Native manufacturer of cigarettes says he's demonized by his own people for paying taxes
Jump to full article: Kitchener-Waterloo (ONT) Record (ca), 2008-07-23
Author: Steve Buist Record news services
Intro: "But I'm committed, and I always will be, to putting jobs on reservation and making it a better place than when we started here," he says. "Can everybody say that?"
Jerry Montour is a conflicted man.
He's a native himself, a member of the Wahta Mohawk reserve near Bala, in the middle of cottage country. He also runs Grand River Enterprises, a native-owned, native-operated company located on native land, smack in the heart of Six Nations, that is the reserve's largest employer.
The company employed about 300 people in 2006 and GRE's gross sales in 2004 were more than $200 million.
But GRE also pays all applicable federal excise taxes to the Canadian government in exchange for the right to make cigarettes -- almost $500 million so far, since the company became licensed in 1996.
On top of that, GRE has paid another $300 million to U.S. governments for cigarettes sold south of the border.
It's a thorny issue for First Nations people, who have long claimed a right to freedom from taxation. The company's decision to pay taxes hasn't been welcomed with open arms by other natives.
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