Agreement with lawyer on timber claim leaves Lac Seul member feeling shortchanged

Open letter to Chief Clifford Bull of Lac Seul First Nation
I write this email with a heavy heart and I hope to convey my message in a good way without negative implications or consequences. I seek your ability to have an open mind, filled with the ability to use wise judgment and guided by wisdom, in what I convey.
I have real serious concerns that the people of the Lac Seul First Nation are being shortchanged and quite frankly, ripped off by the legal advisor, Will Major, on the timber trespass claim ($25 million offer from Canada). In all honesty, I feel the offer from Canada is just and fair.
However, I feel outright offended by Will Major in that he is getting 25 per cent of $25 million. It is totally unacceptable that this should be allowed to happen by the leaders of our First Nation.
About one year ago I asked you at a public Lac Seul First Nation membership meeting to re-negotiate the contingency arrangement and to lower it to something that was more acceptable. You personally agreed in public that the contingency arrangement with Will Major was way too high and that it needed to be lowered. You agreed to re-negotiate this arrangement to a more acceptable level. As you can see, I raised this question long before Canada made its offer to our people.
Even though I asked you last week about the contingency arrangement, you completely ignored my question about lowering the amount that was going to Will Major.
Will Major deserves to be paid for his work, no doubt. However, I feel $6.25 million is way out of line for the value of his work based on previous precedence set with almost the same players in the Long Lake case; certainly with the research work.
As you know, I attended the recent consultation meeting on the settlement offer in Kejick Bay. Before the meeting, you asked me to translate. I said I would help a little bit, but I ended up translating anyway even though I have a speech impediment. At the meeting, a member asked me how much I was being paid for translating to which I said: absolutely not one penny. The same person further asked what value are we putting on the indigenous language of the area vis-à-vis the legalistic language of Will Major? Have we forgotten about our values and the importance of the Anishinaabe language? This is a prime example of how the leaders put more value on lawyers than their own people.
I ask you again – after your word of last year to re-negotiate the contingency arrangement – do you feel that $6.25 million is a high contingency arrangement? My second question is will you ask the appropriate authorities, specifically the Law Society of Upper Canada, to review the contingency arrangement of the settlement offer to measure fair value? The Law Society of Upper Canada is well placed to perform this measure on behalf of the people of Lac Seul.
I would appreciate your response to these two important questions before the general election on Sept. 24. Your response will help me to determine as to how I will cast my ballot as with others about this concern.
The other concern I expressed was about holding two separate votes in the same month – Sept. 9 for the referendum and Sept. 24 for the general election. It would have made logical sense to hold both processes at the same. It would have been cost effective. There are respected elders who are going to the polls twice. As you know some Elders, and those living with physical disabilities, have great mobility challenges that people take for granted each day. Due consideration should have been given to those people. As for counting the ballots, no one should be counting ballots until 5 a.m. as your returning officer said. General election ballots can be counted on the day of the general election and the referendum ballots could be counted the next day.
One can almost already predict and conclude the outcome of the referendum. No doubt it will be a resounding yes.
Because of that prediction, I am only voting once because it’s too physically demanding to get around. My heart goes out to the Elders and those living with mobility issues in that they have to go out twice to the polls.
Lac Seul is a hurting community. In the early 1970s when my late father was the leader, I watched in horror as people reported tragic incidents of violent deaths. This past spring, our First Nation was hit hard by similar tragedies of previous times. The pain and suffering lingers on in the lives of our people while others get rich.
As I told Will Major at the public meeting the other day: “You are a rich man on the backs of poor Indians.”
As I have heard good ethical lawyers say, “I rest my case.”
Garnet Angeconeb
Atik (Caribou) Clan
Lac Seul First Nation member