Group accuses Blood Tribe of financial misconduct

Group accuses Blood Tribe of financial misconduct

By Kuhl, Nick on January 31, 2015.

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Nick Kuhl

Lethbridge Herald

nkuhl@lethbridgeherald.com

Financial misconduct by the Blood Tribe’s chief and council is being alleged by a group of fellow band members.

Former councillor Joshua Curly Rider, former chief Harley Frank, and other band members Eugene Fox and Melvin Knife, said they have an auditor’s management report and a trail of paperwork and informant sources, as well past social media posts, proving general financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency is occurring on the reserve.

They say improper spending, including sponsoring American competitors at a Las Vegas rodeo, and missing finances from a public account that was to be given to non-landowners, is all taking place.

Curly Rider, Frank and Fox, who all ran in the Blood Tribe’s 2012 election, say about $5 million is unaccounted since the start of the 2013 fiscal year – money which was supposed to be given to the tribe’s 88 per cent non-landowners.

In an approval by Blood Tribe council in April 2013, which is information available on the tribe’s website, the crop production rental rates increased to $75 an acre, up from $45 an acre.

Land occupants, about 12 per cent of the Blood Tribe’s 13,000 members, were to receive 76 per cent of that total crop rent, with the Blood Tribe collectively receiving the remaining 24 per cent of total crop rental proceeds.

The Blood Reserve covers nearly 360,000 acres, with about 205,000 acres suitable for cereal and oilseed crop production, says Curly Rider. He said this rent increase should have led to $14.25 an acre that should have gone to non-landowners, possibly in a shared-per-capita fashion as a type of equalization payment, or put toward something the public uses.

Fox said the $14.25 per acre, on the 183,765 acres of cultivated dryland affected by this amount, equals about $2.6 million – for both 2013 and 2014.

“We’ve done a lot of research,” Fox said. “This money is not getting to the non-land occupants. Somebody is spending that money.”

“We want to notify our members of this money, that it is there for our tribal members; the ones that don’t own land,” Curly Rider said.

“Some people don’t even know that money was there. The non-landowners should decide what we should do with the money – should we put it to the food bank, should we build a new skating rink? Those kind of consultations have not come through to our tribe from our leaders.

“They haven’t given us an option or any news about it.”

Chief and council members were also handed a letter Tuesday, as they met in the city at Lethbridge Lodge, which highlighted some of the concerns listed above, as a group of land occupants arrived in an attempt to sit in on the proceedings.

Multiple efforts were made by The Herald to reach chief and council members, specifically Al Blackwater, a tribe councillor and chairman of the lands committee.

Rick Tailfeathers, communications officer with the Blood Tribe, said tribe adminstration would soon be releasing details in a public forum regarding the crop production money and the options for it.

A public notice, from 2013, on the Blood Tribe’s website states: “Of the 24 per cent of total crop rental proceeds that will be retained by the Blood Tribe, five per cent will continue to be disbursed to the Blood Tribe Land Management Department operations and disbursement of the remaining 19 per cent will be determined by Blood Tribe council.

“Until it is determined by Blood Tribe council where the 19 per cent of crop proceeds will be disbursed, these revenues are being held in trust. Once Blood Tribe council has determined where these revenues will be disbursed, the Blood Tribe public will be informed.”

Curly Rider’s group says, however, this 19 per cent is being intentionally hidden and being misused by chief and council.

Some of it was used to purchase machinery in the United States, specifically a $67,000 trip the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas for dealings with Hesston, a large manufacturer of haying equipment, according to Facebook posts by other band members, the group alleges.

“What did they bring back? We don’t know. They haven’t told us,” Curly Rider said.

“We want to make our members aware of what our current chief and council has done with that 19 per cent that has come in. Our leadership has not properly consulted us.”

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act, launched in July 2014, has resulted in basic financial information being published on the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development’s website.

This includes a consolidated financial statement by the Blood Tribe – which has about $80 million in an Ottawa trust account, derived from capital and revenue sources, such as oil and gas, and invested for the future benefit of the tribe. The Blood Tribe also reported a nearly $13-million surplus for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2014, of its $146-million overall budget.

Frank, who was Blood Tribe chief from 1992 to 1994, then served as a councillor from 2004 to 2008, said financial statements are supposed to be made public on all accounts.

“This current term refuses to meet with the public to disclose anything,” Frank said. “There has been total mismanagement of land, resources and finances. They haven’t been called on it.”

“They talk about transparency, they talk about equality; but, the thing is, they do not talk to the people,” Knife said.

“Nothing is ever publicized to the people. Nobody stands up. Everybody is scared. They are not telling us what they’re doing with this money. They are spending it like their own personal piggy bank. Yet the people are suffering. This is corrupt practice. It has to stop.”

 

One Response to “Group accuses Blood Tribe of financial misconduct”

  1. Rocktheages says:

    These ex-councilmen will say anything to try an get a vote for the next election! If there’s so damn many problems then why didn’t they improve things when they had the chance? All they’re about is greed and money, so obvious! They should just step back and let the Tribe do their business. There’s rumours that their getting paid to conduct this smear campaign so that they can get voted back in and bring back Heneger so he can pay them kick backs, $’s/acre to line their pockets, not the food bank!

    These ex-councilmen sat back an collected money and never prioritized their community when they were in council, look around, there’s no evidence of their community improvements!

    Thank you Lethbridge Herald for exposing their idiot accusations! I read their letter of accusations on Facebook and it’s pretty clear they don’t even know what their talking about……it’s a joke!

    It’s so clear that they don’t even know basic operational information, you think they would, being ex-councilmen and all!! When they were on council how many secret meetings did they have about spending the Tribes money?

    What did they communicate? How much did they get paid under the table? They were part of creating a system that the current Council inherited and now is trying to improve.

    Just before the last election they increased that fee up to $75 dollars and never consulted the membership, they never put in a plan for that money and communicated that to membership, now that’s their big issue, haha! They’re just an embarrassment!

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