Glooscap First Nation is a Canadian aboriginal community in Kings County, Nova Scotia. Known as Pesikitk', its reserve is located approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from the Town of Hantsport. Created in 1907 as Horton 35, the reserve encompasses some 171.1 hectares (423 acres) of rolling, mainly forested land. Forest management is practiced by the band.[1] There is a variety store, gas bar, pawn shop and a small gaming centre. There is also a health centre, youth centre and chapel.[2]
Since 2004, the Band and the Town of Hantsport have had a shared water supply.[3] The 2009 population was 300 people of whom approximately 87 lived on the reserve.[4] In 2010 controversy erupted in the news media and on the reserve when it was revealed that band councillors of the tiny community each earn between $210,000 and $260,000 a year and one councillor earns almost a million dollars a year. The matter has since been resolved due to the information released was found to be inaccurate. [5] A new election is underway.
According to Rick Sharp, in a post on November 23, 2010, in the MEDIA INDIGENA post: "The day after the Canadian Taxpayers Federation published what it claims is 2008 “chief and council pay data” for reserve politicians across Canada, reaction has come fast, hard — and, so far, a bit vague. Today (November 23, 2010), Chief Shirley Clarke of the Glooscap First Nation in Nova Scotia told the media in a statement that she feels “the [CTF] document provides an inaccurate perception that we are unjustly overpaid for the limitless work we do on behalf of our community.”
According to The Vancouver Sun, it very much appears that Glooscap is the First Nation where “the highest [reported] salary [sic]— $978,468 — went to an unnamed band councillor at a small Mi’kmaq reserve in Atlantic Canada.” It is thought the anonymous politician represents this tiny community of 300 people (with just 87 of them living on-reserve) because, as the CBC noted, the CTF “report only identified reserves by population and federal funding,” and in Glooscap’s case, the figures “exactly matched.”
But Chief Clarke would neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of this near-$1 million figure to reporters; she would only say the data as presented are misleading because they do not include a breakdown of what the compensation covers, reports the CBC. The Canadian Press also quotes the Chief as saying “Our responsibilities are endless,” and do not follow a typical 9-to-5 schedule."
EDITORIAL | TORONTO SUN (November 27, 2011) http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/25/native-spending-must-be-transparent
"When 82 First Nations chiefs and band councillors make more than the prime minister, all while many of their people live in abject poverty, something is horribly amiss.
It's not new, but it is amiss.
In Alberta alone, for example, 47 chiefs and councillors made more last year than the PM's $317,574.
We have serious reservations about that.
Now, since the money these chiefs and councillors pocket is grant money from taxpayers, auditing their books in search of ne'er-do-wells and misappropriated dollars would normally receive no political pushback.
But the Liberals need ink, don't they?
They're a political embarrassment in search of some buzz.
So, looking for a headline grabber, along comes Liberal aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett to label the newly-introduced First Nations Transparency Act -- Bill C-27 -- a "racist" and "paternalistic" piece of legislation.
Well done, Ms. Bennett. There's your news hit.
Now please go away.
There is absolutely nothing "racist" or "paternalistic" about Bill C-27, a vital and long-overdue piece of legislation that deserves quick passage so that all Canada will finally get to know down which hole the billions in First Nations' grant money goes.
From the outside looking in, and this is what raises many hackles, it would appear that too many chiefs and not enough Indians are living the good life on the taxpayers' dime.
Bill C-27 should clear up the mess up.
Much like the CBC vs. the Taxpayer, First Nations band members deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials, and they are not getting it when their leaders refuse to come clean with where the government's money goes, or how much goes into their own pockets.
What is "racist" about that?
Now, you may have never heard of the Glooscap First Nation reserve in Nova Scotia but you might be interested to know that one Mi'kmaq politician there pulled in almost $1 million in pay in 2010, while band councillors each earned between $210,000 and $260,000.
Now, close your eyes and try to envision just how big the Glooscap First Nation must be to warrant such mammoth salaries.
Give up? Well, in 2009, the population actually living on the reserve was 87.
We didn't drop any zeroes."
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