Tlicho Grand Chief Eddie Erasmus gets $166K a year

Of the salaries made public so far, the highest paid chiefs in the Northwest Territories are those in the only region with self-government.

Because they are self-governed, the Tlicho are not required to release the salaries of their leaders under the First Nations Financial Accountability Act.

But their rates of pay are set out in laws they've passed, which are publicly available.

Tlicho Grand Chief Eddie Erasmus will collect about $166,000 in pay this year.

Each of the four chiefs will be paid about $130,000, whether it’s Chief Johnny Arrowmaker of Wekweti, population 141, or Clifford Daniels, leader of the more than 2,200 people in Behchoko.

The Tlicho government set the rates of pay for chiefs and other elected members in 2005.

Just four months later, it passed a new law that increased the salaries of the chiefs and the grand chief by more than $40,000 a year.

Then in 2009, the Tlicho government passed a law that made chiefs' and councillors' salaries rise with the cost of living, starting four years earlier.

Under the First Nations financial transparency Act, all N.W.T. First Nations without self-government agreements must make the salaries of their chiefs public.

Only seven have done so.

The highest paid chief among them is Dettah Chief Eddie Sangris, who earned $116,000 last year.