Waterhen Lake Officials Hoping To Clear The Air

Waterhen Lake Officials Hoping To Clear The Air

Thursday, March 10, 2005 at 15:48

Some Waterhen Lake band members are hoping to get some answers today about why band officials chose to settle a grievance with some former band employees.

The chief and council are hosting a general meeting today, and it’s expected they will be asked why they chose to pay out a settlement of over $900,000.

Chief Sidney Fiddler says the cost to settle was growing each day, and the band chose to cut its losses instead of risking another unfavourable ruling in court.

The workers were fired for allegedly taking part in a protest at the band’s headquarters a few years ago.

A federal adjudicator and a federal judge both ruled the former workers were unfairly dismissed.

Fiddler still disagrees with that decision, but says the task for the band now is to tighten up procedures to avoid a repeat of this situation.