Indigenous voices facing censorship over calls for transparency
Jennifer Laewetz is raising concerns over a dire lack of transparency surrounding the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and tells The Gunn Show that she feels “a sense of responsibility” to raise awareness about potential corruption, given the significant amount of federal funding directed toward the Indigenous group.
Numerous activists were hit with cease-and-desist letters after raising concerns about a lack of transparency from the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan. Jennifer Laewetz, a former Conservative staffer and status Indian, was among those seeking answers from the Métis Nation.
Laewetz joined Sheila Gunn Reid on this week's edition of The Gunn Show to detail the attempts to silence her criticism.
A key focus for Laewetz has been ensuring Indigenous groups like the Métis Nation are taking the support provided by the federal government “and actually legitimately creating long-term sustainable solutions.”
In the case of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, she explained how the suspension of her local regional director — until she apologized to the CEO — raised a flag.
“That's where alarm bells started going off,” Laewetz said. “A CEO in an Indigenous governance is already unique in itself, because that's not typical in government structures, in federal politics, provincial politics and Indigenous government.”
This led Laewetz to dig deeper. “Where did this CEO come from?” she wondered. “This guy was working on the government side of things, and then before you know it, he's the CEO.”
Suddenly, the former federal government worker turned CEO was awarded a Métis status card.
“Everything looks really good on paper, but behind the scenes we have people asking questions that are barred from the table,” she said. “I've went through their annual report and I'm seeing $117 million from the federal government to operate, and I'm like what is going on?”
Those questions led to a legal threat — “and that is what raised questions for me,” Laewetz said. “It was like they were attacking academics, activists, Métis lawyers. I was like, there's a bigger picture here, for sure.”
Despite ostensibly acting as a democratic government, the role of a CEO in the Métis Nation is offering minimal transparency. Attempts to uncover more information has led to claims of harassment, and, bizarrely, a payout to the CEO “regarding those harassment allegations.”
“As an Indigenous person that's paved my own way through life,” Laewetz said, “I feel this sense of responsibility to be one of the ones that comes in and says this is actually not right, here's not only the questions I'm asking — but I want to give everyone the tools to ask those questions so that not only do we have governance structures that function, but we also can be proud of what we're putting out there publicly.”
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