CHECK OUT OUR CAMPAIGN PAGE - DISCLOSE NATIVE SALARIES, SIGN OUR PETITION and read related MEDIA COVERAGE.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released new jaw-dropping chief and council pay data today that reinforces the CTF’s call for greater transparency of reserve politicians’ pay levels and the need for reform.
Previous data obtained by the CTF was based on partial information from the federal government. Data obtained and released today by the CTF is based on much more complete federal data.
Reserve Politicians' Pay Highlights
| Region | Avg. Reserve Population | Politicians with pay greater than Prime Minister | Politicians with pay greater than Premier | Politicians with pay greater than $100,000 (taxable equivalent) |
| BC | 639 | 1 | 3 | 63 |
| AB | 2,217 | 32 | 52 | 187 |
| SK | 1,659 | 2 | 43 | 120 |
| MB | 1,279 | 5 | 20 | 110 |
| ON | 1,374 | 1 | 8 | 57 |
| QC | 1,741 | 0 | 3 | 28 |
| Atlantic | 897 | 9 | 31 | 69 |
| Total | 1,142* | 50 | 160 | 634 |
* Population of average reserve in Canada
* CORRECTION: On November 24, the CTF was informed by the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs that they had a "formatting issue" and released incorrect totals for chiefs' pay in both Alberta and British Columbia. Based on revisions to their data, the CTF has estimated new figures for those two provinces. The corrected estimates are noted in red. Please be advised that numbers in the unnamed column in those two provincial tables should be reduced from printed totals.
Download the data:
British Columbia - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5
Alberta - part 1, part 2
Saskatchewan - part 1, part 2
Manitoba - part 1, part 2
Ontario - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
Quebec - click here
Atlantic - click here
Yukon/Northwest Territories - click here
“The numbers confirm what we’ve been saying all along,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “Many reserve politicians are paying themselves exorbitant salaries while keeping their band members and taxpayers in the dark. This is exactly why we’ve been calling for transparency and reform.”
Shockingly, one band councillor at a 304 resident reserve in Atlantic Canada was paid $978,468 tax free in 2008-09 (equivalent to about $1.8 million off reserve).
“Posting band politicians’ salary information online would not only remove the cloud of suspicion around band politicians that aren’t taking advantage of the situation, it would help band members hold their politicians accountable,” added Craig. “Frustrated taxpayers and band members need to contact Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Layton’s to tell them to support bill C-575 as it would require such disclosure.”
The CTF has recently confirmed with the federal government that if MP Kelly Block’s private members bill C-575 passes, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs would place pay amounts that reserve politicians receive with federal dollars on the internet. However, as that would not disclose pay received from band-owned enterprises (eg. casinos, gas stations), the CTF is calling for an amendment to the bill to require all pay data be placed online.
Note: although the federal data released today does not include names, media outlets and taxpayers could try to investigate the anonymous salary amounts by using the reserve population figures listed in each row. Those figures could be cross referenced with the reserve population figures on the federal government’s reserve profile’s web page (click here) to determine which communities they could belong to.
Is Canada Off Track?
Canada has problems. You see them at gas station. You see them at the grocery store. You see them on your taxes.
Is anyone listening to you to find out where you think Canada’s off track and what you think we could do to make things better?
You can tell us what you think by filling out the survey