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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - Two council members of Salt River First Nation have been dismissed.

"We've been thrown out," said Mike Beaver, who was dismissed from council along with Chris Bird.

A Feb. 11 membership meeting of the Fort Smith-based band called for the dismissals, which were confirmed by council the next day.

The two councillors were originally suspended in November for a month, and suspended again in January.

According to the two former councillors, their suspensions and dismissals stem from a council vote in September which authorized payments of large sums of money to Chief Frieda Martselos and 10 other band members.

Both Beaver and Bird opposed the payments.

"They were wrongly given the money," Bird said.

The ousted councillors said Martselos was compensated for court costs and received back pay for when she was ousted from council for eight months after being first elected chief in 2007.

She was reinstated by court order.

Beaver and Bird also said 10 other members of the band, including the so-called November council of 2002, also received money for legal fees and to compensate for court action against them.

The November council was elected at a special membership meeting to replace a council elected in August of 2002.

After a court battle, the August council was reinstated.

Beaver and Bird were sent a letter from council including a list of reasons for their dismissal, including allegedly obtaining band financial documents from a bank, lack of attendance at the band office, and failing to work with the chief and council.

Beaver succinctly rejected the stated reasons for dismissal as simple untrue.

"A lot of the stuff here is just a bunch of bullshit," he said.

Beaver said the real reason he and Bird were dismissed is they opposed the payments.

The two filed a court challenge against the payments, but that action has apparently fallen by the wayside.

"We're not going to pursue it now, because they've already got their money," Beaver said.

However, Beaver said he and Bird are considering court action against their dismissals. "It's up in the air right now."

Beaver said, under the band's election code, a byelection should be called within two weeks to fill the vacancies.

"If they do, I'm going to run again," he said. "They're not going to chase me out like that without a fight."

Bird and Beaver were on the council that ousted Martselos a week after she was initially elected in 2007. In fact, Beaver was acting chief until Martselos was reinstated.

When contacted by News/North, Chief Martselos, who was most recently elected to the position last year, declined to comment on the dismissals.