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Six-figure honoraria

Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 15/04) - Being a member of a federally-appointed board can be lucrative.

According to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB) 2004 financial report, recently departed chair Melody McLeod collected a tax-funded honorarium of $159,425 for fiscal 2003/2004. She also claimed $10,629 in travel expenses.




Melody McLeod: Her water board compensation outstripped Premier Handley's salary.


Her compensation for being on the board outstripped the salary of Premier Joe Handley -- the highest paid MLA in the territories. His salary and living allowance that year totalled $150,691.

Almost all MVLWB funding comes from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). Board members are appointed by the minister and serve at his pleasure.

Stephen Nielsen, the board's interim chair, said that in March 2003, McLeod approached the board, seeking clarification on the "silent" part of the board's compensation policy -- one that allows the chair to make honorarium claims beyond the 14 days a month guaranteed compensation.

The MVLWB provides the chair with a monthly honorarium for seven "reading days," to review documents and get up to speed on board business, plus another seven days a month to fulfill responsibilities belonging exclusively to the chair.

The chair is also allowed to claim further hours, should additional work prove necessary.

The daily rate for chair duties is $550; $400 for regular board members. Nielsen said it's generally agreed that in order to justify a daily per diem claim, members must work at least four hours.

"It's somewhat up to the person," said Nielsen, who has taken a leave of absence from his job as a computer software maker while filling in as interim chair.

McLeod resigned Sept. 24 after serving four years as chair of the MVLWB.

"I've taken more of a flat-rate approach, whereby I'm collecting compensation from the board at a flat rate and doing the best job I can at the same time," said Nielsen.

"If it takes me one hour, it takes me one hour. If it takes me 10 hours, it takes me 10 hours."

In June 2003 -- after reviewing the honoraria claimed by McLeod -- the board ruled that she had been overpaid and should repay $24,750, which she did.

When contacted last Tuesday, McLeod said she paid back the money out of the compensation she received for 2003/2004.

"It was becoming a full-time job. The board thought I was working too much," McLeod said, adding that she "didn't agree with it."

She also said that, as development of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline grew closer to reality and the diamond mines began to open, the pressures of the job increased exponentially.

"I had to leave my job because I was there so much. I was coming into the office just about every day."

McLeod said that unlike other jobs, there are no benefits -- living allowances, group health insurance, etc. She said her decision to resign was based simply on a desire to move on.

Until early 2002, McLeod was employed as the official languages co-ordinator with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.

She had already served as a board member with the NWT Water Board for several years before it was officially revised and re-named the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board in 2000. The board's new mandate was to regulate all mining and oil and gas licensing and permitting outside settled land claim areas in the territory.

According to the board's 2001 financial statements, McLeod collected an honorarium of $43,863 during her first year as chair. The following year her pay climbed to $187,862 -- the largest sum she would ever receive while serving as chair.

Honoraria for board members increased overall that year. In 2001, with a total of $130,947, the honoraria represented one-sixteenth of the board's entire budget. At the end of this year's reporting period, honoraria -- now at $525,278 -- accounted for more than one-sixth of the board's total budget of $3,012,456. Board travel that year totalled $188,976.

Most of the honoraria goes to the board's chair and six regular members, although some is claimed by members of the Sahtu and Gwich'in land and water boards when they meet as a committee of the whole.

MVLWB executive director Bob Wooley said part of the reason honoraria increased after 2001 was because the Treasury Board of Canada increased pay for all federally-appointed boards. The chair's daily rate for the MVLWB went from $275 to $550, and regular board member per diems doubled to $400. Last year, three of the board members received honoraria in excess of $50,000.

"We don't have any full-time positions (on the board) but it turned out that a lot of the time there was stuff in here every day," said Wooley.

"Just about everyone has another job doing something. Melody did have a job for a while but this turned out be almost a full-time position."

He said the chair typically works 25-30 hours a week, "sometimes more, sometimes less."

He said outside of additional work -- attending conferences, taking part in seminars -- the board meets twice a month, and conducts three to four public hearings a year. In the first quarter of 2004/2005, the board approved 12 water licences and permits.

The MVLWB chair's counterpart on the board's sister agency, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB), also collects a sizable honorarium. MVEIRB chair Todd Burlingame makes a salary of $150,000 a year, according to board spokesperson Roland Semjanovs.

He said Burlingame didn't want to discuss his salary but he did say his position is considered to be a full-time job.

The board's current complement of eight regular members receive a daily per diem of $375. Honoraria paid out to the board totalled $445,125 for 2003/2004. The MVEIRB conducted seven environmental assessments that year.

Semjanovs said, like the situation with MVLWB members, impact board members are often juggling board responsibilities along with their regular jobs.

"There have been people with full-time jobs," said Semjanovs.

"They also had understanding employers."

Jim Martin, manager of the board relations secretariat with DIAND, said all appointees to the MVEIRB and MVLWB boards are at the discretion of the minister of DIAND, although his decisions are not necessarily based on a candidate's knowledge of environmental policy.

"There are a number of variables, Northern experience and proven work experience in a number of different sectors, that make a board work," said Martin.

"There is no set cap (on the amount of honoraria)."

"The minister approves the per diem rates to support the board in correspondence with its workload."

Current Board members Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board

  • Stephen Nielsen, interim chair
  • Jack Van Camp
  • Violet Camsell-Blondin
  • Joy Stewart
  • Eric Menicoche Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board membership
  • Todd Burlingame, chair
  • Danny Bayha
  • Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott
  • Jerry Loomis
  • John Ondrack
  • Charlie Snowshoe
  • John Stevenson
  • Bernadette Stewart
  • Percy Hardisty (on leave)