The first sentences are expected to be handed down next month for two individuals who entered guilty pleas in the Mosquito First Nation Treaty Land Entitlement fraud case.
Alphonse Moosomin and Eldon Starchief, band members who were trustees of the fund for Mosquito First Nation, previously pleaded guilty to breach of trust charges for mishandling and misspending funds assigned to Mosquito First Nation for the purposes of acquiring land. Sentencing in their case got under way Friday in provincial court before Judge Violet Meekma.
Three other individuals - former chief Clarence Stone, Gerald Bird and Clifford Spyglass - had entered not guilty pleas and are preparing to go to trial on various fraud and breach of trust charges connected to the case. Their preliminary hearing is set for next year.
Moosomin and Starchief could be looking at jail time for their involvement, as prosecutor Robin Ritter called for two and a half years in a federal penitentiary. Defence counsel, however, each called for a conditional sentence order that could be served in the community running less than two years. A pre-sentence report has been ordered and the case will be back in court Nov. 2, at which time a date for the sentence to be handed down will be set.
Judge Meekma had indicated she wanted to look into the possibility of electronic monitoring.
According to the facts outlined in court by Ritter, the arrests came as a result of a lengthy investigation started in 2004 by the RCMP's commercial crime division.
Mosquito First Nation was one of several first nations who had signed a Saskatchewan Treaty Land Entitlement framework agreement in which funds would be paid and held in trust to purchase land.
A minimum land acre amount - 20,096 acres - was meant to be. These are known as shortfall acres. Importantly, Mosquito ended up not meeting its shortfall land acres and the funds for that purpose are now gone.
The money was directed into three separate accounts, with certain rules in place guiding the spending of the money in the TLE Trust fund.
On Oct. 26, 2004, Ritter said, the RCMP received information from Robert Armstrong, a former trustee, who alleged the Mosquito band council and the TLE trustees had misspent funds that were supposed to be for the purchase of land. Instead, the trust fund was depleted with movement of funds outside of the guidelines that were agreed to.
In outlining the facts of the case, Ritter noted excessive meetings were scheduled and claimed as expenses, along with a trips to the Calgary Stampede that were also claimed as expenses. Trips to powwows were also claimed.
Disbursements to elders were also mishandled, according to the Crown. A total of 141 elders' names were listed for payments, but only 114 were listed as Mosquito band members and only one was actually qualified to receive payments as an elder. The age range of those who actually received the payments ranged from ages five to 68.
Ritter said the band spent more money on the cost of purchasing land than on the purchase of the land itself. In 2002 alone, $766,000 went to expenses with only $343,000 to land cost..
During that year Moosomin was paid $78,300 in per diems and $14,700 for site visits. With other expenses included he was paid a total of $105,000.
Starchief was paid $136,000 that included $79,200 in per diems and $14,700 in site visits, with the rest going to other expenses.
The site visits were supposed to be for the purpose of picking land for purchase by the band. In 2002 only 2,566 acres were purchased from two separate pieces of land, and 960 acres were purchased in 2003.
Ritter noted the significant impact on the band of the failure to meet its shortfall acres requirement. The treaty land entitlement agreement was meant to compensate for land the band hadn't received in decades past. Because the Mosquito band didn't meet its shortfall acres, the band will suffer for years to come, said Ritter. Mosquito "will never be the reserve they could be" because of what happened to the money, he told Judge Meekma.
"They wasted it on themselves and other people," said Ritter. "For generations to come people on the Mosquito land will suffer."
He also said a public perception of theft, misspending and crime would tar many respectable people in the aboriginal community. The victims were not just those on Mosquito but "all aboriginals struggling to improve their lives."
In asking for a sentence of two and a half years, as well as restitution, Ritter said the two accused had abused their positions of trust.
He also dismissed any suggestion the individuals might not have known what they were doing or "were patsies," as he put it.
"Ignorance of the law is no excuse," said Ritter.
Defence counsel for called for a lesser sentence, however. Defence lawyer Monte Migneault, representing Starchief, pointed to his client's "lack of sophistication" and Grade 10 education as mitigating factors.
Starchief had been elected as a trustee and felt obligated to carry out the duties, and had initially thought the role would involve continuing to do fencing contracts on the TLE land. He was also not given formal training on his role and never even read the TLE agreement.
His actions were more "reckless than intentional," Migneault said, as Starchief followed the protocol of the other trustees and didn't know what he was doing was criminal.
Migneault also cited case law supporting his argument for a conditional sentence of two years less a day, adding this was appropriate so Starchief could make reparations.
Defence lawyer Don MacKinnon, representing Moosomin, noted his client's own extreme remorsefulness in his call for a conditional sentence. MacKinnon said Moosomin came forward early wanting to plead guilty, and noted he had never in his career seen this level of remorse from a client.
MacKinnon also noted that in none of the cases provided to Judge Meekma did it show that a penitentiary term was required. The range MacKinnon suggested was 18 months to two years less a day in a conditional sentence order.
