Dear Supporter,



Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief Wallace Fox made $150,692 in 2016.



Grassroots bandmembers only know that because of two people: Charmaine Stick and YOU.



Charmaine is the courageous activist who’s been fighting for years to know what’s happening with the band’s money. She demanded answers in band meetings. She went on a hunger strike. And then she partnered with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.



Together, we took Chief Fox to court to demand financial transparency. We won at the

Court of Queen’s Bench

and we won again at the

Court of Appeal

too. But there was still reason to worry.



Chief Fox has consistently ignored

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act

. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was the driving force behind that legislation and it requires bands to publish basic financial statements as well as the salaries and expenses for the chief and council. The overwhelming majority of bands follow the law. Chief Fox has ignored the law and that raised an important question: what if he ignored the courts as well?



But last week we got the answer: Onion Lake Cree Nation, for the first time ever, complied with the court order and published its basic financial information.



Here’s one thing we found out. In 2015, Chief Fox made $123,000. In 2016, Chief Fox gave himself a big raise and took home $150,692. Grassroots bandmembers had no idea.



It’s important to put those numbers in context. The average salary for a chief in Canada is $58,856. The average income for members of the Onion Lake Cree Nation is $17,528.



Charmaine is getting the news out. She spoke to Danielle Smith on 770 CHQR (you can listen

HERE

). She spoke to John Gormley on NewsTalk (listen

HERE

). But here’s something even more important: she printed 50 copies of the financial statements to take back to Onion Lake Cree Nation to shed light on questions grassroots bandmembers have been asking for years.



During her hunger strike, Chief Fox told Charmaine that she could starve herself, but she’d never get anywhere. He thought she was all alone. But thousands of CTF supporters have taken a stand with Charmaine and that made all the difference.



Thanks for standing with Charmaine and thanks for your support – it’s making a difference.



- Todd, Scott, Shannon and the CTF team



P.S.: We had to do all of this because the federal government isn’t enforcing The First Nations Financial Transparency Act. If you have signed our petition, we thank you. If you haven’t, please sign our petition demanding that the government stand up for Charmaine and other people in First Nations communities by enforcing the act. If you’ve already signed the petition, please send this to your friends. Signing the petition is easy, just click this

LINK

.