B.C.’s so-called “million dollar chief” has been re-elected.
Ron Giesbrecht, head of the 82-member Kwikwetlem First Nation, came under fire last year when it was revealed that he made nearly $1 million in 2013.
Giesbrecht defeated challenger George Chaffee this week to win re-election by a vote of 30-16.
Giesbrecht received the bulk of his 2013 earnings -- $800,000 -- as a 10 per cent cut of a land deal with the B.C. government. He made just $4,800 in his role as chief, and $80,000 in salary as the nation’s economic development officer.
At the time, Victoria said the details of the deal are confidential, and wouldn’t confirm whether the deal involved the former Riverview Hospital, which is on land the Kwikwetlem Nation considers traditional territory.
Late last month, Ron Jackman, a member of the nation, filed a civil claim against Giesbrecht.
“My goal is to get the money back for the people,” Jackman told CTV News. “He doesn’t deserve it, right? He broke his fiduciary promise to the people, and that’s my goal, to prove that he did.”
Giesbrecht told CTV News in August 2014 that he intended to keep the money. He said he had spent a week speaking to band members on the phone or in person and determined that a majority were behind him.
This week’s election results would seem to confirm that perspective, but Jackman thinks otherwise.
“Our reserve is small,” he said. “We’re just a few families on reserve, right? And right now, Ron has his families behind him. That’s how he got back in. The family vote.”
The Kwikwitlem First Nation is located on a small parcel of land east of the Trans-Canada Highway near the Fraser River. Of its 82 members, only 35 live on the reserve.
According to the federal government, close to 40 per cent of the homes there need to be repaired or replaced.
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Peter Grainger
