UPRAISING -JULY 2017
Uprising against Kap Cree chief
By Alan S. Hale, Cornwall Standard-Freeholder
Wednesday, July 8, 2015 6:08:45 EDT PM
Members of the Kapuskasing Cree at a meeting on July 4 vote to approve a motion calling for the resignation of Gaius Napash as their chief and for the band council to be dissolved.
Members of the Kapuskasing Cree at a meeting on July 4 vote to approve a motion calling for the resignation of Gaius Napash as their chief and for the band council to be dissolved.
TIMMINS - A faction of members within the Kapuskasing Cree is demanding their self-appointed chief, Gaius Napash, step down from his position and the band council be dissolved.
They also want the band’s central bank account frozen until an investigation into the group’s finances being conducted by the local Ontario Provincial Police comes to a conclusion.
The police investigation was launched last week.
The protesting band members say Napash’s leadership has been plagued by a lack of transparency, particularly in relation to the management of the group’s bank account which only the chief and his cousin, Archie Sutherland, have control.
They also question the legitimacy of the band council which they say has been stacked with Napash’s family members.
In spite of all this, the last straw appears to have been the behaviour of the chief and deputy chief when challenged by members on these issues.
The questions regarding the unaccounted-for spending from the band’s central fund prompted the OPP last week to launch an investigation into the band’s finances. Police have already interviewed staff at the Caisse Populaire branch in Kapuskasing where the band has its organizational bank account.
The Daily Press conducted its own month-long investigation into the matter, and while there were many questions raised surrounding Napash and his leadership, there was no evidence presented that he has committed any crime.
That said, there is evidence that he may be breaking the transparency rules in his group’s constitution. Financial documents show he has been spending thousands upon thousands of dollars without explanation to his membership, including writing a $5,000 cheque to himself. And the only political body capable of removing his ability to access the band’s central funds, the band council, has been effectively purged of anyone not a part of his inner circle.
Although attempts were made over multiple days through different avenues to get an interview with Napash for this story, he did not respond to requests from the The Daily Press.
Kapuskasing Cree
The Kapuskasing Cree is not officially recognized as First Nation, but it wants to be.
The group, which is an offshoot of the Moose Cree First Nation, was formed in 2010 after its members split with the band over opposition to particular hydroelectric projects by Ontario Power Generation which they said threatened old burial sites and traditional traplines.
Despite having been separated for five years, the Kapuskasing Cree is not recognized as a First Nation by the government, and their efforts to be recognized as such are opposed by the Moose Cree. Although they technically have no claim to a traditional territory, some private companies such as Xeneca Power Development have set up aboriginal consultations for their Mattagami River projects with the Kapuskasing Cree separate from their talks with the Moose Cree.
According to members The Daily Press spoke to, the band has never had a formal election. Napash was made the group’s spokesman during the separation and merely assumed the role of chief in the media and their dealings with private industry afterwards.
“He started out as our spokesperson and he turned around and elected himself chief,” said band member Andrew Sutherland. “Archie (Sutherland) was also never elected deputy chief.”
The Band Council
Over the past month, the Daily Press spoke to four different band councillors, including Andrew Sutherland, who all said they were effectively removed from participating in the band council after they were no longer being notified of when or if council meetings were taking place.
On a legal document filed in 2013 by the Kapuskasing Cree as part of a ongoing lawsuit against the provincial government and the Moose Cree, Andrew Sutherland, Pricilla Chum, Suzanne Napash, and Joyce Sutherland were all named as band councillors. Together they comprised more than half of the seven-person council, but now only hear about meetings after they are held.
Another concerned Kapuskasing Cree band member, Bernice Sutherland, confirmed there has been no election since the filing of that document.
“They should all technically still be on the band council. They’ve been recognized as councillors in the courts,” said Bernice Sutherland. “The other council that they’ve made, they didn’t come to the community and have a vote or anything like that. They just appointed who they wanted to the council.”
Although still officially part of the band council, the last time Suzanne Napash was able to attend one of the council meetings is when her son told her he had noticed it taking place at the Ontario Power Generation’s Smoky Falls dam, where several band members have contract work jobs.
“He said to me, ‘You know there’s a meeting going on. Why are you at home?’ And I said, ‘What meeting?’” recalled Suzanne Napash.
After getting a ride to the dam, she walked into the meeting to find all the participants in the meeting were family members of the chief.
“It was all family sitting there. Gaius’ sister, brothers, Archie (Sutherland’s) brothers and sisters; nobody from the real council was there,” said Suzanne. “I said, ‘So this is what’s going on now?’ Everybody shut up and didn’t want to say anything. I could feel the atmosphere change, telling me I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Although not told to leave the meeting, Suzanne Napash said it was clear she was not welcome. She also recalled the chief asking her days later why she had wanted to be at that meeting since she never came to them anyway.
According to Suzanne Napash, council meetings have been held at irregular times and places including hotels, the Kapuskasing town hall and in one instance at Gaius Napash’s brother’s home after 11 p.m.
