Getting it right

Dear Mr. Nicholls,

In your issue of August 29 (Vol. 15, No. 21), an article by Sonny Orr entitled “Assessing the Assessment” states that the audit report of the GCC(EI)-CRA revealed that “the salary for the executive members ranged from $164,309 to $321,808.” To highlight this point a similar statement was made in capital letters as a subtitle to the article.

Please note that the audit reports the total costs of the various offices of the GCC(EI)-CRA and does not reflect the actual remunerations paid solely to the elected officials of these organizations. The numbers reported in the audited statements thus include expenses related to support personnel and related expeditures.

Please note that the remuneration of the Chariman and Vice-Chairman of the GCC(EI)-CRA are determined through by-laws of the CRA publicly disclosed, debated and voted upon at the General Assembly of the CRA. Indeed, at the General Assembly a by-law for this specific purpose was tabled and approved by public vote. Your reporter attended this General Assembly.

Under these by-laws, the Chairman of the GCC(EI)-CRA is paid in accordance with a scale varying from $122,988 to $152,985 while the Vice-Chairman is paid in accordance with a scale varying from $104,990 to $134,987. The incumbents in these offices are also entitled to the same allowances, holidays and most other working conditions as those provided to employees of the CRA under the approved employee benefit policies applicable to our organization.

Please note that these remuneration scales for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman were established upon recommendations from the well-known firm of Mercer which specializes in compensation determination issues. Mercer analyzed compensation offered in other similar organizations for similar responsibilities and effected its recommendation based on its independent studies.

I trust your magazine will correct the information contained in your issue of August 29, since we are aware that your erroneous reporting is being used to discredit our organizations as well as the Grand Chief and Deputy Grand Chief and their offices.

Thank you,

Matthew Swallow

Treasurer

GCC(EI)-CRA