First Nations Self-Government by Leroy Wolf Collar

Author:Leroy Wolf Collar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brush Education

WHAT ARE OPTIONS FOR REPLACING THE BAND MANAGER POSITION?

Executive/CEO: An executive/CEO could oversee the political and legislative functions of the Chief and Council. This person would manage the Chief and Council’s political goals and priorities set out at the commencement of their term of office. The executive/CEO would help hire experts needed by the Chief and Council to achieve the goals they identify during their strategic planning processes.

This person would also assist in the hiring of the nation’s auditors and the development of bylaws, regulations, codes, policies, and program evaluations for the band’s organizational structures. This person would spend all their time facilitating the priorities of the Chief and Council but would not be engaged in community issues, such as dealing with letters of complaint. Those matters should be handled by the appropriate departments. For example, if a letter of complaint and an appeal is about a housing matter, then the matter should be referred to the community’s ombudsperson (refer to ombudsperson role below).

Auditor general: An auditor general would be in charge of monitoring the band’s finances. This person would work closely with all the treasury departments within each of the band’s incorporated organizations. The auditor general would ensure the Chief and Council and employees of the band function with integrity and honesty and are accountable and transparent to the people they serve. Sometimes, questionable matters take place behind the scenes. For example, certain consultants and legal firms get hired without going through proper bidding and tendering of their contracts. Some of these consultants receive substantial pay for the work they do. The Chief, Councillors, and senior managers are often aware of these cases but sometimes don’t know how to deal with them because they are afraid of stepping on each other’s toes.

Another common concern is leaders who miss too many of their council meetings, but still submit payroll claims for their full salary, or leaders who attend out-of-town meetings and only attend a small portion of the event. This is not a problem for the Chief and Council to investigate. This is a problem for an independent, impartial person. If the Chief and Council investigate these complaints, it causes conflict among them and can ruin their relationships as leaders.

In our community of Siksika, we have a whistleblower program. The problem with this program is that when someone lodges a complaint against a Chief or Councillor, the complaint rests with the tribal manager (executive manager), who often doesn’t have the authority to discipline the Chief and Councillors. The auditor general would have this authority and would ensure that accountability and transparency is always in balance within the community’s leadership and administration.

Ombudsperson: An ombudsperson could help address grievances brought forward by the people, band employees, managers, boards, or committees. This person would have the authority to investigate complaints of fraud, nepotism, favouritism, unethical conduct, or wrongful terminations, as well as complaints about the conduct of the Chief and Council and any complaints of discrimination (e.g., age, sex) against the band. This

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