Fred Jobin, the acting regional director for Indian Affairs said the information campaign lets the grass-roots people have some input into the operations of the audit.

"We are trying to make sure that it is an open process," said Jobin.

Jobin did not give a date when the forensic audit would be completed, but said it should be allowed all the time it needs.

"It could go on for a long time and we don't want to limit it," he said.

KPMG is already looking over financial records of the band. The records were removed from the band office and taken to a secret location in Calgary.

Indian Affairs has also brought an accounting firm onto the reserve to handle the day-to-day operations of the band.

Jobin said the department saw a need to assist the band in it's financial matters after the last annual audit showed a $6 million deficit.

Having an outside firm co-manage a First Nation's finances is not unusual, Jobin said. There are currently 14 similar cases on First Nations across the country.

Jobin said 14 out of more than 600 First Nations is not a high percentage, indicating most bands are not having trouble.

Forensic audits are even less common.

This is only the second such audit in history carried out at a First Nation in Alberta.

The forensic audit is something that many band members have been calling for. They hope it will uncover what they feel is financial mismanagement by the tribal chiefs and council members.

"I think it had to take something like Judge Reilly's comments to bring this all out," said Greg Twoyoungmen, a Stoney band member.

He said a lot more should be done to investigate the people's accusations, but the audit is a start.

"I'm not really happy, but it's a definite step in a long journey," he said.

Some band members are uncomfortable with the presence of outside companies digging into band issues.

Lena Fox, also a Stoney member, said she doesn't like the accounting firm being in the tribal office. She said it is taking even more control away from the community.

"I don't know who's back there. I don't know who's who, we haven't been told," she said.

Both Fox and Twoyoungmen said things have to change at a deeper level in order for the band members to have input into their community.

Roy Littlechief, an Elder from neighboring Siksika First Nation, said perhaps it's time for band resolutions to be examined or even scrapped in order to make the leaders more accountable and provide the members with more say.

The community needs to be runby its people, not the Indian Affairs department, he said.

"We need complete independence and resolutions may have to be made," he said.

Changes in band policy to give the members more power, "is the key," he said.

Myron Thompson, the Reform MP for the Wildrose riding in which the Stoney Reserve is included, is backing the call for change.

"Something desperately needs to be done. The concerns need to be addressed," he said.

Shannon Smith, Thompson's parliamentary assistant, said the people are calling for drastic changes in policy and they should be heard.

"We would like to see grass-roots policy, where the people on the reserve are the one's to hash out the policy," he said.

That policy, he said, would have to include a revised code of conduct for chief and council.

Although complete policy review seems like a big process, both Smith and Littlechief said it would only take two general meetings of all Stoney band members to bring in new rules.

Indian Affairs has agreed to meet with the Stoney chiefs and councillors and the community at regular meetings "on an on-going basis" until some sort of agreement into the problems plaguing the reserve are found.

Along with the forensic audit, an investigation into social welfare issues at Stoney is also being started. Representatives from the band, Indian Affairs, and various government representatives are currently drafting a plan of action for a task force.