By Marissa Nelson
The
Jane Stewart is being paid $1,300 a day to be the province's negotiator in talks aimed at solving the land dispute in
And the 11-month pact between the former Liberal minister and
She can also charge up to $30,000 in expenses.
The agreement, which runs from
Details of Stewart's appointment and compensation were disclosed through Freedom of Information requests filed by The Spectator.
Stewart, who was minister of Indian affairs from 1997-99, could not be reached for comment last night.
A similar Freedom of Information request about the provincial deal with former premier David Peterson, who tried to solve the short-term issues at
A letter from the Attorney General's office says there is no contract between
Reached at his
Peterson's tab would have been hefty had he charged his usual $700 an hour.
"I did it for free," he said.
And he added, "I did not put in a bill for my time and I worked for about six weeks, full time."
"I did the whole thing for free because I knew someone would try to use it."
The search found a record involving the law firm where Peterson works and a retainer, but that information is covered by solicitor-client privilege.
Peterson said he wasn't sure what the retainer was, but was sure it wasn't for his services in
A spokesperson for the the Secretariat for Aboriginal Affairs wasn't sure how the daily rate for Stewart's work was established, if it was in line with compensation for other consultants the department uses, or for how many days Stewart has charged.
Anne-Marie Flanagan, press secretary for David Ramsay, the minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, would only point to Stewart's qualifications.
"Jane Stewart is uniquely qualified. She has knowledge of the local area and she knows a lot about First Nations issues," Flanagan said.
MPP Norm Miller, the Conservative critic for the aboriginal affairs file, was shocked to hear the dollar figures.
"It seems like a lot of money," he said.
Miller's office has been trying to find out costs for many parts of the
"We haven't learned a lot. All we can say is the numbers, when you count everything -- economy, police, buying the land -- they'll be substantial," he said.
"It's a case where (Premier) Dalton McGuinty is not showing leadership. He's pulling the covers over his head ... and is opening his chequebook to do it."
He said the province is trying to "buy their way out of the problem."
"You have to ask is where is it going to end and what happens when it occurs somewhere else in the province?"
Though Hazel Hill, a spokesperson for the Six Nations people, didn't take issue with Stewart, she criticized the way the money so freely flows from government coffers for non-natives.
"I just think it's sad they can take those amounts of money and turn them over when Six Nations people have been waiting over 50 years ... It shows where we are on their priority list," Hill said.
"They're willing to pay everyone to make this go away except to the people they truly owe -- the people they've lied to and stolen from."
Hill added that none of the hereditary leaders who are at the negotiating table are being paid.
"There's no one being paid for what we're doing there (at the reclamation site)."
Stewart was a Liberal MP for Brant from 1993 to 2004.
She is the daughter of long-time Ontario Liberal leader Bob Nixon.