Members of Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Alberta say there’s not enough transparency from their chief and band council.
In response, they’re preventing the council from accessing the band office.
On Oct. 20, dozens of band members started blocking access to the office and have been occupying the front of the building since.
Evan Travis Cardinal says he wants to know where oil and gas royalties have gone from leasing land.
He also wants to know why the nation’s detox centre has closed.
“The band has no information on what is going on in the reservation, and what is coming in the reservation,” he tells APTN News. “According to our finances, we don’t know. That’s why our people got together, the band members of Beaver Lake Cree Nation.”
Vernon Leonard Gladue says a lack of communication and not having a band meeting for two years is unacceptable.
“They told us over and over if you guys want some stuff, come and ask us. And they will give it to us,” says Gladue. “And we’ve been through that. You phone the administrator, and they don’t return calls. How can we get that stuff without being responded to?”
APTN spoke to Chief Germanie Anderson. She declined to comment on the situation.
On social media, Beaver Creek and council posted a statement saying that the pandemic has made it difficult to properly communicate.
It also says there were incidents of hate speech and threats of violence towards leadership.
“One immediate consequence is that the nation is unable to conduct its ordinary business, including issuing income support cheques to approximately 56 vulnerable Nation Members, issuing support payments to the nation’s 12 post-secondary students, paying wages to certain employees, and making payments to certain contractors,” says Anderson.
