Life can still be hard on Shuswap Nation reserve despite $4.SHUSWAP NATION RESERVE, B.C. — Three years without running water have taught Ida and Ed Rivers the importance of creativity. In winter, that means pulling his sweat socks over the seat in their porta-potty to protect their backsides from the cold.
The couple lives on the sprawling Shuswap Nation reserve near Invermere, B.C., where the high salaries of the band’s chief and his family have become a hot topic.
Shuswap First Nation Chief Paul Sam, his former wife Alice Sam, their son Dean Martin and a now-dead grandson have received more than $4.1-million over the past four years. The band has 267 members, just 87 of whom live on the reserve.
The news of the high salaries came as no surprise to the Riverses.
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“I knew [the money] had to be going somewhere because of all the development on the reserve,” Ms. Rivers said.
The couple moved to the property from a trailer elsewhere on the reserve.
In the spring and summer, they can hook up an RV to an outdoor water source. But when winter comes and the pipes freeze, they make two or three trips a week to a nearby spring.
The Riverses have visited the band office many times to ask for a water hookup on their 23-acre property. But they’ve got nowhere.
“Basically, we’ve been chasing our tails, a big runaround,” Mr. Rivers said.
In the meantime, they pay $150 a month to rent the porta-potty, plus $65 every two weeks to empty it.
BETHANY LINDSAY/POSTMEDIA NEWSSome general images of the Shuswap First Nation Reserve.
Still, their life is relatively luxurious; for the first 1½ years they lived on the property, they had no electricity or heat. Again, they asked the band for help, but none was forthcoming and they were forced to pay B.C. Hydro to hook up their home.
To cover their expenses, Ms. Rivers has two jobs; Mr. Rivers, who is disabled but doesn’t receive welfare or a pension, barters with neighbours. They say they get no money from the band.
“If it wasn’t for some community members — and I mean both native and non-native community members — we wouldn’t have been able to survive here,” Mr. Rivers said.
Neighbouring homes show serious signs of disrepair, including boarded-over windows and peeling siding. Some band members don’t have permanent homes.
The Shuswap financial statements for 2013-14 show just over $900,000 coming from two federal departments, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and $641,000 from property taxes on the band’s real estate holdings.
Expenses include $326,413 for “band government” and $905,799 for “other” — although it’s not clear what that includes. In contrast, spending on economic development was $226,005, health $254,108, social services $212,254, and housing just under $30,000.
The chief’s family defend their high salaries, pointing to the band’s strong economic track record and history of encouraging lucrative development on its land.
Mr. Martin, chief executive of its corporate arm, Kinbasket Development Corp., has earned an average salary of $536,000 in the last five years.
In an interview Thursday with his mother at his side, he said the Riverses are responsible for paying for water, sewer and electric hookups.
“We’re not going to pay for a sewage tank to put in on their land when they were living in a perfectly good place and they decided to move,” he said.
BETHANY LINDSAY/POSTMEDIA NEWSIda Rivers outside their home and showing off her new porta-potty.
“We can’t be responsible for people’s houses. We had to do our own,” Ms. Sam added.
Mr. Martin is proud of what his family has achieved in their 30-plus years in power, boasting the tax base for development on band land now exceeds $70-million.
“The real story is this: In 1998 this band was nothing. The chief became chief and he said, ‘I want to make something out of this band,’ ” he said.
Ultimately, he is working to secure a better future for his grandchildren.
“I don’t do this for Ida Rivers. I do this for the little kids,” he said.
The economic benefits of the achievements touted by Mr. Martin and his family haven’t trickled down to Shuswap members, said Barbara Cote, a band councillor who is hoping to wrest control from the Sams in a band election Friday.
She lives off the reserve and earns $57,700 annually from the band, compared to the minimum $202,000 tax-free salaries Paul and Alice Sam have received in recent years.
She is particularly upset by the fate of a $5,000 grant from the New Relationship Trust Foundation, intended to buy iPad minis for every Shuswap child from kindergarten to grade 12. The money arrived at the band office in April, but she hasn’t been able to get the chief to release it.
BETHANY LINDSAY/POSTMEDIA NEWSEd Rivers and Ida Rivers outside their home.
Meanwhile, the band isn’t paying all its bills.
McPherson Funeral Services in Cranbrook says it requires payments upfront from the Shuswap Nation because of overdue accounts.
The reserve lacks a health centre or daycare for members, who often use those services at the nearby Akisqnuk reserve instead.
Mr. Martin said his family’s philosophy is to encourage members to use the services available in Invermere, including schools and health care.
“We want our kids to get into the mainstream and understand what it takes to live with the non-native population,” he said.
Despite everything, Ms. Cote is optimistic about the band’s future — without the Sams. There is cash coming in from things like a new housing development on the reserve, a highway-widening project on Shuswap land, and stumpage from forest and range agreements.
“It’s not all going to be all doom and gloom,” she said. “It’ll take us probably 18 months to turn this around.”
Postmedia News, with files from Peter O’Neil
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