The Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, or SIGA, runs six casinos in the province, including the Living Sky Casino in Swift Current. (CBC)

There should be no chiefs or politicians on the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority's board of directors, a former chair of the board says.

Last year, Kirk Goodtrack was fired as SIGA board chair.

SIGA said Goodtrack, a lawyer, was in a conflict of interest due to his outside legal work. Goodtrack says he had been trying to cut spending by board members.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Goodtrack detailed some of his concerns about governance at SIGA, which oversees six First Nations-run casinos around the province.

The SIGA board has 14 members, eight of them chiefs.

Goodtrack said when he attended his first meeting, he looked around the table and saw a group of chiefs and politicians with individual agendas.

"It was more of a self interest as opposed to an interest of the organization, or the public," he said.

The 14-member board is currently under fire from the province over the governance issue, according to a Jan. 6, 2012 letter from Gaming Minister Tim McMillan to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

"We will be seeking amendments to the [Gaming Framework Review] to ensure that appropriate individuals are named to the SIGA board and that future board members are experienced and competent in board governance, independent of special interests, and have strong business acumen," McMillan said in the letter.

Goodtrack, a member of the Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation, says he believes that with some chiefs, serving the politics of their home communities sometimes takes precedence over serving SIGA.

This, he says, has to change.

A good size for the SIGA board would be seven members, he said.

"And of course, depoliticized, so there are no chiefs or politicians on the board."

Under such a streamlined structure, three members could be appointed by government, three by First Nations and then a chair could be chosen by both sides, he said.