Montreal Lake Band Council, image posted on the Montreal Lake Cree Nation Facebook page on March 6, 2016.
There’s a lot of confusion on Montreal Lake Cree Nation this week, after four band councillors received notice they are being suspended without pay.
Dirk McDonald, Roger Bird, Frank James Roberts, and Sidney Nelson are the councillors named in a band council resolution, which was made public on Monday.
The resolution alleges the four men have participated in “deliberate misrepresentation of facts; corrupt practices, breach of their oath of office; unnecessary disruption of band operations; compromising the band’s good standing with funders and suppliers; attempted destabilization of the band government; disregard band’s own legislation as ratified by the membership and harassing staff members.”
None of those allegations have been proven, and a Montreal Lake disciplinary hearing is supposed to take place in coming weeks.
Band Manager Mark D’Amato says in his view, this all stems from recent changes to band legislation. Montreal Lake’s Custom Election Code, Executive Act, and Financial Management Regulations were ratified in the fall.
“The new acts are meant to assure that people who have offended against the band in some way or another, or owe money to the band, or done acts that are not in the best interest of the band will not be able to run” in elections, he said.
The changes to the Election Act are particularly relevant right now, as the band has an election scheduled to take place in late March.
“It’s going to be a very ugly election. It’s going to be very, very ugly,” D’Amato said.
He added that all the acts “put legislation in place to have proper balances and checkpoints, accountability, transparency, and all of these things.”
Under the Financial Management Regulations, someone in D’Amato’s position “oversees the day-to-day operation of the Band Office. He or she reports to Chief and Council and is among the senior public servants at the Band level.”
The regulations divide the powers between Montreal Lake’s executive (public service) and legislative (elected) arms. All band employees who report to Chief and Council are also required to report to the band manager. The band manager is one of only two positions able to sign off expenses on Montreal Lake; the other option is to have “one or more Band Councillors appointed by Band Council resolution as authorized signatories.”
D’Amato, who is not a band member and has worked for Montreal Lake for more than a decade, said the band’s legislative changes to his role as band manager have been a source of contention between himself and some of the councillors.
He also said there is a divide in the community, much like what Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation went through last year with its leadership disputes.
However, D’Amato said Chief Edward Henderson’s foresight in passing the recent band acts will be fail safe in this case.
“Unlike Sturgeon he passed the acts to protect the band. Had these acts not been in place, this would have been Sturgeon all over again,” he said.
MBC contacted Roger Bird, who declined to confirm a number of rumors that have surfaced in recent days.
Bird said he and the three others are in talks to issues a news release on the matter.