Ousted Squamish Nation officials Krisandra Jacobs and Glen Newman earned more than $100,000 each last year before being removed from their positions.
Squamish Nation has released the remuneration and expenses for chiefs and council for the 2014-15 year ending March 31, 2015.
Jacobs earned $124,885 for her 10 months as a Squamish Nation employee and co-chair of council, and she was reimbursed $14,375 for expenses. Newman earned $148,448 in his 10.5 months as elected band manager, and he was reimbursed $10,447 for expenses.
The figures were included in an independent auditor’s report by accountants at Deloitte.
Ann Whonnock, current Squamish Nation council co-chair, said the amount paid to Jacobs and Newman includes separation packages the Nation was legally required to pay. “No, they will not [be] shown on the next fiscal statements for 2015 to 2016,” she said in an email. “No, they are not being paid since the Nation let Krissy go and Glen retired.”
Chiefs and council made the decision to oust Jacobs and Newman in February following accounting irregularities of emergency funds. Last June, chiefs and council commissioned lawyer Nazeer Mitha to investigate, and he concluded that $1.5 million of the emergency funds for which the duo was responsible were not properly accounted.
There is an active investigation by the North Vancouver RCMP economic crime unit into the missing funds, an RCMP spokesman confirmed.
The schedule of remuneration and expenses also showed the band paid a total of $1,422,010 in remuneration to chiefs and council and reimbursed a total of $226,791 in expenses. Squamish Nation cultural ambassador, negotiator and councillor and hereditary Chief Ian Campbell received remuneration of $85,716 and was reimbursed $18,870 for expenses. The lowest paid of the 17 chiefs and councillors was Councillor Anthony Moody at $42,120. Moody was reimbursed $7,200 for expenses.
The full report can be found at http://bit.ly/1KMKcHD.
The Squamish Nation last week also released its consolidated financial statements for the year ending March 31. The band had an accumulated surplus of $95,774,590, up from $64,686,403 the previous fiscal year. The full statements can be viewed at http://bit.ly/1SDoH3b.
