Cory Morgan: Demanding Financial Transparency From First Nations Leaders Would Benefit Band Members

Commentary

Prime Minister Mark Carney has been carefully changing the culture of the Liberal government, from the free-spending approach of the Trudeau years to a more fiscally pragmatic one. He also has a willingness to shed some of the environmental controls that hindered resource development and is directing heavy spending into Canada’s military, signalling a strong departure from the priorities of the previous leadership, though he is keeping some key policies including the industrial carbon tax.

On the fiscal accountability front, one move Carney could and should make is to bring back the enforcement measures within the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA).

One of the first actions of the Trudeau government upon taking power was to defang the FNFTA, which had been introduced by the Harper government in 2013. The act wasn’t repealed, but compliance measures were suspended. The Trudeau government also reinstated any funding withheld under the act and suspended court actions against noncompliant bands. The law still technically requires First Nations to publish their audited financial statements and the salaries of chiefs and councils, but compliance is now based on the honour system.

Unsurprisingly, many bands have stopped publicly filing their finances, and it has taken court actions to get disclosure from them. While not every band abuses its finances, members have no definitive way to determine it. In Alberta alone, over a dozen bands haven’t filed audited financial statements since 2021. Taxpayers and band members alike deserve an accounting of the funds.

A court has ordered Indigenous Services Canada to release Frog Lake First Nation band council resolutions related to the nation’s trust fund. The fund was worth $102 million in 2013 and had dropped to $8.6 million by 2024. A band member had to resort to the courts to get disclosure, and it’s still uncertain if the band will cooperate. That’s a large sum of funds for a small community, and members shouldn’t have to spend years in court to find out what their chief and councillors did with them.

In B.C., the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops received $12 million to investigate the alleged child burial sites outside of a former residential school. While the funds have disappeared, the band doesn’t appear to have investigated anything. No families have been identified with missing children, nor have any remains been uncovered, which isn’t surprising when it appears the band hasn’t looked for them. Now the band refuses to explain where the funds went, and the government isn’t eager to pressure them to disclose. Meanwhile, one of the most socially divisive mysteries in Canada remains unsolved.

It’s not just First Nations bands that need oversight. Tax-funded advocacy groups ostensibly representing indigenous people are frequently questioned on their spending habits.

Imposing accountability measures upon First Nations would not be a politically unpopular move for the Liberal government. Polling by Angus Reid found that 82 percent of Canadians feel that First Nations must be required to report on how they spend their money. Among those respondents identifying as indigenous, the number is 72 percent in support of accountability. The Carney government has little to fear in going down this road.

Federal indigenous spending has tripled in the last 10 years, yet living and social conditions for indigenous people have been worsening by every measure. Increasing spending won’t solve Canadian indigenous challenges if there aren’t controls ensuring the funds get to the people they are supposed to help. Without oversight, Canada has created a recipe for corruption and waste on reserves. It isn’t patronizing to demand audits. It’s common sense, and it’s for the sake of indigenous people themselves.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.