You may have heard of the Enbridge Pipeline debate, numerous boundary disputes, Indian Act… The list goes on. First Nations controversies are limitless.

This article from National Post explains how a First Nation chief was paid close to $1-million, tax-free, according to salary disclosures. $800,000 came from a bonus concerning one land deal. Massive debate ensued, many questioning how and why. Financial statements also uncovered that revenue had soared from $2.8-million to $12.6-million in simply a year.

First Nations people were left outraged. Band member Kathleen Joe demands, “Please tell us why you deserve an $800,000 bonus when the leaders before you put footprints before you to get us here; you did not do this all by yourself”. 

We can evidently see that business ethics come into play once again. Sometimes things that you’re legally entitled to are politically, ethically, and morally wrong.

Ultimately, the lesson learnt is that the decisions and judgments of stakeholders are important; in any business project, concerning parties must be informed. Leaving the band completely unaware of this sum of money was definitely a dishonest practice in this event.

The question I ask is, where do we draw the line? Can the band chief’s million dollar salary be justified?

“I never in my wildest dreams thought I would make that kind of money on [capital] projects like this” (Ron Giesbrecht, 2013)