Federal government denies funding requests for Carry The Kettle First Nation amid court proceedings

Carry The Kettle (CTK) First Nation is out more than $1 million after its funding requests to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) were denied earlier this month.

CTK Chief Scott Eashappie shared the news with band membership in a Facebook post last week.

Effective immediately, funding for sports and recreation, funerals, band membership support, pastures and administration expenses has been cut off, he said.

Money for elders’ bills will end in August.

As a result, the First Nation’s 2023 Powwow planned for this weekend was also cancelled.

Documents obtained by CTV News show CTK requested $1.2 million in funding through multiple band council resolutions (BCR).

In a letter addressed to CTK Chief and Council, ISC acknowledged the receipt of the documents dated between May 8 and June 23, 2023, but said they were “unable to action these BCRs.”

According to ISC, in order to access funding, the band must submit a BCR with the names of all current council members listed on the document and the majority of members need to sign the form.

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While the BCRs had enough signatures, the documents did not include the names of councilors Terrina Bellegarde and Joellen Haywahe.

“I’m quite thankful that ISC is holding back the funds. That shows that they are respecting the federal court orders,” Bellegarde said.

Bellegarde and Haywahe were elected as councilors in April 2022. They claim they were wrongly removed from council last fall after deciding to dig into the band’s financial troubles.

“One of the things we promised was to ensure that the band members knew what was going on,” Bellegarde said.

“We cannot do our jobs until we know where the finances are and that was one of the things that we were trying to get to.”

The pair applied for a judicial review with the federal court to overturn their dismissals.

In January, a judge temporarily stayed their removals and by-election until court reaches a decision, which means the two are still considered active members of council.

However, days after the ruling, CTK went ahead with its by-election and replaced them.

As a result, Chief Eashappie and select councilors are facing a motion by Bellegarde and Haywahe to hold them in contempt of court.

“All of this could have been avoided and I wish that it would have happened. We could have just sat down like adults at the table, but it just didn’t go that way,” Haywahe said.

CTV News reached out to Eashappie to discuss the funding requests and court proceedings. He declined to comment until he consults with band membership.

In a statement addressed to CTK members, he said the situation will be rectified, but could not give a timeline.

“I want to reassure members that Carry the Kettle directors and managers have completed all reporting requirements to access the 2023 fiscal year funding, and will continue providing services to the Nation through all departments such as Health, Education, TLE, Prevention, etc,” the statement read.

A show cause hearing regarding the contempt of court motion is scheduled for July 25 and 26 for both sides to make their arguments.