FED: Chief's Last Wish - Accountability

Author: Staff 2012/09/04

Can you help Derek Anthony Audy, the former chief of the Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, with his last act as chief?

You see, last week the CTF was sent a copy of a letter he and his council sent to the Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs in Ottawa not long before he passed away. As you can see (click here to read), his letter was a frustrated plea for accountability as to how public funds were spent by the previous chief and council of the small community (213 people on reserve, 627 people including off reserve members.)

Unlike most letters the CTF receives from frustrated band members on reserves, this list of allegations came from a current chief and his council; not grassroots band members. Further, the list of concerns in the letter was quite lengthy to say the least. The allegations include:

the former chief writing a cheque to his cousin for $429,000 for services that never materialized
the former chief expensing $5,000 each month on his band council credit card (in addition to funds he received to cover travel expenses/honoraria)
former chief selling a band owned 4 x 4 truck and keeping the proceeds
questionable consulting contracts
questionable building contracts
the list goes on...

All in all, the letter raises red flags over $1 million+ in expenditures that they feel was inappropriate.

While the letter we received last week was news to us, the reserve's chief and council first raised these concerns not long after they took office. After coming to office almost three years ago, the new crew was briefed on what was going on, spent a few months investigating and then brought their concerns (and mountains of evidence) to Ottawa's attention. That was November 2010.

Fast forward to June 21, 2012 and Ottawa finally responded with the results of a forensic audit - kind of. The letter sent to Chief Audy doesn't include a copy of the forensic audit and didn't investigate all the concerns, just a fraction (click here to read the letter.)

Further, while the current council has indicated they brought their concerns to the RCMP's attention, and were told to take it to Ottawa, the letter from Ottawa tells the council to take their allegations to the RCMP. In other words "go chase your tail."

It's ridiculous for Ottawa to keep the actual forensic report hidden from the band council, band members and taxpayers. After all, we're talking about public funds - the public deserves to know how the money was spent. As the band is having an election on October 11, and as the former chief at the centre of all these allegations is running once again for council, Ottawa needs to release the report ASAP so that band members can decide for themselves about what happened.

Are these just allegations or is there something behind it? Tell Ottawa to share the report so we all know what happened:

Minister John Duncan

[email protected]
1-819-997-0002

Click here to read the chief's letter - /media/Forensic Final 2.pdf

Click here to read Ottawa's response - /media/WuskwiSipihk.pdf

Franco Terrazzano
Federal Director

Hey, it’s Franco.

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FED: Chief's Last Wish - Accountability

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