Transparency Act report shows Gottfriedson makes $81,200

NEWS — Tk’emlups te Sewepemc Chief Shane Gottfriedson makes $81,200 a year in salary plus about $10,000 more in pension and other benefits, according to numbers released under federal First Nations transparency laws.

Tuesday was the deadline for Bands across the country to file statements of the salaries of their chiefs and councillors under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act. Only a few of them are so far posted on the government’s website.

Figures for several other local bands including the Bonaparte, Lower Nicola, Skeetchestn and Whispering Pines haven’t yet been posted.

Tk’emlups band councillors Ed Jensen, Fred Seymour, Collen Mosterd-Mclean, Katy Gottfriedson, Richard Jules, Rosanne Casimir and Jeanette Jules each make $72,500 plus pensions and benefits bringing their total pay to around $82,000.

Gottfriedson also had $28,176 in travel, while councillors’ travel ranged between about $3,000 to just under $11,000.

By comparison, beginning in 2015 the mayor of Kamloops will get about $86,000. City councillors will be paid 35 per cent of what the mayor gets.

Gottfriedson’s salary is tax free, while municipal mayors and councillors receive a one-third tax break on their pay.

KPMG in Kamloops reviewed the Tk’emlups band’s salaries and other remuneration up to the end of the first quarter this year.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which began pushing for the transparency law in 2009, complimented the federal Conservatives on the new law. Colin Craig of the CTF said the new transparency rules allow people on reserves to look at material online anonymously.

“It’s a sad fact of life that many aboriginal people have been bulled or harassed in the past merely for asking for this basic information,” Craig said. “Disclosure will also help the many good chiefs and councillors out there who are straight up representatives and genuinely trying to help their people.”