New senator lagged on $100 child support

Harper's controversy-plagued appointee repeatedly fell behind on payments for his son

Feb 10, 2009 04:30 AM

JOANNA SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA–Three times in the past five years, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's most controversial new Senate appointee fell behind in support payments for a son he has not spoken to in eight years – payments that totalled less than $100 per month.

Patrick Brazeau, the 34-year-old former aboriginal leader who was appointed to the Senate in December, missed one payment as recently as 11 months ago at a time when he was earning a six-figure income.

In an interview yesterday, he said he did not want to air any personal "dirty laundry," but he acknowledged he had been late on some payments and said he would consider larger monthly payments for the well-being of his 14-year-old son now that he was earning more than $130,000 as a senator.

Brazeau, who is scheduled to give his maiden speech in the Senate today, has faced a series of allegations since his appointment, including a sexual harassment complaint and a draft audit of expenses at the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the congress he led, which resulted in a demand that at least $54,678 in expense claims be repaid.

Brazeau's style and penchant for luxurious trappings have also raised eyebrows, particularly his 2006 Porsche SUV.

"The child support payments are basically less than $100 a month," the son's mother, Dena Buckshot, said from her Gatineau, Que., home last week.

A spokesperson for Harper last night declined to comment on a "private matter," but a litany of charges against Brazeau has raised questions about how thoroughly the Prime Minister's Office vetted the young aboriginal leader before making the appointment.

Brazeau says many of the allegations are being brought by those who are pushing back against his bid to bring more transparency to the country's aboriginal leadership.

As national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Brazeau was widely viewed as a smart and articulate voice for aboriginal people living off-reserve, stirring the pot with talk of abolishing the Indian Act and bringing more accountability to native governments.

The former model with a black belt in karate was portrayed as a family man and spoke eloquently in the House of Commons the day Harper apologized for abuses in Indian residential schools.

Buckshot said she dated Brazeau briefly in 1993 but broke up with him soon after she discovered she was pregnant with the first of her three children.

She said she was concerned that Brazeau's visits with their son were inconsistent, so she sought to regulate matters through the Quebec courts in 2001.

The Star cannot publish information contained in documents from Quebec family court.

As a result of that process Buckshot said she began receiving bi-weekly child support, which is now $46.90 after it was raised by 2.5 per cent at the beginning of this year. Brazeau sends cheques to Revenue Quebec and the ministry sends a cheque to Buckshot twice a month.

Revenue Quebec has suspended these payments three times – twice in 2004 and once in 2008.

"We are writing to inform you that the debtor of support has not paid the amounts required under the act to facilitate the payment of support and that the (ministry) is taking steps to rectify the situation," says a letter dated Feb. 10, 2004. "In the meantime, however, the (ministry) has had to suspend your support payments."

She received a letter with an identical message dated Dec. 10, 2004 and a letter dated March 6, 2008 again says her support payments were suspended.

The letter lists a number of reasons why Revenue Quebec could not forward the payments – such as the debtor not having any income or the creditor not living in Quebec – but do not specify which applied to her situation.

Buckshot said gives her son the child support to use as pocket money. "I remember telling him this is how much he pays and I think (my son) was upset because he couldn't believe he drives a Porsche," she said.

The vehicle made waves when Brazeau started driving it around Parliament Hill but he said it is second-hand and he bought it before he learned of his appointment.

Brazeau said he does not want to discuss the issue of his relationship with his son.

"I'm not going to use the media from my vantage point to try and iron out this dirty laundry, so to speak," he said.

"My goal is still to develop a relationship with my son in the future, because it is true that I have not seen him in the last eight years, but the reasons for that are beyond my control and so I don't think that this is in the best interests of my son," he said.

He said he was aware some payments have been late "in terms of processing, but I have always issued cheques to Revenue Quebec in which they internally deal with forwarding the payment to the mother of my child."

He added that he has been paying the amount he was ordered to "and if there's any adjustments that need to be made in the future. ... I will pay accordingly."

Buckshot said friends and family have told her over the years to take Brazeau – who now makes $130,400 as a basic Senate salary – to court to increase his payments. She started the process when he first started working as a legal researcher at the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, but decided it would cost her too much time, stress and money.