The former administrator of the N'Quatqua First Nation in D'arcy has filed a human rights complaint against the band alleging it fired him for being Caucasian.
Peter Scholz, administrator of N'Quatqua from January 2010 to April 2011, has filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission under Articles 7 and 10, alleging that he, other Caucasians and band members married to Caucasians were subject to "racial discrimination" by band members and chief and council while he worked there.
"I have reason to believe ... that I was dismissed in large part due to reverse racism or sentiment related to reverse racism," he alleges. "When almost all my former managers were fired recently, most of them being half white or white, their treatment is related to tribalism or racism."
Christina Leo, the N'Quatqua Band's new administrator, said in a brief statement that Pique's call was the first that the nation had heard of Scholz's complaint. She said that Scholz sent nothing to the band directly and that N'Quatqua hadn't received anything from the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
"We have asked our lawyer to investigate what, if anything, Mr. Scholz has actually filed," she said. "We don't see any benefit to publicly airing our concerns about how he did his job while administrator for the band. If we receive a formal complaint directly, we will address it with the Human Rights Commission, not through the media."
The complaint alleges that abuse grew solely from the time that Scholz, a regional planner with much experience in government, began working as administrator until he received his termination letter from council.
He said that when he started at N'Quatqua, the band was in danger of "remedial management" by what was then known as Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, meaning that the ministry would have to step in and manage the band's affairs on its behalf.
Scholz claims that the band's status went from that to having the "best governance rating" as assessed by the ministry for any band or tribal council in the St'at'imc Nation by the time he finished working there - an improvement, he said, that was largely due to his efforts.
Yet despite his efforts he claims he repeatedly ran into difficulties with at least one member of council. Scholz said that on October 26, 2010, this councillor stated at the N'Quatqua annual general meeting that Caucasian staff should not get the same benefits or training as Aboriginal staff.
He went on to allege that the councillor accused him of time theft on numerous occasions despite him keeping "detailed diaries" of his work on his desk, and that she was aware of this diary.
