On the Road Again Interim - Posting Public Wages

iThis week, the Harper Government engaged in a clever bit of propaganda against the leadership of Canada's First Nations. The First Nations Transparency Act authorizes/forces First Nations communities to release the salaries of their elected officials. This on the surface, is a good thing. Or at least it would have been useful and fair if in fact this information had been a secret to the First Nation communities, or if everyone in the country who received some sort of government handout/salary/benefit had their salaries posted as well and most importantly if the press disclosed the salaries in a fashion that accurately reported all of the facts. However In the case of the Transparency Act, none of those assumptions are true. Every resident of a First Nations has access to the salaries of their elected representatives; we don't post everyone's income (think of all of those companies that get tax deals or subsidies from the Canadian Government - how many of those executives have their salaries posted and discussed in the press?)  and in this particular case the the press has, predictably, focused on the handful of Chiefs who appear to be over paid.

It is difficult to know if anyone was overpaid and if so by how much. For example travel expenses are not usually part of wages, at least they never have been in any place that I have worked but they appear to have been included in this report. Some of the income of the Chiefs combine their wages as elected leaders of their Tribal Councils and their income has Chief Economic Development Officer. In at least one case, the yearly income is extraordinarily high - but because of a one time pay out due to a bonus allocated as per the employment contract. (wouldn't it be nice to know what bonuses the CEOs of various companies that received tax benefits or other types of handouts from the Canadian government received )

However the most significant issue with the First Nations Transparency Act is the incredibly poor and perhaps even irresponsible response from the press ( for example Globe and Mail and CBC News) who have focused on the small number of elected leaders making perhaps unreasonably high salaries while not mentioning the thousands of elected officials who are being paid less than average Canadian. (in Ontario the average income for an elected official is $27,500 and in BC it is $26,000). An excellent source for the full story can be found @ The Straight Goods On First Nations Salaries from AFN.ca.

The reporting is a problem because it erroneously confirms the public's worst fears as to the incompetencies of First Nations people. It, by innuendo, perpetuates the myth as to the incapacity of Indigenous people to govern themselves. These same myths were around before confederation and allowed for treaties to be created that were both unjust and never honoured; and later "justified" the creation of the Residential schools (see Duncan Campbell Scott's quotes on "Indian People" or Nicolas Flood Davin's). The poor reporting is an issue because it will allow the government to assume greater control over the lives of the First Nation peoples because of this "proof" that those peoples are not capable of managing their own affairs. As long as the government can blame other people for the injustices, they will not be obligated to correct those same injustices.

Are there some individuals who are "ripping off" their communities? I would suspect so. Just as I suspect that there are many more who are engaged in tribal affairs because they are passionate about their people's welfare. As a matter of fact I suspect that the percentage of dishonest or greedy First Nation politicians as compared to the dedicated community leaders is virtually the same as in any community in Canada regardless of their race.

Why would we expect things to be different in First Nation communities than in our own? Why would we think that we should have the right to hold them to a higher standard then we ourselves have to follow?