June 27, 2015
In the ongoing effort to bring transparency and accountability to Canada’s hundreds of aboriginal governments, the name Wayne Louie should be remembered.
Wayne is a member of the Lower Kootenay Band, a First Nation of 235 people, half of whom live on a reserve near Creston, B.C.
In 2009, the band was paid $125,000 by the taxpayers of the Regional District of Central Kootenay for the use of a road that crosses the reserve. Flush with cash, the five-member band council secretly voted to pay themselves each a $5,000 bonus.
Two years went by before Wayne Louie discovered the payout. Unable to simply stand idly by, Wayne took the council to court to get the money back.