“How do I know that? My son used to go and visit (a woman) who lived upstairs. He asked, ‘What’s going on down there?’ and was told they were having a meeting,” she recalled.
When she learned the council was meeting with Tembec, the company that owns the mill in Kapuskasing, she asked to be told when and where it was happening so she could attend. That didn’t happen.
“That was a big decision that was made without council,” fumed Suzanne Napash.
The Daily Press reached out to the management of the Tembec mill in Kapuskasing to find out what project they met with the Kapuskasing Cree about, but the company did not respond.
The Bank Account
Another reason why Gaius Napash has been asked to step down as chief surrounds the management of the group’s collective funds. There have been questions whether money intended for the community and the band itself is being used for personal purchases and expenses.
A significant portion of that money has made its way into the account from public coffers.
The publicly owned Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has a partnership agreement with the Moose Cree which includes guarantees of contract work for the First Nation’s businesses during the construction of their dams along the Mattagami River. According to OPG spokesman Neil Kelly, who talked to The Daily Press before the police investigation began, the energy company hired Kiewit Alarie to award contracts for the dam projects.
“They awarded various contracts to Moose Cree members and Moose Cree member businesses for a number of years,” confirmed Kelly.
Some of those contracts went their chief’s own company, Napash Construction, which in turn contributed 30% of the value of their contracts into the Kapuskasing Cree’s account. According to one financial statement, Napash Construction, received almost $700,000 for their work on OPG dam projects, $300,000 of which was then transferred to the band – more than the agreement required.
It appears that Gaius Napash and his cousin Archie Sutherland have signing authority over an association bank account under the Kapuskasing Cree name worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the past, Gaius Napash has written cheques from this account to himself, ostensibly so he can pay for band expenses, instead of making them out to the people or businesses the money was ultimately going to.
According to financial documents leaked to The Daily Press, on Dec. 12, 2013, a cheque for $5,000 was made out to Gaius Napash and in the memo line it reads “lawyer.” The band’s lawyer is Steve Reynolds. But other financial statement show that Reynold’s fees are paid straight from the band’s account via money transfers, not out of Gaius Napash’s pocket.
Similarly, a $900 cheque from Sept. 14, 2012, was made out to cash, with a memo line reading “lawyer travel.”
Other cheques for $375 for an Elder’s funeral and $400 for “Sonny C.” were made out to Gaius Napash instead of to a funeral home or Sonny C.
Although organizational bank accounts require both Gaius Napash and Archie Sutherland to sign cheques and approve transfers, a hand written note from the deputy chief to Caisse Populaire on Feb. 20, 2013 gave permission for Gaius Napash to approve transfers on his own if he was not available.
According to Caisse Populaire, the only way to rescind that signing authority over the account is by order of the association’s board – which in this case would be the band council filled with the chief and deputy chiefs family members.
Suspicions among the membership about the bank account were first piqued three years ago from allegations that a boat with a motor and camping trailer had been purchased with band money but no one outside of chief’s family got permission to use.
“He also has a trailer that hauls wood, which he said he bought for the Kapuskasing Cree,” said Bernice Sutherland. “We’ve asked to use it, and we can’t because he said he was afraid we might break it.”
Although resistant, the chief did yield to pressure and on May 30, he provided a summary of band’s finances that contained no itemized expenses. The membership was not satisfied, and that is when tempers flared.
“(Gaius) told us we weren’t privileged to see the full financial statements,” recalled Bernice Sutherland. “It got to the point where my father (Andrew Sutherland) was saying something, and Archie said he was taking it personally and would go outside and slap him ... That’s just something you don’t say to an Elder.”
Following this incident, there have been calls on Gaius Napash to apologize for his deputy chief`s behaviour.
Even if all of the spending from the account is on the level, the group’s constitution stipulates that the band’s government must “promote openness, transparency and disclosure in government decision making and operations” as well as “assign fiscal and political accountability of Kapuskasing Cree First Nation Members.”
Calls for resignation and investigation
After the confrontation at the May 30 meeting, the group of Kapuskasing members concerned by Gaius Napash’s leadership advertised that they were going to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the subject on July 4.
Just before the meeting took place, Gaius Napash’s common-law partner Joanna Wynne posted on the Facebook page the group uses as a message board that there was no meeting occurring at all. A meeting was in fact held.
Several members showed up for the formal meeting where a motion was passed asking for Gaius Napash, Archie Sutherland and the members of the current band council to step down and for the bank account to be frozen until the OPP finishes its investigation, which may involve a forensic audit of the account.
Pierre Dorval, the general manager of the Kapuskasing branch of Caisse Populaire, confirmed he has already met with the police and that the credit union will fully cooperate with the investigation. He also said they would see what they can do about the membership’s request that the account be frozen.
“It will all depend on the legal aspect of what they can bring to us (requesting the account be frozen,),” said Dorval.
Gaius Napash has not publicly responded to the calls for his resignation and would not respond to requests for an interview.
