Premier Brad Wall says the province will review funding for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. This announcement came after the former FSIN Chief Guy Lonechild accepted a six-figure buyout package in turn for his resignation.
At a press conference Friday morning, the premier expressed his disapproval of Thursday's FSIN negotiations between Lonechild and the organization. After several hours behind closed doors, Lonechild ended up accepting a severance package for himself and his staff.
Lonechild told CTV News that lawyers are still working out the details, but the entire package looks to be around $600,000.
Premier Wall wants to know where the money will come from. "The bottom line is that the FSIN structure is much like a corporation and they have a degree of independence, obviously. They're going to do what they're going to do, but they also have funding partners and we're one of them. And I think funding partners will want to know that the dollars we're providing on behalf of tax payers is going for the things it should go towards, for example, educational outcome improvement for First Nations students across the province, or other initiatives on the duty to consult and capacity building. That's why those resources are there."
In a statement Friday, FSIN Interim Chief Morley Watson responded to the premier's concerns.
"The FSIN agrees that provincial funding should go towards important programs like education, employment and economic development. As a First Nation government we have a responsibility to be accountable assuring all level of governments funding will be used for their intended purposes." Watson said.
"We hope that issues such as these would be discussed in face to face meetings. I placed a call to Premier Wall to address his concerns and look forward to meeting with him in the near future."
