NWT - Northern aboriginal leaders will have to decide whether they want to publicly reveal their salaries now that the Assembly of First Nations has asked native bands across the country to be more transparent about how much money elected officials make.

According to the 2009-2010 report, GTC President Richard Nerysoo earns $204,983 a year, not including travel allowances or other benefits. NWT Premier Floyd Roland, by contrast, earns an annual base salary of slightly more than $166,000. - NNSL file photo

Last week the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), an organization representing hundreds of First Nations bands across Canada, met in Ottawa to pass a motion stating chiefs and band councillors should voluntarily disclose their salaries after controversial figures released by the Canadian Taxpayers Association last month revealed some chiefs make more money than their provincial premiers and some even bring home more than the prime minister.

But it's still up to individual bands whether they want to make their salaries accessible to the public, and some already do.

The assembly's NWT regional chief, Bill Erasmus, also chief of the Dene Nation, said that decision should be made among band membership. He said the Dene Nation doesn't plan to hold any meetings on the matter because "it's never been an issue."

Any band member can request financial audit information from their bands, but Erasmus said that rarely happens.

"No one is overtly concerned that I'm aware of," he said.

"The issue right now is, it's non-band members trying to get information about band governments," he added, saying he doesn't think the Canadian Taxpayers Association should be concerned with First Nations' affairs.

"They're not public dollars, so I'm a bit concerned with the interest that they pretend to have with how we spend our money. But that being said, our people don't have a problem with reporting to their membership."

Erasmus said he's comfortable with the idea of his own salary figure being made public, but he declined to divulge it.

"Personally I don't have a problem with it but I'm not going to talk about it right now," he said.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) in Inuvik is one of NWT's aboriginal organizations that consistently publishes the salaries of its elected officials on its website along with annual financial reports.

GTC communications officer Lawrence Norbert said the council has been publishing salary information for years.

"It's just been our move for transparency and openness," he said.

According to the 2009-2010 report, GTC President Richard Nerysoo earns $204,983 a year, not including travel allowances or other benefits. NWT Premier Floyd Roland, by contrast, earns an annual base salary of slightly more than $166,000.

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