Eight years after awarding themselves $5,000 bonuses, members of the 2009 Lower Kootenay Band Council have agreed to a repayment schedule.
The issue stems from a sale of land to the Regional District of Central Kootenay for $125,000, after which the band council voted for the one-time reimbursements in an in-camera meeting. In 2015, former chief Wayne Louie got the decision he was looking for from the BC Court of Appeal, which found the 2009 Council had breached its fiduciary duty in approving the payments.
Two years later, in 2017, an arbitrator held up the decision after then Chief Chris Luke Sr., current Chief Jason Louie, Mary Basil, Sandra Luke and Carol Louie argued that they were following LKB traditions.
Asked last year what his intentions were, Chris Luke Sr. told the Advance, “I’m going to pay it back.”
In a Facebook posting by Chief Jason Louie’s brother, Rob Louie Jr., Wayne Louie commented: “I am grateful for my legal team and my brother and Band elder Robert Louie, Sr. Without their help we wouldn’t have been able to take this to its conclusion. However, I’m disappointed that the Band members and I had to take the extra steps to hold these defendants accountable. The Chief and the other defendants should have just repaid the money that they illegally took from us three years ago. Where was the Band Council in all of this? Why didn’t my Band Council help secure our money which is a community held asset?”
Helping to pursue the issue was Rob Louie Jr.:
“In over 25 years of studying, writing and working in the Indigenous sector, I have never seen a case like this before. It’s a sad and powerful reminder what can happen within Indigenous self-government. If Wayne Louie didn’t put a stop to the Chief and Council’s sense of entitlement to Band money, a horrible precedent would have been set that it is okay for our elected officials to rip off the Band. The Chief’s credibility is ruined. Investors will be loath to put their money in the hands of this Chief and Council.”
According to Rob Louie Jr., the repayments will be monitored by a law firm, with all defendants agreeing to make a full monthly account of their debt repayments.
