VANCOUVER — The 90-member Semiahmoo First Nation in Surrey, B.C., paid its chief and one of its councillors nearly $460,000 combined in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
Chief councillor Willard Cook was paid $267,309 and councillor Joanne Charles had a salary of $187,138, according to now-required financial filings to the federal government.
When the salary’s tax-free status is factored in, it makes the chief possibly the highest paid politician in Canada. It would take more than $400,000 off-reserve to generate after-tax take-home pay of $267,309.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper earns an annual salary of $327,400 plus a $2,000-a-year car allowance. B.C. Premier Christy Clark has a $193,532 annual salary.
Cook purchased a home with acreage for $850,000 in the spring of 2014 outside the reserve, 10 minutes to the east by car, according to B.C. Land Title documents.
However, on Thursday the home displayed a for-sale sign with a sold sticker.
The property on 176 Street — listed as owned by Willard Leighton Cook, William Joseph Cook and Lynn Marie Cook — was valued at $1.05 million in 2015, according to B.C. Assessment documents.
There was no answer by phone Thursday at the band’s office in the community located on the ocean just north of the Canada-U. S. border.
Voice messages left at the office and emails to Charles were not returned. A person reached at the Charles home on the reserve directed calls to the office.
The salary information was revealed in filings for the financial year ending on March 31, 2014. The band was supposed to file last fall, but filed statements only last month.
The First Nation was one of more than a dozen B.C. bands that failed to file financial disclosure documents by November of 2014, required under a federal law brought in by the Conservative government.
Lisa King/Tri-Cities NowRon Giesbrecht, the chief of an 85-member First Nation who ranked as Canada’s highest-paid politician in 2013.
The Semiahmoo community joins a handful of other First Nations that have paid their chiefs exorbitant salaries.
Former Shuswap First Nation Chief Paul Sam was paid an annual salary of $200,000, and he and family members received more than $4.1 million in pay over a four-year period ending in 2014.
A new chief was elected following the disclosure.
Kwikwetlem First Nation chief Ron Giesbrecht was paid almost $1 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year, including an $800,000 bonus in 2013 related to a land deal with the B.C. government.
He was re-elected earlier this year.
shuswapnation.orgFormer Shuswap Chief Paul Sam
The financial statements filed by the Semiahmoo with the federal government show the band had revenues of $4.88 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year, and had a surplus of $3.09 million.
Most of the revenue in 2013-14 came from the B.C. government, which provided the band with $3.33 million.
By far the largest expense was administration at $939,924, outstripping spending of $136,499 on economic initiative and $133,197 on community programs.
Other spending included health ($90,277), education ($43,298) and land and resources ($224,807).
Roxanne Charles — the only other council member — was paid $4,725 and had expenses of $27,473.
Most of the more than dozen First Nations in B.C. that had not filed by last’s fall deadline, have now done so.
None of their chiefs or councillors receive salaries in the range of the Semiahmoo payments.
Most are in the $20,000 to $40,000-range, with the exception of the Takla Lake and Tsay Keh First Nations, which pay their chiefs in the $80,000- to $90,000-range.
One First Nation, the High Bar First Nation in Clinton, paid its chief, Larry Fletcher, only $1,498, according to the filings.
Vancouver Sun