Some native leaders are earning 'exorbitant' amounts that outpace the country's top politician, says Colin Craig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and Canadians deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent.

The salary information was compiled from documents obtained from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs through a federal access to information request filed last year.

Highlights from the data released by the CTF include:

  • 82 aboriginal-reserve politicians were paid a tax-free equivalent higher than Prime Minister Stephen Harper's $315,462 salary last year
  • 222 First Nations politicians earned more than the premiers of their provinces
  • more than 700 chiefs and councillors from across Canada took home an income equivalent to more than $100,000 off-reserve
  • One band member for an Atlantic Canada community of about 300 people took home $216,130 in salary, $34,000 in per diem travel expenses and "other remuneration" for a total take-home of $978,468

In an interview from Washington Tuesday, the federation's prairie director Colin Craig said the data paints a surprising picture.

"What was shocking was just how many different politicians seem to be making exorbitant amounts of money considering they were only managing small communities of a few hundred people," Craig told CTV's Canada AM.

While some reserve politicians were paid considerable sums, the documents obtained by the CTF show take-home pay varies widely among reserves and regions.

In many cases, salaries were non-existent or quite modest, with the average earning less than $60,000.

From his perspective, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Ron Evans fears the numbers will unfairly, "paint all the First Nations leaders that are doing good work out there.

"It's pretty hard to defend that. It's up to the communities of those leaders who are making those amounts to correct the situation and put measures in place," he said.

According to Evans, Canadians should bear in mind the fact aboriginal reserve politicians operate outside the political "mainstream."

"One must remember that the prime minister gets a house, gets a chauffeur (and) will get a healthy pension at the end of his term when he's no longer in office," Evans said, suggesting chiefs that earn $60,000 or less should have access to, "the same things that are in place for the mainstream politicians."

The data released by the CTF does not include the identities of any of the chiefs or councillors. Instead, the data identifies communities by population only.

The federation says, in the interest of transparency, details of all federal and band-owned enterprise income earned by First Nations leaders should be posted online.

On Monday, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs John Duncan said the government would support Conservative MP Kelly Block's private member's bill that would force First Nations leaders to disclose their income online.

Bill C-575 will be debated in the House for the first time on Thursday.